Brazilian Cheese Bread- Pao De Queijo

I had heard of these little guys for years (from food blogs), but I never made them until a few months ago. I had an older non-stick mini muffin pan back then, and these stuck badly to it, even though I greased it well.  I got a brand new one and tried it again, and they came out perfectly and also got really tall (above).  The pic below is of my old pan- they spread out and not up in that one, for some reason.  Both ways tasted good, though.

Brazilian Cheese Bread- Pao De Queijo 
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

1 large egg
1/4 cup sunflower, vegetable or olive oil
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups tapioca flour (fluff the flour before measuring), about 6.25 ounces/180 grams- no subs!!
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed shredded cheese, like Parmesan or an aged Asiago

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a mini muffin tin (this makes about 16-24 little breads so if you don’t have a muffin tin large enough, you can just make separate batches after the first ones come out).

2.  In a blender, combine the egg, oil, milk, flour and salt. Process until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender once or twice. Add the cheese and process for just a short bit, 5-10 seconds or a few short pulses, until the cheese is in small bits all throughout the batter.
Give the batter a good stir to get any solids off the bottom and pour the mixture into the prepared muffin tin filling the cups nearly to the top.

3.  Bake the pao de queijo until very lightly golden brown, 15-20 minutes. Don’t let them get too brown on the bottom or they will be too crusty and not as chewy.

4.  Remove them from the oven and let them cool for just a minute or two. They are best eaten warm! Don’t worry if they fall a bit in the middle – that’s completely normal.

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