Pão de Queijo

These delicious cheesy doughy balls were everywhere in Brazil- every meal included them and the airports smelled of them.
Even more than the endless amounts of charred cow, Pão de Queijo will always remind me of my first trip to Brazil; I knew they'd be the first thing I tried making after getting home (and almost everything else was just seared meat anyways...)


Pão de Queijo

• 500 grams- about 3.5-4 cups Tapioca flour
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 cup of cooking oil
• 1 Tbsp salt
  
• 3-4 eggs
• 2 cups grated/crumbled cheeses
  
• few pinches extra salt

1. Measure Tapioca flour into a heat-proof, large (it will hold everything) bowl
2. Boil milk, oil and salt together
3. Pour milk/oil mixture into the tapioca flour (you may not need all the liquid) and stir until it becomes a big pasty mess, similar to choux
4. Set aside the mixture to cool while you grate and/or crumble your 2 cups of cheeses- I used 1 cup Greek feta, 1.5 cups Parmesan and .5 cups sharp Irish cheddar
5. Preheat oven to 360 degrees
   
6. Beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, then add 1/2 the cheese
7. Beat in the 3rd egg, if it's looking too watery omit the 4th egg, if not, beat it in too, stir in the remaining cheese
8. You should now have a thick, smooth dough
9. Spoon heaping spoonfuls of dough onto lined cookie sheets, keeping in mind that Pão de Queijo will grow close to 25%
10. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and bake at 360 degrees for 15-20 minutes
11. Pão de Queijo is best served hot fresh from the oven, but good reheated too.

The recipe I've posted is slightly tweaked from the one I used- my batter was a bit too liquid* and my dough-balls flattened too much as a result, see above; if anyone tries making these let me know how Pão de Queijo turns out for you!

*UPDATE- on a second making it turns out mine was liquidy just because the milk/oil mixture cooled too much before I added it, pour it into the flour while still boiling and you'll be fine.