Käse-Profiteroles (cheese profiteroles)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan). Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Bring the water, butter and salt to a boil in a pot. Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until combined.
3. Return to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture pulls away cleanly from the sides of the pot and a thin film forms on the bottom.
4. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each, until the paste is smooth and glossy and falls slowly off the spoon in a V-shape.
5. Fold in most of the cheese, reserving a little for topping.
6. Pipe or spoon small mounds of the paste onto the prepared sheet, spaced apart. Sprinkle with the reserved cheese.
7. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes without opening the oven door, until deeply golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped. Let cool on a rack.

Notes

• Cook the choux paste until it forms a visible film on the bottom of the pot. This step drives off excess moisture; skip it, and the paste stays too wet to fully absorb the eggs, giving flat, dense puffs instead of light, hollow ones.
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing fully between each. Dumping them all in at once makes the mixture harder to beat smooth and can leave streaks of unincorporated egg.
• Never open the oven door during the first 15 minutes of baking. A sudden drop in oven temperature at this stage collapses the puffs before their structure has had time to set.
• Best eaten warm the day they’re baked, though they can be recrisped in a low oven for a few minutes.

Ingredient substitutions

• A vegetarian hard cheese or aged Gouda give the best savoury depth; any hard, well-flavoured melting cheese works.
• A pinch of cayenne or smoked paprika in the dough adds a little warmth.
• Serve warm as a starter or alongside soup, plain or with a dip.