Food and Recipes Appetizers Cheese Puffs with Ham Salad Recipe 2.0 (1) 1 Review If you love to entertain, this is a great recipe to know by heart. Not only are these crisp little cheese puffs easy to freeze and bake off at a moment's notice, no one can turn them down. These light and airy puffs are delicious on their own and even better filled with tangy Ham Salad. By Sheri Castle Sheri Castle Sheri Castle is an award-winning professional food writer, recipe developer, and cooking teacher known for melding storytelling and culinary expertise. The Southern Foodways Alliance named her one of Twenty Southern Food Legends in 2019. She's written more than a dozen cookbooks, and her favorite is The New Southern Garden Cookbook. Sheri is a Contributing Editor for Southern Living and writes regularly for a number of media outlets. Her new cooking show will debut on PBS NC in 2021. Sheri hails from the Blue Ridge Mountains and now lives in Fearrington Village, North Carolina, with spoiled pets. Check out shericastle.com. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on April 17, 2017 Print Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Alison Miksch; Prop Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller; Food Styling: Torie Cox Active Time: 1 hrs Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins Yield: 10 serves Ingredients 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 cup water 1/2 cup unsalted butter 4 large eggs, at room temperature 6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups) Ham Salad Directions Preheat oven to 450°F. Whisk together flour, salt, dry mustard, and cayenne in a small bowl. Bring water and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high, stirring to melt butter. Remove from heat; add flour mixture all at once, and stir vigorously until mixture is smooth and thick, like mashed potatoes. Transfer to large bowl, and let stand 3 minutes. Beat dough with an electric mixer on low speed until dough no longer steams and is just warm to the touch, about 1 minute. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on medium-high speed until dough is smooth and creamy after each addition. Add cheese, and beat until combined. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Use a 1/2-ounce ice-cream scoop or 2 spoons to portion dough into walnut-size mounds (about 1 tablespoon) 1 inch apart onto prepared baking sheet. Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F, and continue baking until Cheese Puffs are puffed, deep golden brown, and dry to the touch, 15 to 20 more minutes. (They should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.) Cool on baking sheet 3 minutes; split with a serrated knife. Spoon about 1 tablespoon Ham Salad into each, and replace the tops. Serve warm or at room temperature. Make Ahead Reheat baked Cheese Puffs in a 300°F oven 5 to 10 minutes before filling and serving, or freeze unbaked mounds until solid; then transfer to ziplock plastic freezer bag. Bake frozen Cheese Puffs at 350°F, increasing baking time by 5 to 10 minutes. Print