French Onion Gougères

Procedure for Gougeres:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Prepare sheet tray with silpat and a large piping bag with ½-inch straight piping tip.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter and salt; bring to a boil. Add the flour and stir it in with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms. Stir over low heat until it dries out and pulls away from the side of the pan, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Scrape the dough into a Kitchen Aid mixing bowl; let cool for 1 minute while mixing on low with paddle attachment. Add the eggs into the dough, one at a time, beating thoroughly between each one, checking after first 7 eggs to see consistency of dough. (Chef's note: Dough should gently fall into itself. If it is too stiff, it will remain without gentle fall—this will signal more egg is needed.) Once the dough is correct consistency, add the cheese and a pinch each of pepper and nutmeg.
5. Place dough into piping bag and pipe half dollar sized rounds onto Silpat 2 inches apart.
6. Once all chouxs are piped, place in 400°F oven. Close door and drop to 375°F for 15-20 minutes. Gougeres will puff up and be golden brown with crispy bottoms and shine when they are completely baked. Cool before filling. If you make gougeres the day before, you may reheat at 350°F for 5 minutes.

Procedure for French Onion Filling:

1. Caramelize yellow onions in drizzle of olive oil. Once done, mount in butter.
2. Add in salt, pepper, bay leaf, Worcestershire and all-purpose flour and stir until it is a pasty consistency.
3. When roux is simmering, whisk in beef stock a bit at a time. The French onion filling should be thick enough to hold in pastry. Cool completely before building.

To Assemble:

1. Cut tops of gougeres off and push centers in.
2. Place French onion filling in a piping bag. Fill each gougere to the top.
3. When all chouxs are filled, sprinkle top with shredded gruyere cheese.
4. Warm before serving and torch tops to order.