Brazilian Cheese Puffs (also known as Pao de Quiejo) are beautiful cheesy gems that are gluten-free, grain-free, and easy to make with simple ingredients!
Brazilian cheese puffs are some of the most amazing little gems that have come out of my oven. So much, in fact, that I made a double batch because the kids practically inhaled them.
Who knew they would be so popular?
Talk about addictive! I probably could have tripled the recipe but then I would have sat there and eaten the entire pan one by one. No kidding – they are just that wonderful!
Over the last year we have made our fair share of gluten-free and grain-free rolls.
Aside from these here, we have also done Pan de Yuca, Paleo Dinner Rolls, and Paleo Zucchini and Squash Bread (SO good!)
We transformed our garden zucchini into Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Muffins, which were absolutely divine!
What are Brazilian Cheese Puffs?
Brazilian cheese puffs (or rolls), also known as Pao de Queijo, are a simple Brazilian cheese bread.
They are quite similar to American popovers except they are made with tapioca flour in lieu of regular all purpose flour.
They are made with simple ingredients, including organic Tapioca flour , and milk. We pick up our Tapioca flour on Amazon for a relatively good price. If you can’t find tapioca flour, check your local grocer for Arrowroot Flour as that is quite similar.
I wouldn’t recommend using Coconut Flour or Almond Flour as that will change the texture completely..
Baking Tips for Brazilian Cheese Puffs
You can whip them up rather quickly in the blender or, in your mixer.
If you opt to use the mixer, I would suggest adding the liquids first, and the tapioca last – otherwise the tapioca will gum up to the blades and be impossible to mix.
The batter will be very liquid. Pour into your greased mini muffin pan and bake for 15 minutes or until a light golden brown.
The finished Brazilian Cheese Puffs (Pao de Queijo) will be chewy ~ serve them with a little butter and gobble them right up 😉
- 1/3 C. extra virgin olive oil
- 2/3 C. milk (we used raw)
- 1 1/2 C. tapioca flour
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp salt (or more - to taste)
- 1/2 C. grated cheese (we used parmesan)
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Grease your mini muffin pan thoroughly with butter, and set aside.
- In your blender or KitchenAid, combine the milk, room temperature egg, oil, cheese and salt until combined.
- Once combined, add the tapioca flour 1/2 C. at a time until all of the tapioca flour has been added.
- Mix well on high, scraping down the sides of the blender so that everything is easily blended.
- Pour the batter into your greased mini muffin tin ~ leaving just 1/8 inch of space at the top.
- Pop in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until light golden brown.
- Batter can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for up to one week.
Pan de Yuca (Gluten-free Cheese Bread)
*This recipe was updated with new pictures November, 2018. You can see previous pictures of these yummy rolls here.
