This blog is all about my recent trip to Italy and all the amazing food I ate. These parmesan cheese puffs (gougères) with black pepper are inspired by cheese pastries I ate at a rural restaurant in Tuscany and the Cacio e Pepe I ate in Rome. Both knockouts. But, let me start at the beginning!

A French + Italian Recipe

I recently traveled to Italy for 3 months with my company, The Food Gap. It was our first trip, and we stayed in a gorgeous old villa in Empoli, a town about 10 minutes from Florence. Our nights were filled with walks through stone pathways in the woods and stargazing in our persimmon tree-lined yard. We spent our days cooking and exploring Florence and Tuscany by train. We visited the magical medieval castle town of Certaldo Alto. Gazed at the Tower of Pisa. We went truffle hunting in San Miniato. It was magical!

During some of our off days, we would walk up the main road by our house to the Panoramic Pizza Club. The first time we went, I was armored with practice and repetition, muttering “una tavola por sei, per favore”. Quickly when faced with a restaurant filled with Italian locals who don’t speak English and a host that looked a lot like Novak Djokovic, I froze. We ended up holding up six fingers, probably and saying a lot of “grazie’s”. We went there a few times, and our Italian got better each time with practice. I loved the pizza there. One of the times, three of us went for dinner.

Trying Parmesan Cheese Puffs For the First Time

We sat outside in the courtyard under plants and pottery. Lights and calming Italian music. We sat at a small table and ordered a cheese board for the table. We sipped on white wine and marveled when it arrived – a huge board for three people replete with cheeses, meats, breads, and cheese puffs. Very similar to French gougeres recipe. There were jams and pate, too. When we tried everything, we each lit up with excitement when tasting the cheese puffs. Pillowy, slightly chewy, buttery and cheesy pastry bites. Paired with cheese and meat, they were unbelievable. So, I thought of those for weeks after I returned home to Maine.

Later during the trip, we went to Rome for a day. Which was a whirlwind of city traffic, tourists at the Colosseum, and a buffet of new foods to try. We were taken to lunch by a generous friend and she insisted we try as much authentic Roman food as possible. The one I settled on was Cacio e Pepe, which you may have heard of. It’s gained a lot of popularity in the U.S. in recent years. Most people bastardize the recipe and add cream, but it’s really just pasta with black pepper and a sauce made of pasta water and fresh parmesan cheese. It has a spicy bite, a good homemade pasta chew, and a cheesy richness. It’s extremely rich, I will say, so you don’t want to sit down with a huge bowl of it (or do you?).

Cacio e Pepe Meets Gougeres

This parmesan gougeres recipe is a perfect mashup of the cheesy gouger with the cacio e pepe. It’s light and airy from the choux pastry and has a peppery bite with lots of parmesan flavor. I used the last bit of my fresh parmesan from Italy that I smuggled home in my suitcase for this, so it was very special! I even grated some over the top of the choux buns before baking, which added a crispy and salty bite on top (paired with a sprinkle of fresh sea salt).

The recipe is very easy to make if you’re well versed in choux pastry. It’s adapted from the creme de la creme of gouger recipes by chef Alain Ducasse. I use parmesan instead of gruyere so that it’s Italian, not French, and of course I add fresh black pepper. I also pipe them a little bigger and altered the cooking time for the perfect golden brown.

The result is a puffy, hollow and chewy choux bun with a taste reminiscent of a flavorful Italian pasta. Or cheese board. They are perfect snacks or appetizers, and I was extremely tempted to fill them with a whipped ricotta. Or a parmesan rind-infused whipped cream.. What a great way to use the rind of my last bits of parmesan. I also considered a potato mousse or foam, which would take these over the top. For now, I think simplicity is best, and you can enjoy these fresh out of the oven like little cheesy clouds. I couldn’t believe how light they were, and how many I ate. 

How to Make Choux Pastry

You start the parmesan cheese puffs recipe by making choux pastry. For those who haven’t tried it, choux can be deceptively tricky. All because of the eggs, and the temperature of the dough. When I made choux for the first time, I was 14, whipping up a croquembouche on a “sick day” from school. I remember using a ziplock bag as a piping bag, snipping off the tip, and spilling liquid choux all over the counter. It’s a delicate balance to get the amount of egg just right. Some people whisk their eggs all together before and measure it down to the gram, but for this recipe 4 eggs is perfect. You want a stiff but pipeable batter that forms a V shape when hanging from your spatula.

