© Marlene Cornelis, Urban Cottage Life, 2017

If baking right away, preheat the oven to 375ºF and line your baking trays with baking mats or parchment paper.

In the early days I used to make the choux pastry the traditional way: mixing in all the eggs using a wooden spoon. These days I use my stand mixer to get the job done. I measured out the batch you see using a spoon instead of the usual scoop; they’re not as uniform as usual, but that’s okay, don’t you agree?

Don’t let the lengthy directions put you off; I wanted to go through each step as fully as possible for maximum clarity!

• 1-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan (the best you can afford)
• 1/4 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
• 6 medium basil leaves, minced
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup water
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter

Start by preparing your mise en place so that all ingredients are ready and to hand when you need them. Place the cheeses in one bowl and the tomato and basil in another, and set aside. Combine the flour and salt in a separate bowl. Break the eggs into a measuring cup for ease of pouring and have on standby next to your mixer. Put the water and butter in a medium sauce pan. Now you’re ready to begin the simple process of making gougeres.

Over high heat, bring the water and butter to a lively boil. Dump in the flour and salt mixture all at once, and stir with a trusty wooden spoon over medium-low heat until the mixture comes together into a pasty ball. A slight crust will form on the bottom of the pan, after which continue stirring for two or three minutes to ensure the paste is sufficiently dried out. It looks a bit like children’s play dough at this point.

Transfer the dough to bowl of your stand mixer, and beat on low with the paddle attachment for a couple of minutes to let the heat dissipate somewhat. If your kitchen is cool, like mine, it’s exciting to see the billowing steam. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each until completely incorporated. The mixture will look split after each addition and you may wonder if it will come together; don’t despair, it will. Once you’ve added all the eggs and you’re admiring the lovely smooth paste you created, it’s time to add the flavourings. First I mix in the cheese on low speed, and then I add the tomato and basil, and mix just until the red and green are well distributed.

Using a 1 tablespoon-sized ice cream scoop, measure the dough out onto the prepared trays. You could put the batter into a piping bag, but let’s face it, that’s more work. Absent a small ice cream scoop or a piping bag, just use two spoons to make tablespoon-sized dollops of the dough. You can smooth down any peaks with a wet finger.

To bake right away, place the mounds of dough onto a parchment or Silpat-lined baking tray a couple of inches apart. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes, then rotate the trays top to bottom and front to back. Bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until beautifully golden and crispy. If you tap on a puff with a fingernail it should sound hollow.

One of the wonderful things about gougeres is that you can freeze the unbaked dough. In this case, line up the dough balls in close formation but not touching each other on your baking tray. (I can get an entire batch onto my half sheet pan — 18×13 inches.) Once frozen, place them in airtight freezer bags, labelled with the type of gougere and the date. They’ll keep for several months in the freezer if well sealed.

Then, when company arrives, just put the frozen gougeres on a lined tray while the oven is heating up, and bake them for four or five minutes longer than usual. Remember, you’re looking for a nicely browned puff that sounds hollow when you tap it.

Could entertaining be any easier?