pão de queijo is brazilian cheese bun made from tapioca flour (manioc starch). these are gluten-free and by far my utmost favorite snack coz they're so cheesy, chewy and savory! its impossible to just stop at one, two, or even three. i've made these countless times but never got to blog it coz they're just too good to have to wait. best served piping hot, these are dangerously addicting and all too easy to overindulge. so far i've experimented with different recipes, such as one where you just blend everything in a food processor but it was too bland and tasteless for my liking. another one i tried used too much milk and butter and the mixture was so oily you could practically drain the melted butter off when you take them out from the oven. so this recipe by king arthur flour is by far the best i've tried and i'm sticking to it in future!


tapioca flour, made from the cassava root, is readily available where i live but prior to making pão de queijo i've never used them before. be forewarned though, not all tapioca flours are created equal. when you experiment with different brands you'll realize that even with the same proportion of ingredients, the mixture will range between scoopable and diluted, much like a choux dough vs. pancake batter. this is due to the different absorption strength of the flour. therefore when i get a diluted batter i like baking them in muffin tins as opposed to adding more flour to make them scoopable. its easier and i like seeing them rise. they rise really really high and don't deflate much after baking. i used a mixture of parmesan & vintage cheddar for these but you can use a combination of your favorite hard cheeses, or even herbs. no matter what, please use ONLY freshly grated cheese. no pre-shredded cheese or parmesan powder coz they taste really really inferior and contain yucky anticaking agent.


these are oh-so-good! crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. if you love the texture of mochi and love garlic and cheese as well, you're gonna have to try these out! i'm not sure how authentic this recipe is (i was told the authentic ones don't use parmesan and are made with potatoes) and i've even seen japanese recipes that use mochiko so i'll do more expermenting next time.

recipe source : king arthur flour