Gougère Tart

You’ve all probably heard of gougères – those fabulous bite-sized, savory choux puffs that are a Burgundian French classic.

The problem is, I’ve never been able to make these for a get-together of any kind at my house, or when I catered either, because they’re really only good just out of the oven. Similar to a soufflé, they will deflate, so they’re not as pretty, and even if they’re kept warm, the texture will change.

I present to you another gougères option, more easily served as a first course or even as part of a lunch; thin slices can be served as hors d’oeuvres as well.

This version utilizes the same dough and cheese, but it’s a whole tart, and not individual puffs. There’s no outside crust that dries out, and the inside stays nice and moist. The dough will deflate a little after the tart is out of the oven, but the tart itself maintains its integrity, so you can let it cool a little, slice and serve.

If you’ve never made a choux dough before, don’t worry. It’s not as involved as making something like a dough for croissants. All you need is a strong arm, in fact, because there is a lot of stirring involved. I’m pretty sure you can make the dough in a stand mixer, but I make it the old-fashioned way.

My husband actually remembers the last time I made this tart, which proves how memorable it is. And I hadn’t come across the recipe till recently. You can see by the stains how many times I used it. I’d love to credit the source, but I looked online and found nothing. I think it’s funny on the recipe card that I actually changed the ingredient amounts not just once, but twice. But there’s no mention of the pan I used. Since I wasn’t sure which column was the one to follow, I went with the numbers on the very left.

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As with classically-shaped gougères, the secret to this gougère tart is the cheese. Really good Gruyère – diced as well as grated for this tart.

Gougère Tart

3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup, or approximately 5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon butter
1 cup white flour
4 eggs, at room temperature, broken into a small bowl
7 ounces diced Gruyère
2 1/2 ounces grated Gruyère
1 egg mixed with 1/8 teaspoon of salt

Turn the oven to 375 degrees F.

Generously butter a 10″ tart pan; a pan with a removable bottom is not necessary.

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Have all of your ingredients on hand, and read the recipe through before you begin. Begin by melting the butter into the milk in a medium saucepan.

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Add the flour, and vigorously stir the mixture for about one minute over the lowest possible heat.

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It will look similar to a roux – kind of crumbly.

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Let the pan cool slightly, then beat in one egg at a time, beating vigorously. There should be no heat involved any more.

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By the time the second egg is added and incorporated, you can see the dough getting smoother.

When you add the fourth egg, don’t beat it in completely. Then add 2/3 of the diced Gruyère and stir to just combine.

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Plop the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth. Then coat the top with the egg wash.

Add the remaining diced cheese as well as the grated, and place the tart in the oven; I put my pan on a baking sheet for easier handling.

Bake for 35 minutes. You will see it rise in the oven as it puffs up.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. It should be set enough to slice easily after just about 5 minutes. The tart is cheesy, but it’s also bready.

I enjoyed my slice without even a green salad on the side. Mostly because I couldn’t wait. But it would be fabulous with a salad of tomatoes or spring greens, and it would certainly be delicious served as a first course, just a matter of minutes out of the oven.

This gougère tart would pair perfectly with a light fruity red, or a pinot grigio. No white that is too tart or too oaky.

By Published On: May 8th, 201445 Comments on Gougère Tart

About the Author: Chef Mimi

As a self-taught home cook, with many years in the culinary profession, I am passionate about all things food-related. Especially eating!

45 Comments

  1. sallybr May 8, 2014 at 8:06 AM - Reply

    THis is a dream! I made gougeres a couple of times, but this takes the recipe to an amazing higher level, and I never thought that could be done!

    awesome post!

  2. nowathome May 8, 2014 at 8:29 AM - Reply

    It looks delicious!!!!

  3. FromageHomage May 8, 2014 at 8:42 AM - Reply

    Looks lovely!

    • chef mimi May 8, 2014 at 10:02 AM - Reply

      It really is. All you need is really good Gruyere!

  4. thesinglegourmetandtraveller May 8, 2014 at 9:06 AM - Reply

    Delicious!

  5. Elaine @ foodbod May 8, 2014 at 1:01 PM - Reply

    Mmmmmmm……

  6. Heavenly!!! :)

  7. eliotthecat May 8, 2014 at 4:27 PM - Reply

    I have some recipes (and cookbook pages) that are spotted from use. They are much loved! This tart looks delicious….

    • chef mimi May 8, 2014 at 4:46 PM - Reply

      It’s actually kind of gross looking, isn’t it?!!! (I mean the recipe, not the tart!)

  8. ladyredspecs May 8, 2014 at 5:17 PM - Reply

    Fabulous! One of our top Melbourne restaurant’s, (French owner and chef, sadly now retired) used to serve tiny gougere piping hot, straight from the oven as an amuse bouche. They were like eating a cheesy cloud. Thanks for sharing….

    • chef mimi May 12, 2014 at 7:28 AM - Reply

      A cheesy cloud indeed! And those really are best hot, just freshly baked!

  9. thepaddingtonfoodie May 8, 2014 at 6:21 PM - Reply

    Your tart looks truly amazing. I adore gougeres so am definitely making this.

  10. chefjulianna May 8, 2014 at 7:11 PM - Reply

    Your recipe looks so wonderful and perfect for someone like me who has not been able to make gougers (auto-correct :-( ) successfully yet! I intend to try your recipe!

    • chef mimi May 12, 2014 at 7:29 AM - Reply

      You probably overthink it! Beyond the stirring, there’s no other skill required!

