Cacio e Pepe Cheese Puffs Recipe (2024)

I may be wrong, but this dough seems to be a pate a choux - so, if you don't have a food processor, try adding the eggs by hand with a wooden spatula or with an electric hand mixer. If by hand, vigorously mix in the eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully absorbed into the batter before adding the next. When you scoop up a bit of the dough and let it drop back into the bowl, it should create a "v" shape off the edge of the spatula. Adding cheese after this point should be fine :)

Can these be made without piping? Perhaps using a standard sized cookie dough scooper? And, what’s the best way to freeze these? Before or after baking? Thanks!

Is there any technique that works if one does not have a large food processor?

Hi Andrea, I often make gluten-free puffs in my French home and freeze them after baking and cooling. To bring them back to life, I just place them in a warm oven for about 5 minutes.On the shaping, I use a very round and well oiled coffee scoop (smaller in size than an ice cream scoop), and then remove the batter inserting a small spoon along the edge. My gluten-free batter is stiff enough that I can do that, but I have no idea if the dough in this recipe would handle the same.

I frequently make gougères (which is what these puffs are), & always have some on hand in the freezer. Scoop the drought with a small cookie scoop onto sheet pans & freeze them. Bake from frozen for about 20 mins in a 375F oven until they are golden brown. In Burgundy, these are served with wine and are quite large. I much prefer bite-sized gougères with my red wine. I'm looking forward to trying this version to see how it compares with my usual recipe that is made with Gruyere cheese.

It is a pate a choux dough, and I've never used the food processor to add eggs and cheese. A whisk and elbow grease work fine for adding the eggs, one at a time, until each is fully incorporated, and the cheese. Less equipment to clean up, too.

Delicious! And I made these only using a wooden spoon— I forgot my mother’s kitchen lacked some useful appliances. I also spooned them out, so I probably made them bigger than needed. So, don’t be intimidated by lack of equipment.

I beat them in my mixer but do let the mixture cool a bit before--usually, just 30 seconds to a minute of letting it mix with the paddle attachment is enough. Add eggs 1 at a time...

They freeze well both baked and unbaked

You can add the eggs, one at a time, with a wooden spoon, but first you need to cool the dough down a little, stirring it vigorously, otherwise the eggs will cook! You might also want to beat the eggs before incorporating them.

hi. i make gluten free cheese puffs similar to these - brazilian cheese bread. i use a small cookie scoop and prepared mini muffin pans. You can free these and heat in oven for 4 minutes. Everyone loves them. (tapioca flour, butter, milk, eggs, parmesan0

These are essentially gougères with a critical difference. In the classic French recipe, the flour is added to the melted butter & cooked for at least 2 minutes to cook the flour, then the milk is added slowly. I made this using Ina's method. Next time I will use the classic method as these were on the heavy side; use a much lower oven temp as they browned before cooking properly, use a Kitchen AId as the dough was too heavy - the FP blade repeatedly lifted up & I won't bother with the egg wash.

Old recipes suggest two teaspoons to form the balls of dough, much as you would for drop cookies. Works fine. You can also make a circle of the balls and bake it as a free-form ring. This is a classic gougeres and quite forgiving. It's good warm or room temperature with a salad for a light meal, once the typical way to serve gougeres in Burgundy.

Home cooks with a small recipe like this do not have to waste time and dishes use a piping bag. Just use a spoon or small scoop. They will puff up fine and you won't notice they are not perfectly symmetrical . They might even look homemade which is more appetizing.

One can pipe batter from a heavy-duty freezer bag by cutting off a lower corner. Start with a small cut and fine tune its output, and don't overpush the dough to avoid tearing the cut. Best wishes,

I use a small cookie scoop dipped in cold water, it's time saving and works perfectly.

I’ve made these with both the cuisinart/ piping bag and also using electric beater and spooning them out. They come out beautifully both ways. I let them cool completely before freezing them in a ziplock. When I serve, I put them straight from freezer into 375 oven for ten minutes and they are a huge hit! (I’ve also experimented with different cheeses - really versatile!)

The batter came out very watery for me, after reading other comments I believe it's because 4 eggs is too many. They taste good, but didn't really puff up at all. More like... Cheese cookies?

SO easy & delicious!

I was nervous about trying this new (new to me) recipe, but I read all of the helpful comments and took them to heart and I had a huge SUCCESS!I am thoroughly enjoying all the recipes that I now have access to.

In response to users who find this recipe a bit too wet, my experience is that 4 eggs is too much to get the pate a choux to a consistency that it puffs up nicely. I looked back a the Julia Child recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking and it uses only three eggs for 1 cup of flour along with 6 tablespoons of butter and 1 cup of water rather than milk. Add the eggs and cheese in the food processor.

Two teaspoons worked better than putting in bag. Way faster and less messing.

To mix these by hand I used Julia Moskin,s recipe for Cheddar Cheese puffs as an additional guide. I followed the Cacio e Pepe recipe through the middle of step 3, then let the mixture cool for 5 minutes before adding the eggs one by one, stirring vigorously each time: I then mixed in the cheeses. I used two teaspoons to drop the dough onto the baking sheets, before applying the egg wash and extra cheese, and then baking. The finished puffs were as beautiful as they were delicious!

Terrific little puffs for an appetizer! We loved these gougeres and so did our guests. You don't need a food processor, however. You can easily mix everything by hand. You also don't need to pipe them; you can use a spoon to portion them out on the parchment. They're easy to then shape into domed rounds with your fingers (the dough is not sticky). I make these a day or two ahead, let them cool, freeze them in a ziploc bag, and reheat when the guests arrive so they're toasty warm when served.

Made as directed, except used a hand mixer instead of food processor. Came out perfectly: very light puffs.

Followed as directed. Had fun with a ziplock bag until it blew a hole and squirted onto my chest and then fell to the floor, where the dogs enthusiastically cleaned it up. :) But out of the oven they flattened out immediately and therefore weren't light and fluffy. What could I do to improve results? And additional egg white? Less cheese?

I doubled the size of each puff, adjusting baking time, and use them as little puff sandwich appetizers, with the barest hint of good Dijon and torn pieces of prosciutto set inside

Just pate a choux dough. Don't need a cuisinart.

The teaspoon of pepper in this recipe isn't enough for the "pepe" title. I'll probably triple it next time.

I made these and followed the recipe exactly. They tasted delicious and looked great right out of the oven, but flattened out almost immediately. Where did I go wrong?