Gougères

OVEN 400F

Boil 1 cup water and 1 stick butter with a pinch of pepper and salt.

Remove from heat when the butter completely melts. 

Stir in 1 cup AP Flour.

Return to heat and quickly stir into a ball. This will take less than a minute.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Grate 1 cup Extra Sharp Cheese. The sharper, more flavorful, the better.

Whip together 4 LG eggs until light and fluffy.

Stir in eggs and cheese into dough. Completely assimilate. (Use your Alice Krige Borg voice while repeating "You will be assimilated".)

Create 1 & 1/2 inch dough balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet 1-2 inches apart.

Finely grate some cheese across the top of the dough balls.

Bake 23 minutes.

Observations:

Need better, sharper cheese next time. Maybe smaller grating too and more densely packed cheese. I think the eggs should have been whipped more before adding. The dough was so wet I used a drop method. I need to figure out a way to shape into a round ball. Rounder will probably give me more airy light layers inside. I also need to use separate baking sheets next time. The second batch was placed on the hot pan and the bottoms came out a little too brown on the second round.

Reed thinks these would benefit from small chives. Hum....wicked and yummy and completely non traditional. Definitely goes on the Try It! list. Other ideas, smoked paprika? More black pepper? Extra sharp Provolone-the really stinky sharp stuff!