Sheltering and Baking G/F Brazilian Cheese Buns
I first learned of the gluten free bready snack called Brazil Bites from a Brazilian woman in our neighborhood who occasionally sold them on the side. My mom bought a few and wow were they good! She made them plain, with just cheese, and then a few with sausage in them. After that phase petered out, we re-discovered these snacks in the freezer section of most grocery stores. They were fine, but….meh. Then again when you’re gluten free you tend to take convenience with what you can get.
Like everyone else spending more time at home and dusting off the baking pans, I discovered Bob’s Red Mill recipe for Brazilian Cheese Buns right on the back of his tapioca flour bag. I had to try it! Whew….that was a mistake. One delicious carby cheesey easy peasy mistake. If there’s one reason my cycling bibs don’t fit anymore this is it. There’s also no comparison to the store-bought ones. These puff up and are so airy and tasty, hands down the best.
Other than the tapioca flour, the six ingredients should be staples around the kitchen:
1 Egg
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2/3 cup Milk
1 1/2 cups Tapioca Flour (What is it?? It’s derived from cassava, a starchy tuberous root native to South America. Diversify yourself.)
1/2 cup shredded cheese - note that I tried using diced cheese and they didn’t puff up as nicely. The shredded cheese seems to give the buns perfect poofy structure.
1/2 tsp Salt
Everything is blended at once in a mixer. It will be soupy so ladle it half-full into the muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes at 400F.
That’s pretty much it. Out of the oven they’re a delicious carby snack, although not with a huge amount of flavor. Great for a side dish with dinner. I also added some black salt sprinkled on the top which helped to jazz it up.
But if you can’t get enough of cheese, the great thing about this recipe is that you can ADD MORE:
No not the whole block of Manchego, although that would be dreamy. My preferred method is to add an extra bite-size piece of cheese to the batter once it’s in the baking pan so that it will melt into the top of the bun. Any kind of cheese will do. That extra sprinkle of black salt is also a great flavor.
These little snacks puff up like crazy and easily slip out of the pan (I used non-stick spray too). With this batch, I tried adding some leftover pepperoni from the fridge. I’ve also read about adding fresh basil, you really can’t go wrong experimenting.
If I ever get out on long bike rides again, these would make an excellent snack to bring along, especially because they can smoosh down and you still get that great flavor. I need to start working off these happy buns! Enjoy!