Lemon-Parsley Gougères

Christmas Eve is a big deal at our house. Every year I host an open house style get together for my family and we have a blast! I look forward to this night all year (well, except for all the work!). I wanted to have a menu this year that would not only be delicious, but that would allow me to do a lot of the work ahead of time so I could actually relax and enjoy the night with everyone else! I usually end up standing in front of the stove cooking all night and wish that I could relax and spend time with my family. This is an example of one of the great recipes I am making that can be made ahead of time. They can be frozen and then the night of the party they can go in the oven for about 5 minutes and they will be good to go! I ended up making two batches of these tonight. The first one was amazing, but I wasn't expecting the cayenne pepper to be as spicy as it ended up being. For the second batch I only used 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne and then I added 1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt. I think it was a great change to this already amazing Martha Stewart recipe. Don't be afraid to change up the spices to use what you like!

Lemon-Parsley Gougères

• 1 cup water
  
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs (4 for the dough and 1 for the egg wash)
  
• zest of 1 lemon (I ran through it with the knife to create smaller pieces of zest)
  
• 3 scallions, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Add the water, butter, salt and cayenne to a small pot over medium high heat. Bring to a boil just until the butter is melted.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate.

Return the pan to the heat and continue to stir the mixture until the dough comes together and starts to pull away from the sides (about 1 minute).

Remove pan from the burner to complete. Add the 4 eggs, 1 at a time, to the dough and stir until it is completely absorbed.

Once all 4 eggs have been added and you've given your arms a nice good workout, you can add the lemon zest, parsley and scallions.

Give it a nice stir and you're ready to get them on a pan.

You have a few different options for baking. You can either spoon the dough into a pastry bag and pipe small 1 inch circles on a parchment lined baking sheet (like I did), or you can just drop the dough on the sheet with a small melon baller or a teaspoon. I liked the look of the pastry bag, they came out cute! I purchased the one I have in the baking aisle at the grocery store for about $3.00 and that included about 5 tips. Nothing fancy, at all!

Once you have them piped on the baking sheet they are ready for the egg wash. Beat the remaining egg with 1 teaspoon of water and then very lightly brush the top of each of the gougères.

Bake them for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Look how light and airy they are!

You can either serve them immediately, or you can freeze them in an airtight container (like I am) for future use. Once frozen you can just pop them back on a baking sheet and reheat at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes and serve! How easy is that?!?

Enjoy!!