The process starts with melting butter with water and milk in a saucepan. Once mixed, you “chute” in flour from a cone of parchment paper and vigorously beat the mixture with a wooden spoon. Once that’s cooked for 2-3 minutes to remove the raw flour taste and to evaporate any excess moisture, you let it cool. This is the part a lot of people miss.

If you have a stand mixer, it helps to beat the heck out of it for a while before adding your eggs. It helps release some steam and cool the mixture down faster. Then you add your eggs one at a time until each is incorporated. At the end you have a perfectly pipeable choux batter. It becomes a gougeres recipe with the addition of cheese. In this case, freshly grated parmesan. You also add your pepper at this stage. And I forgot to mention the salt at the beginning with the butter and water. 

Baking the Parmesan Cheese Puffs

I piped mine onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, 12 on each sheet, about the size of a golf ball. Some gougeres are smaller, but I like them hefty. If you want you can run your finger through water and pat down the mountain tops of the piped choux, but I like to leave them rough and organic looking. Before baking, sprinkle on fresh parmesan and flaky sea salt. I found that the occasional bite of sea salt on top added the perfect balance to the richness of the dough.

Bake for a good 30 minutes and check the doneness without opening your oven door. They should be golden brown, but the cheese on top will smell burnt. Don’t panic. I like to eat them right out of the oven. These parmesan cheese puffs feel like little clouds and maybe way slightly more than a feather? The world is your oyster when it comes to the filling. But I recommend just eating them plain while standing in the kitchen in your floury apron. I ate 6 or 7 without blinking.

Thank you as always for reading! You can check out my recipe cards and art prints at Etsy. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off. Feel free to leave a comment if you get a chance to make these – I highly recommend them! Oh! And invest in good reusable piping bags. You deserve better than a sandwich bag.

Print Pin

Cacio e Pepe Gougeres

A take on the French pastry (adapted from Alain Ducasse's Gougères recipe)

Course Appetizer

Cuisine French, Italian

Keyword gougeres

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tbsp sea salt
• 1 cup AP flour
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup fresh shredded parmesan + more for topping
• 1/2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Add water, milk, butter, and salt to the saucepan and whisk to combine once melted.
• Measure flour onto a piece of parchment paper and “chute” the flour into the saucepan.
• Using a wooden spoon, incorporate the flour into the wet ingredients and mix with force for 2-3 minutes until the flour is cooked down. The mixture should be cohesive.
• Remove from heat and transfer dough to a stand mixer or large heat-proof bowl.
• One at a time, add your eggs and beat into the dough with your stand mixer on medium speed (with the paddle attachment) or with your wooden spoon.
• Once all eggs are incorporated, your dough should still be somewhat stiff and cling to your spoon / paddle when lifted. It’s perfect when it forms a v shape. The mixture will feel thick and sturdy, not liquidy or runny at all.
• The batter should now be cool. Add your parmesan cheese and black pepper and stir to combine.
• Transfer mixture to a piping bag with a round tip (or just snip off 1/2 inch from the top of the plastic bag).
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and pipe balls of dough onto each (about 12 on each sheet). They should be the size of golf balls.
• At this point you can dip your finger in water and smooth your dough mountains, but I like the jaggedness of them. Sprinkle the tops with more parmesan and a little sea salt before baking.
• Bake gougeres for 20 – 25 minutes until golden brown. They may start to smell burnt earlier, but it’s just the cheese caramelizing.
• Serve warm.

Notes

• I stored my extra gougeres in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. To reheat the gougeres, preheat an oven to 350°F and cook for 3-5 minutes. 
• If you want to add a filling to these, they would be incredible. I recommend a potato mousse or a simple whipped cream. You can even infuse the whipped cream with parmesan rind – a great way to utilize the last bit of the block.
• To make parmesan-rind whipped cream. Cook cream over low-medium for about an hour with the parmesan rind. Turn off heat, cover, and let steep for another 20 minutes. Cool completely and whip with a touch of sugar and salt.