Planning a Christmas or New Year’s party? Consider adding gougeres to the menu.  These little morsels of pâte à choux dough with cheese are basically French cheese puffs. It’s everything you want in a party food: fun and easy to eat (finger food!) and totally addictive. You can make the dough ahead, roll into puffs and freeze until just before the party. Pop frozen balls into the oven, and serve gougeres while still warm. The fact that gougeres pair well with Champagne is just another compelling reason to add them to your party plans.

Our basic gougeres recipe involves truffle butter because we couldn’t resist adding that kitchen staple. Two stuffed gougeres recipes follow, and these cheese balls make divine canapes with the addition of umami-rich mushrooms and ham.

Truffle Butter Gougeres

Classic gougeres are already a cocktail hour favorite but add our black truffle butter, and they become completely irresistible. This recipe yields about 2 dozen gougeres (minus the ones sampled in the kitchen).

Porcini Gougeres with Mushroom Mousse & Prosciutto

So many of our favorite things are packed into these two-bite canapes! Porcini-scented gougeres are stuffed with creamy mushroom mousse and French prosciutto in this easy recipe that’s perfect for the holidays.

Heritage Ham Stuffed Gougeres

Creamy and smoky ham mousse makes a delectable filling for gougeres in this easy canape recipe. Although delicious year round, it’s a great bite for New Year’s and the perfect way to use up leftover Christmas ham.