Gildas-inspired gougères
Classic Gruyère gougères are given a Spanish bar-snack twist, making them the perfect canapé for party season. Cited as the original pintxo (bite-size snack), the San Sebastián classic Gilda is a green olive, anchovy and pickled guindilla pepper served on a cocktail stick. Instead, we have finely chopped these, mixed with cream cheese and piped into gougères. Gougères (savoury choux buns with cheese) are traditionally served without a filling, but we’ve opted for this briny and salty filling as the perfect accompaniment to a batch of Sipsmith Siptini cocktails – a blend of their classic London Dry Gin, dry vermouth and a twist of lemon for a crisp, refreshing sip.
These can be served cold or warm. If you want to serve them warm but make them in advance, temper the filling out of the fridge for 30 minutes and warm the gougères for 5-10 minutes in an oven preheated to 170°C before filling.
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
CHOUX
- 60g of plain flour
- 50ml of water
- 50ml of whole milk
- 25g of unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 75g of Gruyère, finely grated
FILLING
- 30g of anchovy fillets, drained and very finely chopped
- 50g of pitted green olives, very finely chopped
- 30g of jarred guindilla chillies, drained and very finely chopped
- 100g of cream cheese
SIPSMITH SIPTINI
- 400ml of Sipsmith London Dry Gin
- 80ml of dry vermouth
- 2 lemons, peel thickly pared into strips
Equipment
- Piping bags
- 1-litre glass bottle
- strainer funnel
- mixing jug
Method
For the choux pastry, preheat the oven to 190°C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Sift the flour into a bowl
- 60g of plain flour
Place the water, milk and butter in a saucepan and gently bring to the boil
- 50ml of water
- 50ml of whole milk
- 25g of unsalted butter
Add the flour into the boiling milk mixture and quickly beat with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until combined and the resulting paste starts to come away from the sides of the pan – this will take a couple of minutes
Transfer the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on a medium speed until it has cooled slightly. Slowly add in the beaten eggs a little at a time, fully incorporating before adding each addition. You may not need all the eggs – the aim is to achieve a ‘V’ shape when you lift the spatula out of the bowl
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Add the Gruyère, season and mix until fully combined and the mixture has cooled and has turned smooth and glossy (this can take up to 8 minutes)
- 75g of Gruyère, finely grated
Transfer the mixture into a piping bag and pipe small blobs onto the lined baking tray (each gougère should be around 20g). Use a wet finger to smooth any peaks then bake for 18 minutes, or until risen, golden and crisp. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly
Meanwhile, for the cream cheese filling, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Transfer to a piping bag and set aside in the fridge until needed
- 30g of anchovy fillets, drained and very finely chopped
- 50g of pitted green olives, very finely chopped
- 30g of jarred guindilla chillies, drained and very finely chopped
- 100g of cream cheese
Use a piping nozzle or the tip of a sharp knife to poke small holes in the bottoms of the gougères wide enough to fit the end of a piping bag in. Pipe in the filling and arrange on a platter
To make a batch of Siptinis ahead of time, combine the Sipsmith London Dry gin and vermouth with 140ml filtered water in a mixing jug, then transfer to a clean 1-litre glass bottle (a funnel will help with this). Freeze for at least 4 hours, until ice-cold and velvety. Pour straight into chilled glasses then, holding a strip of lemon peel zest-side down over the top of each glass, twist the peel to express the citrus oil over the glass
- 400ml of Sipsmith London Dry Gin
- 80ml of dry vermouth
- 2 lemons, peel thickly pared into strips
If making 1 cocktail at a time, place 50ml gin and 10ml vermouth in a mixing glass. Fill with ice cubes, stir briskly, then strain into a martini glass. Holding a strip of lemon peel zest-side down over the top of each glass, twist the peel to express the citrus oils over the glass
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