It has been a while since my last post, but luckily the holidays were a time with lots of cooking and too little time for posting. So there’s a lot of new recipes to catch up on with a wish for many more delicious adventures for the new year!

I will start the new year with something slightly sophisticated and really rich in flavour – crispiness, lightness, smoothness, sweetness – those tempting savoury choux balls really have it all. They are a great appetizer and in my case turned up into the perfect afternoon guests treat.

The original recipe comes from here.

You will need: 

For the choux balls: 

2 eggs 

65g flour 

50g butter 

120ml water 

pinch of salt 

egg wash to finish (optional) 

For the filling: 

150g pack of soft goat’s cheese 

100g soft cream cheese 

bunch of fresh herbs – basil, rosemary, chives, thyme 

pinch of black pepper 

For the caramelised onion: 

1 big red onion 

3 tbsp. brown sugar 

1 tbsp. olive oil or butter 

1 tbsp. thick balsamic vinegar glaze 

thyme 

Start with preparing the choux balls. Put the water and the butter in a saucepan and bring to boil. Once boiled, remove from heat and stir to cool down a bit. Add the flour and stir until well combined. Transfer the batter into another bowl and let it cool down completely. Then add the eggs one by one and stir well. You can use a mixer if you want but I prefer using a spatula as it allows you to feel the batter better.

Transfer the dough into a piping bag with a big opening. Pipe the balls trying to keep the size consistent onto a tray lined with baking paper. You can make them as big or as small as you want, but remember to allow enough space between them as they will rise in the oven. Brush a bit of egg wash on top of each ball.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180° for 10-15min to help the choux dough rise first. Then reduce the oven to 160° and bake for another 20-25 min.

Take out of the oven and let them cool down.

For the filling mixed the goat’s cheese and the cream cheese in a food processor. Alternatively, you can mixed them using a fork. Chop the herbs finely and add them to the cheese mix. Add black pepper to taste. If the mixture feels too thick, add a spoon of yoghurt.

For the caramelised onion, chop the onion into stripes. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion. Add the sugar and balsamic glaze and stir constantly until the onion is caramelised. Add the thyme just before you take the onion off the heat.

If you struggle with time, you can end the process here and serve the choux balls, the cheese filling and the onion topping separately. You can leave the assembling to your guests, I am sure they’ll have fun!

Otherwise, you can transfer the cheese mixture into a piping bag with a plastic ending, make a small hole into each choux ball and pipe a bit of mixture inside it.  Alternatively, you can cut the ball and spread some mixture in the middle.

Top the balls with a bit of the caramelised onion and sprinkle a bit of chopped nuts for ultimate perfection!

Enjoy!