Little choux amuse-gueules

[lepard]

Translates to something between 'cocktail-snacks' and 'happy open mouths'. Split and filled with a little pâté or soft cheese mixture they're great to have with drinks. You could add chopped ham, olives, or fresh herbs to the mixture, or sprinkle them with black onion or sesame seeds just before baking.

1 shallot (or 1/4 small onion), finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
75g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne or Tabasco
1 tbsp vermouth
30g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
25g grated strong cheese

Heat the oven to 180C. Cook the shallot, garlic and oil with a splash of water in a saucepan until soft and transparent. Measure the flour, salt and cayenne into a small bowl and place this by the cooker somewhere handy. Fill a jug with 100ml water, the wine and butter and add all this to the pan. As soon as it boils, add the flour in one go and beat briskly with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and stir until the mixture comes away from the side of the pan. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well until the mixture smooth, glossy, and lump-free. Beat in the grated cheese then pipe or spoon small blobs, the size of five stacked pound coins, on to a foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then split and fill with whatever filling you like.

[Kake]

I've made these twice now, and they are good, thank you! In fact they were so good I didn't even bother filling them. I put chopped ham in the first time and chopped green olives the second. I've not made them plain yet, and I do realise that olives and ham are both quite salty, but I think 1 tsp salt is a bit too much, particularly if you're planning on filling them with something which will most likely be at least a little salty in itself. In the olive batch I reduced the salt to 1/3 tsp (well; I actually reduced it to 1/2 tsp and multiplied the recipe by 1.5, but it works out to the same thing), which I think was much better.