Pão de Queijo

As my friends and I have gotten older, and grown into our current selves, we have all seemingly embraced those hidden artistic talents that tended to lie dormant all those years that we were plowing through books and earning degrees, memorizing chemical formulas or finance equations.  The years go by and all that information once-so-important-but-now-deemed-pretty-useless is forgotten.  I mean, the only time I write down chemical symbols is as ingredient abbreviations in recipes- can’t take the scientist out of the girl, I guess.  The plus side of this is that all that extra room in our brains and time in our schedules have allowed us to each became proficient at what it turns out are some pretty useful talents, mine being food blogging apparently?  Which leads me to this pao de queijo.

In any case, none of us have let “the man” or the pressures of being a grown up or a parent stifle our creativity. Go us!

I cook, apparently.

AC crafts paper like a magician. 

JLau is a pro seamstress.

H, the next Picasso.

D, the creator of the wonderful plate you see today.

Pretty cute, right? She made it (and burned it? Sealed it? Baked it? I don’t know the word) herself.

The point of all the above is that D helped me eat up these rolls, and in return, I promised to tout her plate. It’s worth touting, don’t’ you agree?

(Side question from her- would you buy this plate? And for how much?  I hear the wheels turning inside her head).

Okay, enough about this plate. Let’s talk about the things on it.

Pão de Queijo are Brazilian cheese buns.  Sounds good right? They are.

As I was reading recipe after recipe, I had sort of a déjà vu moment and realized I (and possibly you, depending on when you jumped on this crazy train) have seen them before under the guise of Portuguese sweet rolls.

AHH. Portugal. Brazil. They’re foodie friends.

With that I ended my search and changed the original beignet-like recipe enough that they came out drastically different. Butter instead of oil. Cheese instead of sugar. Stand mixer rather than wooden spoon.

About the cheese- most recipes call for Parmesan.  If you’re aiming for authentic, go with quiejo minas. I was feeling French-y so, in a left field move, I used mimolette.  Cheese as you will.

The result this time was a roll definitely more light and airy than that original heavy and gooey recipe. The tapioca flour still makes them gluten-free and gives them an almost choux-like texture. D was IN LOVE with them, and said they reminded her of her favorite Japanese black sesame bread. When I find out how to make those from this, I’ll let you know. Until then, you have two very different way to enjoy a most excellent treat.

My favorite? Ahhhh…sweet. I just have such a sweet tooth, and that wins my heart and soul. And I liked the more rustic look and texture of the other ones.  Still, this ain’t bad and an easy way to mix up your boring dinner roll.  Down with boring rolls!

Sorry for being so cheesy.