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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,
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, sweet potato, and cheese!
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.
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
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 the best thing? You can prepare days or weeks in advance. On 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. On 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!
Sausage & Sweet Potato Puffs
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground sausage
- 2 cups + 2 tbsp flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ cup cooked and mashed sweet potato
- 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 tsp minced thyme
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat. Break up any large pieces to achieve evenly browned small pieces of sausage. Remove the sausage from the heat and put it into a bowl to cool, including any oil remaining in the skillet.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and sugar. Whisk to combine.
- Add the mashed sweet potato, shredded cheese, and thyme.
- Mix all the ingredients with hands until the mixture is evenly moistened and can be kneaded like a dough.
- Using a cookie scoop, make tablespoon-size rounds and place on parchment-lined baking sheets 1 inch apart.
- Bake in a preheated oven until firm and lightly crisp, 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
- While cooling, whisk together the mustard and honey until smooth. Pour sauce into a bowl and serve with warm puffs.
Delicious!!! My batter was a bit too dry to scoop so I added 3 Tablespoons of sour cream and then they held together great. I also needed to bake mine 15-18 minutes. These are so yummy and I can’t wait to share them with my family?
I’m making this (again) for Thanksgiving appetizers. So much better than floury hard sausage balls. Thanks for the great recipe.