Pão de queijo: Brazilian Cheese Bread

These "cheesy poofs" are fun and addictive. The first recipe may not be a traditional technique but it's so much easier than the second that we make them more often.

Easy method in mini muffin tins, fresh from the oven

Easy non-traditional method

This recipe is insanely easy, no boiling the liquid and burning out motors blending in the tapioca starch. The surface doesn't come out quite as crusty as the naked-baked ones below but it's so easy you can do it in 30 minutes, start-to-finish, without using the stovetop. You only need a blender, and a couple mini-muffin tins, and an oven. 

The starch is Cassava or Tapioca flour, both made from the cassava/manioc/yucca plant root, but tapioca's a bit more processed and has little fiber; "sour" cassava flour is the norm, but not vital. Traditionally the cheese is similar to a queso fresco but we find this a bit bland so use something more intensely flavored -- a different cheese or mix in something like parmesan. We sometimes add a bit of powdered chili or pimenton to the batter or as a dusting to finish.

Do yourself a favor and get a silicon mini muffin mold: they never stick and you don't need to lubricate them with oil. After losing half of mine to getting stuck in "nonstick" muffin tins, I finally made the switch; I wish I'd done it earlier.

 60 g       1        egg, large
 95 ml    1/3 cup    olive oil
190 ml    2/3 cup    milk
170 g   1 1/2 cups   tapioca flour / manioc starch
 66 g     1/2 cup    cheese, grated (packed by cup)
  5 g       1 tsp    salt

  3 g       1 tsp    pimenton dulce (optional)

Preheat oven to 200C/400F (190C/375F convection).
If you don't have a silicon muffin mould and only have "nonstick", grease two 12-cell mini-muffin tins (about 4 cm or 1 1/2 inch diameter holes) and hope for the best; you don't need to grease the silicon at all.
Blend all ingredients in a blender.
Pour into muffin tins.
Bake 15-20 minutes until golden to golden brown.

Silicon never sticks

Nonstick isn't reliable

The center should be slightly gummy, not completely dry, similar to a
pop-over or gougere.

Easy to remove from silicon

Traditional way

Using a Kitchen-Aide stand mixer makes the mixing/kneading process easy.  Since Manioc has no gluten, extended kneading won't cause it to get tough or chewy like bread dough.

Cooling the mixture before adding Eggs prevents them from setting up.
The dough is very wet, almost batter-like; chilling should help in forming the balls, but we ended up dolloping with a disher -- they puffed up into beautiful rounds.

The commercial ones are a bit gooey in the center.  My first ones (350F for 20 minutes) came out crispy on the outside and partly hollow in the center. After chilling, I baked in a convection oven at 350F, but you could use conventional at 375F or 400F.

1 1/2 cup Milk
1/2 cup Butter (1 stick, 8 Tbs, 1/4 pound)
1 1/2 tsp Salt
3 cup Manioc Starch, sour
2 1/4 cup Grated Cheese (mixture of Parmesan, Mozzarella, Mexican farmer)
3 whole Eggs, beaten

Bring Milk, Butter, Salt to boil.
Pour mixture into Kitchen Aide mixer bowl with paddle.
Slowly mix in Manioc Starch, increase speed and mix thoroughly.
Allow to cool.
Mix in Cheese, Eggs; knead until smooth.
Chill to make it easier to form into balls.

Preheat oven to convection 375F convection or or 400F conventional.
Grease or line baking sheets with silpats.

Use a #70 disher or tablespoon to scoop out ball or dollops.
Place balls or drop dollops onto nonstick sheetpan.
Bake about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
Serve hot immediately.