Champagne and Gougères - A Simple Champagne Paring

Today, I did an Instagram Live with the US Brand Director from Champagne Ayala and she recommended a fun pairing idea for all champagne styles. The Gougères is a simple and delicious cheese puff that you can make at home. It took about 40 minutes to make these cheese puffs. The recipe Valerie uses is from Epicurious. I am allergic to dairy so I try to stay away from dairy as much as possible (which is so hard as a wine and champagne blogger!) I decided that I really wanted to try this recipe because it sounded so yummy so I made a gluten-free and dairy-free version (I used eggs so it was not Vegan).

This is how I edited the ingredients:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup water

8 tablespoons (1 stick) Miyoko’s Vegan Butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups almond flour - I added an extra cup of flour in order to have the right consistency to form the ball.

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated cheese, I used Miyoko’s “Cheddar Cheese”

I then followed all the instructions from the Epicurious recipe and the Gougères came out so well! All of these substitutions worked very well together and the cheese also melted well (you never know with a vegan cheese!) This was a definite crowd pleaser and was relatively simple to make. I did not have a piping tool so I just spooned them out onto the parchment lined baking sheet. I knew they were ready as the smell of cheesy goodness filled the air! These should definitely be enjoyed right away and the smell is so enticing this should not be a problem at all.

I ate way too many to count and I would definitely make this simple and easy recipe again. I ate this with all four of the champagnes that I tasted: Ayala Brut Majeur, Ayala Brut Nature, Ayala Rosé and Ayala 2013 Blanc de Blancs. Ayala is a Chardonnay focused champagne house and all of these champagnes went so well with the cheese puffs. The recipe makes about 3 dozen puffs. You can also freeze the dough and pop them in the oven when you are ready to use. I will probably try this over the weekend to see how they turn out.

Another way to get creative with this recipe is to add some bacon or cayenne powder or both! I think I will also try this soon and I will be sure to report back on how it turns out! Is there anything else you would add to these?