I first met Edward Delling-­Williams at Le Petit Grain—his bakery in the Belleville section of Paris on a street painted with artistic graffiti, the kind that tourists use for selfie backgrounds. The bakery is nothing like the typical Parisian boulangerie or patisserie; they don’t open until 9 a.m., and very few of their offerings are classic. He sells cookies, Lamingtons (Australian mini-­­cakes), Bakewell tarts and a peanut tart topped with what looked like Marshmallow Fluff. I did not see one traditional baguette.

The takeaway? Don’t expect the expected from Delling-Williams.

That’s why, last year, I returned to Paris, lured by his notion of a giant gougère, the cheesy finger food made from choux pastry—the same dough used for éclairs, Paris-Brest and profiteroles. Instead of a one-bite affair, his gougères are more biscuit-sized, requiring two or three bites, just the thing to go with a glass of Sancerre.

The recipe starts in classic mode: Melt butter, stir in the flour off heat, then put the mixture back on the stovetop and continue cooking and stirring for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture (in Delling-Williams’ words) looks like Play-Doh. Then he does something untraditional—he uses a stand mixer with a paddle attachment to finish the recipe, mixing in the eggs and cheese. (This is usually done using a wooden spoon and vigorous stirring by hand.)

For our version, we refrigerate the finished dough for at least an hour, so it holds its shape in the oven, and then scoop it (an ice cream scoop works best) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. We then bake it in a 425°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, twice as long as the typical gougère.

Gougères are most often made with Gruyère, but we preferred a mix of Comté and Parmesan.

Bigger, in this case, is better.

Christopher Kimball

Christopher Kimball is founder of Milk Street, which produces Milk Street Magazine, Milk Street Television on PBS, and the weekly public radio show Milk Street Radio. He founded Cook’s Magazine in 1980 and was host and executive producer of America’s Test Kitchen until 2016. Kimball is the author of several books, including "The Yellow Farmhouse" and "Fannie’s Last Supper."