Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread

Pão de Queijo, also known as Brazilian Cheese Bread.
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I may have a sweet tooth, but I do love my savoury treats just as much, like Shrimp Samosas or Mushroom Bruschetta. This Brazilian Cheese Bread was a savoury teatime snack I made recently. The recipe - from Elise's blog - came recommended by Evan. I love things twee and petite ... and these little ones made me go "awwww" when I first laid eyes on them.


The batter can be kept refrigerated for up to a week. Which means, you can make fresh batches of Brazilian Cheese Bread whenever you want to eat them.

This "bread" is as easy as it can get. Everything goes into your blender/food processor, and a few pulses later, your batter is ready. No need to knead. Or proof. Or shape. How's about that?

One thing though, this is not your usual soft, fluffy bread. It's also nothing like Popovers and/or Yorkshire Pudding, although they do look similar. Instead, the texture is chewy and gelatinous, much like mochi. Are you intrigued yet? ;) Personally, I prefer Popovers (more eggy and milky) but hey, everything's worth a try. You don't try, you'll never know!


Watch them bloom.


Freshly baked. ♥

Recipe
(from Simply Recipes)

- 1 egg (at room temperature)
- 1/3 cup olive oil*
- 2/3 cup milk
- Scant 1 1/2 cups (170 grams) tapioca flour
- 1/2 cup (packed, about 66 grams) grated cheese of your choice**
- 1 teaspoon of salt (or more to taste)

* If, like me, you do not like the smell and/or taste of olive oil in your bakes (URGH), substitute with a neutral oil, like sunflower or canola. I used canola oil this time but I'm wondering how it would have tasted if I had used melted butter instead? Hmmm ...

** I used a combination of grated mozzarella and parmesan. I believe the parmesan gave the golden tops their speckled bits.

1 Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a mini-muffin tin. Put all of the ingredients into a blender and pulse until smooth. You may need to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender so that everything gets blended well. At this point you can store the batter in the refrigerator for up to a week.

2 Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until all puffy and just lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for a few minutes. Eat while warm or save to reheat later (I don't recommend the latter).

The batter is enough for 16 mini muffin sized cheese breads.
* Note: For me, the batter filled up 2 of these 12-muffin trays.

Nom nom nom.
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