  11. spiritedcook May 8, 2014 at 7:26 PM - Reply

    Hi Mimi, we are from the same era and our taste in food is scarily similar! I have made this recipe ( I think it was from Bon Appetite in the early 90’s) many times. In fact, I taught it a few times in cooking classes! I Also cut it out and have it taped on a page in a large MAUVE binder. Mauve is the key word there. It’s a great recipe.

    • chef mimi May 9, 2014 at 8:00 AM - Reply

      I’m not sure if it was, only because Epicurious has all of the gourmet and bon appetit recipes online, and I couldn’t find it anywhere. But who knows. If you actually have the same recipe then you would know. Mauve? Yes, I remember that color. Mauve lipstick was always de rigueur!!!

      • spiritedcook May 14, 2014 at 7:07 AM

        I’m going to dig mine out (because I think, like you, I clipped it out of the magazine) and compare the typeface to other clipped recipes to see if I can determine which magazine (what we did before the internet, clip out zillions of recipes). I’ll report back! (ps — I was a little obsessed with mauve and included it in a living room rug and my kitchen countertops -at the time I just loved those countertops, I’m sure by now the owner of that house has ripped them out LOL).

      • chef mimi May 14, 2014 at 10:12 AM

        Great idea! I know the recipe is at least 20 years old.
        Mauve countertops? Your husband must have loved those! Not any worse than the avocado green kitchen I inherited in one house…

  12. spiritedcook May 8, 2014 at 7:27 PM - Reply

    *Appetit*. Idiot iPad changed the freakin spelling. Grrrrr….

  13. anotherfoodieblogger May 8, 2014 at 9:05 PM - Reply

    What a beauty that is! I even have some gruyere on hand I need to use. I like the fact you don’t need a stand mixer, as I don’t have one…

    • chef mimi May 9, 2014 at 7:58 AM - Reply

      I think I have a mixer somewhere in the basement. I just don’t do that much baking, although if it was sitting on my counter I’m sure I would use it more often than once every three years…

  14. apuginthekitchen May 9, 2014 at 7:30 AM - Reply

    Love gougere, never thought of making a tart, it looks great. I have never made them, really like the idea of a tart. Really nice!

    • chef mimi May 9, 2014 at 7:58 AM - Reply

      Thanks so much Suzanne! It’s so easy, and really fabulous and flavorful!

  15. Choc Chip Uru May 9, 2014 at 10:04 PM - Reply

    These tarts look delicious, what a classy ingredient :D

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  16. Three Well Beings May 9, 2014 at 10:10 PM - Reply

    This really sounds delicious. And your photos are really step-by-step helpful. I am ager to give this a try, and love the “well-loved” recipe card. I have a few of those myself. :-)

    • chef mimi May 10, 2014 at 8:46 AM - Reply

      If you love gruyere, it’s incredible!!! That well loved recipe looks really dirty! But fellow cooks understand…

  17. hotlyspiced May 11, 2014 at 8:07 PM - Reply

    These are gorgeous and I’m sure I would love this tart. I imagine you could make this in individual little tart tins as well. I agree that when making this kind of pastry, you do need a very strong arm! xx

    • chef mimi May 12, 2014 at 7:30 AM - Reply

      The would be gorgeous as individual tarts but i like the one bigger one because the inside stays nice and moist!

  18. Johnny / Kitschnflavours May 11, 2014 at 8:59 PM - Reply

    Loving the idea of this. Partly as there’s no piping involved!

    • chef mimi May 12, 2014 at 7:26 AM - Reply

      No piping! Or spooning! And it doesn’t dry out!

  19. spiritedcook May 18, 2014 at 5:05 PM - Reply

    I found my recipe. It is the same type as yours but sadly, I didn’t write down the source either.

    • chef mimi May 19, 2014 at 7:56 AM - Reply

      I’ve always enjoyed Bon Appetit, and occasionally received Gourmet as well. I also got a lot of cookbooks from the library for years, and copied recipes, but this definitely looks like a magazine format. Oh well, thanks for looking!

  20. anna @ annamayeveryday May 19, 2014 at 3:32 AM - Reply

    I love gougeres but have never made one big tart – looks amazing, I have to try this!

    • chef mimi May 19, 2014 at 7:54 AM - Reply

      It’s even better than the little gougeres because it’s so moist!

  21. Gian March 9, 2024 at 12:03 PM - Reply

    You may not even still look at the responses but it looks exactly like a recipe from The Wine Spectator that I had lost and been searching for for years. Great recipe and thank you! So glad I can make this again!

    • Chef Mimi March 9, 2024 at 1:18 PM - Reply

      Wow! That’s wonderful!

  22. Anonymous March 22, 2024 at 5:24 PM - Reply

    I just made a gougere crust tart from an old recipe I’d clipped– Better Homes and Gardens, September 2010. But the recipe I have uses blue cheese in the crust, topped with a cooked mixture of sliced bell peppers and onions, then baked. My crust didn’t rise and I don’t know if that was because of some error or simply due to the weight of the peppers. It ended up sort of firm but soft, like polenta, and the whole thing was delicious. (I, like you, tried to find a similar recipe to get some idea of how it should turn out. I didn’t even have a photo to go by.)

    • Chef Mimi March 23, 2024 at 8:04 AM - Reply

      What is your recipe called? Cause the whole description is confusing to me. Gougères only contain Gruyère. No peppers, and definitely not blue cheese. But good it was delicious!

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