Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)
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When I was in high school, we had to read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. If you read the book, you can probably guess where this is going. I quickly gave up red meat, and haven’t eaten it to this day. I do eat poultry, but I toy with the idea of going vegetarian.
I bring this up because on one of my first few dates with my ex-boyfriend, he took me to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse where the servers walk around with meat on skewers. (Hmm, dating red flag?) They had one chicken option and of course, it was wrapped in bacon. However, they also have a ridiculously good salad/side bar and pao de queijo, tiny cheese rolls made with tapioca flour. I was probably the restaurant’s favorite customer ever, because I ate mainly veggies and bread; they made a ton of money off me.
Fortunately for me, there’s another Brazilian restaurant, Bossa Nova, in my neighborhood. They also have pao de queijo, and they even have chicken, sans bacon! I’ve gone regularly over the years and recently became obsessed with their cheese bread. So much in fact, that I decided to give a recipe a whirl.
This recipe was super easy, and the puffs were delicious and pretty close to the restaurants’ versions. I probably wouldn’t make these without a stand mixer and cookie scoop, but if you have both of those, you’re good to go!
And, because these are made with tapioca flour, they’re kosher for Passover (and also gluten free). This is a life changer!
Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups (10 ounces) tapioca flour or sour cassava flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking pan with parchment and set aside.
Combine the milk, oil, and salt in the saucepan. Whisking occasionally, bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Remove from heat as soon as you see big bubbles coming through the milk.
Add the tapioca flour to the saucepan and stir until the tapioca flour is completely incorporated. The dough will be grainy and gelatinous.
Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed until it smooths out and has cooled enough that you can hold your finger against the dough for several seconds. (If the dough is too warm, there’s a chance your eggs may scramble, so take your time here!)
Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl. With the mixer on medium, beat the eggs into the dough in two additions. Wait until the first addition has been fully incorporated into the dough before adding the second. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
With the mixer on medium, beat in the cheese until fully incorporated. The resulting dough will be very sticky, stretchy, and soft with a consistency between cake batter and cookie dough.
Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop rounded portions of the dough into mounds on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Space the mounds an inch or two apart. Dip your scoop in water to prevent sticking.
Transfer the sheet with the puffs to the oven and immediately turn down the heat to 350°F. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the puffs have puffed, the outsides are dry, and they are just starting to color. Cool briefly and eat. Leftover puffs can be kept in an airtight container for up to a week and re-crisped in a warm oven or toaster oven.
Yields: I used a small OXO cookie scoop and got around three dozen puffs.
Recipe from The Kitchn.
Passover Desserts
Are you in charge of desserts for the Passover seders? Have no fear, I’ve got you covered with lots of delicious treats! Our faves are the Chocolate Walnut Cookies, Chocolate Chip Meringues, and of course, Matzo Brittle. Have a great Pesach!
- Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies
- Passover Mandelbrot
- Chocolate Chip Meringues
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Matzo Brittle
- Apple Crisp
- Brownies
- Lemon Chiffon Cake
Passover Desserts
It’s that time again! Here are my tried and true Passover dessert recipes. My family’s faves are the matzo brittle, meringues, and chocolate walnut cookies, but they are all delish! Happy Passover!
- Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies
- Passover Mandelbrot
- Chocolate Chip Meringues
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Matzo Brittle
- Apple Crisp
- Brownies
- Lemon Chiffon Cake
Passover Desserts
If you’re looking for tried and true Passover desserts, you’ve come to the right place:
- Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies
- Passover Mandelbrot
- Chocolate Chip Meringues
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Matzo Brittle
- Apple Crisp
- Brownies
- Lemon Chiffon Cake
My family’s faves are the matzo brittle and chocolate walnut cookies, they are both delish!
Passover Lemon Chiffon Cake
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Regular non-Passover recipes will resume next week.
It’s always hard to find Passover desserts that people will take more than one bite of. So when a dessert elicits a YUM response, you know it’s a keeper. This cake is light and airy (it has NINE eggs in it, so it had better be light and airy!) and the flavor is not overly lemony.
The cake came together easily and getting it out of the pan was not a problem. I made this for the first seder, and when we nibbled on it the following day, it tasted even better. I think next year I may add a lemon juice and powdered sugar glaze for the top.
I apologize for the ugly photo, but I was crazy busy making most of this:
and photos were the last thing on my mind.
Ingredients
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2/3 cup matzo cake meal
2/3 cup potato starch
8 egg yolks
1 egg
1 2/3 cups superfine sugar, divided
1/3 cup oil
8 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the lemon juice and grated zest in a small saucepan. Bring to a slow boil. Simmer 4 to 5 minutes. (There should be 6 tablespoons of liquid. If not, add water.) Set aside to cool.
Using a fine-mesh strainer, sift together the matzo cake meal and potato starch 4 times. Set aside.
Place the egg yolks and whole egg in the small bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until the mixture begins to thicken, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add 1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue beating until the mixture turns pale yellow and is very thick. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Slowly add the oil in a steady stream.
Reduce the speed to medium-low. Add the cooled lemon juice and zest and beat until blended. Reduce the speed to low. Gradually add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Place the egg whites in the large bowl of a mixer. Using clean beaters or the whip attachment, beat the whites on medium speed until frothy. Add the salt. Increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the remaining 2/3 cup of sugar at the side of the bowl, beating until soft peaks form.
With a rubber spatula, fold 1/4 of the beaten whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whites.
Gently pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch angel food pan with a removable bottom. Smooth the top. Bake in the lower 1/3 of the oven until the cake is golden brown and springy to the touch, 45 to 50 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert the pan onto a wire rack. Cool the cake completely in the pan. Turn the cake upright and run a thin, sharp knife around the sides of the pan, then around the center tube. Lift the cake by the center tube and remove the ring. Run a knife under the cake to loosen the cake from the pan. Invert the cake and remove the tube section.
Transfer the cake to a platter. Store the cake at room temperature under a glass dome or cover with foil up to 1 week.
Recipe from the LA Times.
