Ingredients
The following ingredients have 4 Servings
- 1/2 cup (125ml) water
- 3 tablespoons (40g) butter (salted or unsalted, cut into cubes)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- big pinch of chile powder (or a few turns of freshly-ground black pepper)
- 1/2 cup (70g) flour
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (about 3 ounces, 90g) grated cheese ((See above for ideas))
Instruction
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Heat the water, butter, salt, and pepper in a saucepan until the butter is melted.
- Dump in the flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball. Remove from heat and let rest two minutes, to cool it down a bit. At this point, you can scrape the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. If you don’t have a mixer, let it cool in the pan, stirring it a few times to let the heat escape.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly to make sure the eggs don’t ‘cook.’ The batter will first appear lumpy, but after a minute or so, it will smooth out. After the eggs have been added, let cool until tepid. (So as not to melt the cheese in the next step.)
- Add about 3/4s of the grated cheese, and stir until well-mixed.
- Scrape the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a wide plain tip and pipe the dough into mounds, evenly-spaced apart, making each about the size of a small cherry tomato.
- Top each puff with a bit of the remaining cheese, the put the baking sheet in the oven.
- Bake for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375ºF (190ºC) and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re completely golden brown.
