Basic Cheese Puffs

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Let these savory little puffs inspire you -- serve them plain or use a pastry bag to fill them, cream puff style, with a mixture of softened cream cheese, snipped chives and smoked salmon. This recipe came from a little book called perfect picnics. You'll want to double the recipe -- they freeze very well and are great to have on hand for company.

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Steps

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Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

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Place the butter , salt and water in a pan.

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Bring to a boil.

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Sift the flour onto a sheet of waxed paper , then , off the heat , add it all to the butter and water mixture and stir it in very quickly to form a thick paste that leaves the sides of the pan clean.

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Return the pan to the heat and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for 1 minute to dry it.

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Remove the pan from heat and cool for 5 minutes.

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Beat in the eggs and yolk , one at a time , then add the mustard , cayenne pepper and grated cheese.

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Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto a nonstick baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

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Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook for 15 minutes , until golden brown.

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Cool on a wire rack and serve cold.

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Ingredients

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butter, salt, water, all-purpose flour, eggs, egg yolk, english mustard powder, cayenne pepper, cheese