The third and final thing I made for our New Year’s Eve party were these little puffs. Ham and cheese sandwiches for grown-ups. We served them with dijon mustard, even! They were great. You know how I get excited about piping things… I’ll take any chance I can get to use a pastry bag! I’ve never made gougères before, but in general they are a savory French choux pastry that contains grated cheese in the paste. Some use Gruyere, but this particular recipe calls for Parmesan. I’m sure both are delicious. They were relatively easy to make, and although I was worried about how they would travel, they were 100% fine. (Tip: If you want to take these to a party, make the paste up to a day ahead, then make the gougères the day of, and prick them to release the steam as soon as they come out of the oven. This prevents them from getting mushy inside. Store in an open container for travel – or one that’s not too air-tight, to prevent moisture from condensing in the warm puffs. Once you’re at your party, put them back in the oven for 5 minutes at 350 or so, and they’ll be ready to eat again.)

Proscuitto and Parmesan stuffed Gougères (adapted from Williams-Sonoma’s Christmas, makes 24-34 gougères)

6 Tbsp Butter, salted

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 cup Flour

4 Eggs

2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, finely grated

1 Egg, beaten

3 oz Prosciutto, thinly sliced

3-4 oz Parmesan, shaved into thin pieces

Preheat to 425 and line two baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat combine the butter, pepper, cayenne and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil until all the butter is melted in. Whisk in the flour a bit at a time until all the flour is incorporated. The mixture should pull away from the sides of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and make a well in the center of the dough. Crack the eggs into the dough and mix with a wooden spoon, one at a time. With the fourth and final egg, add the grated Parmesan. The mixture should be paste-like.

Put the paste into a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch tip and pipe the dough onto the prepared sheets into rounds that are about 1 1/2 inch round and 1/2 inch high. You should have 24-34 rounds. Using pastry brush, lightly coat the tops with the fifth, beaten, egg so that they turn golden when baked.

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 for another 15 minutes. When the gougères are golden and crunchy, turn off the oven and pierce each gougères with a toothpick to allow the steam to escape. Return to the oven (off) for another 10 minutes to dry out.

Using a serrated knife, cut each gougère in half and stuff with sliced proscuitto and shaved parmesan.