Table of Contents

Sausage, sweet potato and cheese! Yippee!
Perfect to make ahead!
Watch how to make these sweet potato puffs:

I love any party that involves gougéres, also known as… cheese puffs! I’ll wager you know what I mean: those airy puffs of dough packed with an intense cheese flavor. And really, they aren’t too hard to make. The base is composed of a pâte à choux dough, butter, flour and eggs. Sounds like simple enough ingredients, right? And then to really cap things off, you add in lots of delicious cheese. Once piped, they puff up in the oven to create a flavorful little bite.

There are a few tricks to creating this type of dough, but sometimes I don’t want to take the time. So when planning for my Christmas party this year, I decided to play around with the flavors. Enter the sausage and sweet potato components of this puff recipe.

Sausage and sweet potato puffs sitting on white dish on top of greenery all on a white surface

Sausage, sweet potato and cheese! Yippee!

The real star of these puffs is the sausage. This means: do not use a flavorless sausage. During the first round of recipe testing, the flavor was just… well, off. I couldn’t quite explain why, but I settled on the fact that the sausage really had nothing to offer. When I used a good quality sausage – personally I prefer varieties with some Italian herbs, such as fennel – the puffs became showpieces.

Next to the sausage, the cheese is an important player. I love a good sharp cheddar. If you think you don’t like sharp cheddar because it’s too strong, you’re probably eating it all by itself. But seriously, how could you not like sharp cheddar? Once baked with the sweet potato and sausage, the sharpness of the cheddar mellows and becomes the balance needed for a sweet and savory result.

The addition of the sweet potato adds color and moisture. Don’t worry; you won’t have to heat your oven and bake just one sweet potato. Simply pop the potato in the microwave, and about eight to ten minutes later, you’ll have a perfectly cooked sweet potato.

Sausage and sweet potato puffs sitting on white plate with bowl of honey mustard sauce in background

To finish these, all that’s needed is a honey Dijon sauce! And you know what’s great about this sauce? There are only two ingredients: honey and Dijon mustard (you can totally use whatever mustard you have on hand). I think it’s safe to assume you have both of these in your pantry. Combine equal parts of each and voilà!

I’m not going to lie. These aren’t necessarily going to win an award for the most appetizing-looking item, but they do pack a lot of flavor.

Perfect to make ahead!

As you probably know by now, any time I throw a party, I love to come up with recipes that can be prepared ahead and finished right before guests arrive. Isn’t that best thing? You can prepare days or weeks in advance. The day of the party, just set up and plan your oven times! These sausage and sweet potato puffs fit this mold perfectly.

Once the sausage and sweet potato puffs are scooped, you can chill them overnight or freeze them in airtight containers for up to one month. The day of the party, once at room temperature, bake the puffs for a few minutes. You’ll have a quick and delicious appetizer that no one will forget.

Watch how to make these sweet potato puffs:

If you’re going to make these puffs for your Christmas party, let me know in the comments how they turn out! I’d love to hear if you love them as much as I do!