The best gougere you will ever eat

Meatless meals in Lent always seem to throw me off. It's like it was a surprise that it was Friday. And so I stood on a recent Friday evening, staring at my mostly empty fridge, wondering what meatless dish I could make that could pacify my children.

This gougere recipe is based on a Pinterest find for goat cheese and herb gougere from Eggs on Sunday. I have made another gougere recipe in the past but couldn't find it quickly. We tweaked this recipe based on what we had on hand in our home (and our first fresh herbs of the season!), and the results were fabulous.

Herbed goat cheese mini-gougeres

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, divided
6 oz. garlic and herb goat cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan,  combine the butter, milk and salt and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once. Whisk for a few minutes, then return the pan to the heat and continue whisking to dry the paste out slightly. Remove the heat from the pan again, switch to a wooden spoon, and add eggs — one at a time — stirring to make sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Stir in the goat cheese, Parmesan and chives.

Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets (or drop by the tablespoonful). 

Bake each sheet, one at a time, in the 375 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue cooking for another 5-10 minutes, until the tops are nicely browned and the gougeres are puffed. Serve warm, or let cool completely and freeze in a ziptop bag.

Makes about 2 dozen.