Cheese and Onion Pie vs Gougères

Both dishes lean on butter, egg and cheese, but put them to very different work. The Cheese and Onion Pie rubs cold butter into flour for a pastry case, then fills it with creamy mashed potato, slowly caramelized onions, milk and mature cheddar, using egg only as a golden glaze. The bite-sized Gougères instead melt butter into boiling water, beat whole eggs into the cooked dough and fold in Gruyère or Comté with nutmeg, baking into puffed, crisp-shelled mounds. One is rich, sweet-savory comfort; the other is light and delicately spiced.