Pao de Queijo
With the Rio Olympics recently taking place, we have all been given a sneak peak into the breathtaking landscape of the Brazilian coastline. I was lucky enough to have visited Rio earlier this year, and not only did I come back with an unrelenting desire to return, but also an ever growing need to indulge in my absolute favourite Brazilian food – Pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread).
Knowing that it is quite unlikely that I will be able to get back to sunny Rio any time soon, I decided to give making these bite sized pieces of heaven a try.
After finding a quick and easy recipe and making a few of my own little tweaks, I got baking!
The test – a family get-together. I served up my cheesy delights and within minutes they were gone. Success! Luckily I got to eat some myself, and I can safely say, the South-African-made Pão de queijo took me straight back to my wonderful vacation.
Requests for the recipe came through about as quickly as my family inhaled the Brazilian cheese bread, and so I thought I would share it with all of you too!
Makes about 18 cheese bread bites:
Ingredients:
- 250ml full cream milk
- 300g gluten free flour or tapioca flour
- 2 large eggs
- 100g grated Gruyere cheese
- 125g salted butter
- 1 tsp salt
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the milk and salt and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
Add the gluten free flour, stirring vigorously until it is all combined. The dough will be quite thick. Leave to cool for a short while.
Scoop the dough into a mixing bowl and have your electric whisk handy. Beat the dough until it is cool. Add one egg at a time into the mixture, ensuring that the first egg is fully incorporated before adding the second one.
Once the dough is glossy and mixed, stir in the cheese with a wooden spoon.
Using an ice-cream scoop, or a tablespoon, spoon balls of the dough onto a greased baking tray, about 5cm apart.
Bake for about 20 minutes until crisp and golden.
Remove from the oven and serve your Brazilian cheese bread warm.
They should be crispy on the outside and gooey deliciousness on the inside!
Do you have any tasty recipes from your travels that you would like to share? Send them through to alessing@eetrite.com