I'm participating in French Fridays With Dorie, so for the next little while, I'll be 'cooking the book' along with many other bloggers, one recipe a week.
This past week I was blessed with visitors from what feels like another lifetime ago. Years ago, before the man, the kitchen, and the blog; before I really actually knew how to cook, or cared to know, I made friends with some really wonderful people. The kind of people who don't care that its been a year since you saw each other, and that you don't call frequently, but as soon as they see you, you're hugging and laughing and gushing about what they are doing, what you are doing, and everything in between. These are people I like to think of as 'lifers'. They may not be with you day to day, but when your chips are down, they are always there. My chips have been down a few times when these particular visitors were there to rescue me (or just keep me from losing my mind) They, at the very least, deserve a decent spread.
The first recipe in our selection happens to be the first in Dorie's book, Around My French Table. A recipe for gougeres, cheesy baked goods that rise up to almost hollow puffs (flavored in my case with sharp cheddar, although I think smoked Gouda would be delicious in these as well) I knew these would be perfect for the entertaining. They seemed fairly straight forward, and who doesn't love cheese?
My gougeres puffed up beautifully and I pulled them out with alot of surprise that I had done them right...then they fell. Not baked long enough and not stirred over the heat long enough, I learned when I googled it later. Yes, I google my failures. Really, it wasn't such a bad 'failure' at all... little cheese biscuits with an almost hollow center, thats what they looked like. Noone really seemed too put off by them,apparently it didn't matter. It was a night for catching up and thats exactly what we did. We also went through nearly a whole batch of gougeres, quite a few almonds de provence and a sizable wedge of brie. Obviously, we don't mess around.
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4 comments:
Mine fell too. My mom said she has recipes that call for only water and that the milk makes the dough softer. My mom also said that she doesn't turn her oven down until they've been in for about 10 minutes, so they get cooked at a higher temp for longer. It also appears that others may have cooked their longer cause theirs just look more crispy to me.
Still delicious I am sure!
Have you calibrated your oven? This used to happen to me before I did. Also too much cheese. Still, they look delicious and that is what counts!
Gougeres, almonds de provence, and brie? And great friends? Sounds like a perfect combination. I google my failures, too. :)
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