Gougères, Spiced Nuts, and Poinsettia Cocktails

It's always fun to have cocktails and a little nibble before dinner, especially when the house smells so good and everyone is hungry!

Gougère are cheese puffs made from pâte à choux, or choux paste (choux pronounced shoe). They're typically made with Gruyere cheese, but seeing as that would cost over $20 to make this recipe, I used regular old Swiss. Other cheese could also be substituted.

Gougère
recipe adapted from Ruth Reichl's, in her book Garlic and Sapphires

1 cup water
1 stick butter
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 cups flour
5 eggs, room temp
Pinch of pepper
1 cup diced Swiss cheese
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese

Preheat the oven to 375. Butter 3 (standard sized) baking sheets. Combine the water, butter, and one teaspoon of salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until the butter melts. Remove pan from the heat and let cool slightly. Stir in the flour and mix well. Return the pan to the heat until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan. Turn off the heat and remove the pan. Stir in the eggs, one at a time until well combined. (At this point it looks as if it will never come together, but keep beating it with your spoon and it will!) Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, a pinch of pepper, and the diced cheese, stirring well.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the baking sheets, at least an inch and a half apart. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and bake for 25 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve immediately.

Gougères about to hit the oven:

Spiced Nuts
recipe from Bon Appetite, November 1998

Makes 1 1/2 cups

2 T. olive oil
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. curry powder
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2 T. sugar
1 T. honey
3/4 cup walnut halves
3/4 cup pecan halves

Line a baking sheet with foil. Lightly oil the foil (or use the nonstick foil and no oil will be necessary). Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add ginger, curry powder, and cayenne and saute until fragrant, about 5 seconds. Stir in sugar and honey. Add nuts. Stir until honey mixture is amber in color and nuts are well coated, about 6 minutes.

Transfer nut mixture to prepared baking sheet. Working quickly, separate nuts with a spoon. Sprinkle with salt and let cool. (Can be made 3 days ahead; store in airtight containers at room temp.)

Poinsettia Cocktails ,
from Freixenet advertisement in Food & Wine magazine, November 2005

1/2 ounce Triple Sec (optional)
2-3 ounces cranberry juice
4-5 ounces chilled champagne

Fill a tall glass with ice cubes, stir in Triple Sec and cranberry juice, then add champagne.