Thursday, September 30, 2010

French Fridays With Dorie #1: Gougeres

For the past year or so I have been following the baking bloggers of Tuesdays with Dorie, and drooling over every recipe. The few recipes that I have tried from Dorie's book Baking: From My Home to Yours, have been fabulous. When I saw that a new group was created to cook and bake through Around My French Table, I was very intrigued! I considered joining, but thought 'I don't cook French food' and dismissed the idea. But then, I pondered it some more and thought 'Why don't I cook French food?' I am very excited for this group because it will get me to cook and bake recipes that I normally would not. My copy of Around My French Table is in the mail as I type, as is Baking: From My Home to Yours. I am super excited about both of them, I love reading cookbooks, especially when they have photographs! Luckily, the recipes for the month of October were supplied on the FFWD website, for situations like mine. How thoughtful =) Dorie chose Gougeres for our first recipe, a beautiful choice in my opinion! I love that they don't need any strange ingredients or a huge list of spices; just simple, easily available, lovely ingredients. I whipped up a quarter of the recipe on Thursday afternoon in the dorm kitchen. And I must admit, I was feeling pretty smug when I pulled out a tray of golden, firm and puffy cheese puffs from the oven. Of course, I did wonder why they were done so soon but still, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. That is, until a few minutes later I realized that I had forgotten to turn the oven down when I put the tray in the oven! And the instructions were right beside me! Ooops! I was pleasantly surprised at how much they puffed up while baking, and I would like to try mini ones next time. Next week is a mustard tart... I'm sure I won't feel quite so smug about my abilities when that comes around! I popped four of these one after the other, they are that good. I definitely prefer them warm, but then, that's my opinion on most all baked goods! So go to your kitchen and whip up some of these awesome gougeres (note to self: find out how to pronounce gougeres!) and you can feel proud of your cooking skills too!

6 comments:

  1. I'm new to these blog cooking groups too but I so enjoyed the TWD group too. Your gougeres look fab, just like mine! I'm sure your tart will be too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your gougeres look delicious! Perfect at any temperature.

    ReplyDelete
  3. They look like they turned out perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks everyone! I'm so excited for all the following recipes, I know this group will be a ton of fun!

    Shanna - actually it was 4:52, I must check what time zone I have set my blog in!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely job! And I bet you'll do just fine with the mustard tart next week, too!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your comments, I love reading each one!!