New Year's Nibbles

Excuse me, but have you seen the month of December? I seem to have misplaced mine.

I started to write this post about festive snacks on December 1st. I wanted to tell a little story about discovering two crazy-easy recipes, talk you into trying them yourselves, and rest in the warm glow of my computer screen, knowing that I had done my part to populate a potluck, office party, or gift swap with yummy nibbles. Then, December somehow went missing and has just surfaced, 29 days late. So, I'm re-purposing these recipes for New Year's Eve, and, in all honesty, I think they're better suited for party dresses and champagne flutes than Christmas sweaters and eggnog.

If I were going to be anywhere near my kitchen on New Year's Eve, I'd be turning out these spiced nuts and gougeres, filling champagne flutes to the brim, and showing off my new pair of heels.

There are so many good things about these recipes, I almost don't know where to start. But in the spirit of party hosting, there are two qualities that will bring me back to these recipes in years to come.

First of all, they are perfect make-ahead party food. The nuts will keep for several days in a sealed container, and the dough for the gougeres can be mixed, spooned onto baking sheets, and stored in the refrigerator until it's time to pop them in the oven.

Second, these recipes are fool-proof. Some of the other spiced nuts recipes I've tried have resulted in sticky or soft nuts, but the whipped egg whites in this version coat every single nut with a spicy-sweet crust. You could do all sorts of variations on the spices, but I fell for the combination of smoky Hungarian paprika, cumin, allspice, and enough cayenne pepper to entice a long sip of champagne. As for the gougeres, don't be fooled by the fancy-schmancy French. I think of gougeres as mini biscuit and souffle hybrids, but they're easier to make than either. You whip up a pate choux (which is French for a quickly cooked butter and flour combination), add eggs, cheese and the herbs and spices of your choice. This batter isn't fragile or finicky...it's a sturdy, forgiving thing that, when baked, transforms into refined, fluffy hors d'oeuvres.

This may be the eleventh hour for posting recipes for New Year's Eve, so these recipes may be more idealistic than practical. But isn't New Year's the season for idealists? So, whatever you're nibbling as midnight rolls around, I hope you'll raise a toast to good food and drink in mind and mouth in 2008.


Spiced Nuts
This recipe is adapted from one which originally appeared in Martha Stewart's Living.
Makes 2 1/2 cups.


1 large egg white
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 1/2 cups assorted nuts (I chose pecans, cashews, and almonds.)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Beat egg white with mixer until soft and foamy (and no clear liquid remains at the bottom of the bowl). Combine the remaining ingredients (except the nuts), and whisk into the egg whites. Stir in nuts and fold with a rubber spatula until evenly coated. Spread mixture in a single layer onto an ungreased baking sheet.

2. Bake nuts for 15 minutes, then remove from oven. Using a metal spatula, toss, stir, and separate nuts. Reduce oven to 250 degrees, and return nuts to bake until medium brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, toss and stir again. Place baking pan on a wire rack to cool. The nuts will crisp as they cool. Break up any that stick together; store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.


Cumin Gougeres
Adapted from Clotilde Dusoulier's Chocolate & Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen.
Makes between 20 and 40 gougeres, depending on how big you form them.


6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup flour
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere (about 5 ounces)

1. Combine butter, salt, and 1 cup water in a medium saucepan and bring to simmer over medium-low heat. Remove from heat, add flour all at once, and stir quickly with a wooden spoon until well blended. Return pan to medium-low heat and keep stirring until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan.

2. Let cool for three minutes. Add eggs one by one, stirring well between each addition until incorporated. (I used an electric mixer for this.) Sprinkle with cumin and pepper and fold in the cheese. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up to a day.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using two spoons or an ice cream scooper, shape small balls of batter (1-1 1/2 inches in diameter), and drop onto baking sheets, leaving 1 inch of space between each one. At this point you can cover the baking sheets with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours until you are ready to bake.

4. Cover one baking sheet with plastic wrap and return to refrigerator. Bake other sheet for 20 minutes until puffy and golden. Do not open the oven door during the first 10 minutes of baking or the gougeres will not rise well. Turn off the oven, open the over door a crack, and leave the gougeres in for another 5 minutes. (This will help prevent them from deflating.) Transfer gougeres to a cooling rack for 5 minutes, and then serve warm or at room temperature. Personally, I find these much better warm.

You can freeze the gougeres for up to 1 month and reheat them (no thawing necessary) in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.