TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
GougèresBurgundian Comté Cheese Puffs
- Total
- 1 hr
- Difficulty
- ★★★☆☆
- Serves
- 6 servings
- Prep 30 min
- Cook 30 min
Bite-sized Burgundian cheese puffs made from unsweetened milk-based choux pastry mixed with diced Comté, piped into small rounds and baked.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (6 servings)
100Authenticity- Comté AOP, aged 8–12 months70 gAged about 8–12 months. Remove the rind; dice 50 g into 3 mm cubes for the dough and coarsely grate 20 g for the topping.
- Whole milk150 mlUse whole milk.
- Unsalted butter75 gFor the dough; cut into 1cm cubes.
- Fine salt3 g
- Plain cake flour100 gSift before use. Use plain soft-wheat cake flour without added starch or leavening.
- Eggs for the dough3 eggsUse eggs weighing at least 58g and under 64g each, including the shell. Bring to room temperature and beat.
- Ground white pepper0.5 g1/8 teaspoon.
- Egg for glazing1 eggBeat and use about half for the egg wash.
- Unsalted butter for the baking sheet5 gFor greasing the sheet.
Method
Prepare diced and grated Comté, eggs and baking sheet
- 1 Dice 50g of the 70g Comté into 3mm cubes.
- 2 Coarsely grate the remaining 20g Comté.
- 3 Beat the 3 eggs for the dough in a bowl.
- 4 Beat the 1 egg for glazing in a small dish.
- 5 Lightly grease the baking sheet with 5g unsalted butter.
Ready when
Continue when the diced and grated cheese and the 2 bowls of beaten eggs are ready.
Boil milk and butter, add flour and dry the dough
- 1 Put 150ml milk, 75g unsalted butter cut into 1cm cubes and 3g salt in a saucepan over medium heat. When the butter melts and the milk boils, remove from the heat.
- 2 Add 100g sifted cake flour all at once and mix briskly with a wooden spatula until no dry flour remains.
- 3 Return to medium heat and work the dough against the bottom, folding it back for 2–3 minutes to evaporate moisture.
- 4 Meanwhile(While warming the milk) Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Ready when
Continue when the dough forms one mass, pulls away from the sides, leaves a thin film on the bottom and shows a faint sheen of fat.
Caution
If you stop working the dough, the milk-based mixture can scorch.
Add the eggs gradually off the heat, then Comté
- 1 Transfer the dough to a bowl and stir with a wooden spatula for about 1 minute to release steam.
- 2 Add the beaten dough eggs in 3 additions, mixing firmly after each until absorbed and glossy before adding the next.
- 3 Mix in 1/8 teaspoon white pepper.
- 4 Add the 50g Comté cut into 3mm cubes and mix until evenly distributed.
Ready when
Continue when the dough falls slowly from the spatula and the part remaining hangs in an inverted triangle.
Caution
Adding all the eggs at once can split the dough and prevent a glossy mixture.
Pipe small rounds, glaze and top with Comté
- 1 Fill a piping bag fitted with a 12mm round tip. Pipe 24 rounds, each 4cm wide and 2.5cm high, with 2.5cm between them.
- 2 Lightly brush the surfaces with egg wash and flatten the pointed tips to round them off.
- 3 Divide the 20g grated Comté evenly over the puffs.
Ready when
Bake when the rounds are even in size and their surfaces have egg wash and cheese.
Caution
Egg wash dripping onto the sheet sticks the dough down and makes it rise unevenly.
Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes
- 1 Put the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake at 200°C for 20 minutes.
Ready when
The puffs are baked when round and risen, deep golden inside the cracks and light when lifted.
Caution
Opening the door during baking releases steam and can collapse the puffs.
Let the puffs settle in the turned-off oven
- 1 Turn off the oven and leave the puffs inside for 10 minutes with the door slightly open to cool a little.
- 2 Arrange in a dish and serve warm.
Ready when
They are ready when their surfaces are dry and their shapes do not collapse when lifted.
Tips
Moving them immediately to room temperature can let interior moisture soften and collapse the shells.
About this dish
In Burgundy’s wine cellars, cooled gougères accompany tastings. These small balls of baked choux pastry with cheese can also be served warm as an appetizer at the beginning of a meal.
They also appear at wine events from late autumn into winter. At the Hospices de Beaune wine auction, a luncheon during the November 2026 weekend is scheduled to begin with gougères. At the January Saint-Vincent Tournante festival, gougères appeared alongside the chefs’ dishes at the 2025 banquet.
Their birthplace is uncertain. Sens, Tonnerre and Avallon in the Yonne each claim them. Flogny-la-Chapelle, near Tonnerre, calls itself the world capital of gougères and has held a gougère festival on the third Sunday in May every year since 1996.
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