Gourmet Upgrade Pão de Queijo

I happened to see someone make this Brazilian cheese bread from a Reel, and it looked so delicious. She mentioned that she first tried it at a wedding, which immediately made me want to try it too. So I followed her recipe, but mine turned out really oily. I wonder why its different, maybe because I was using airfryer instead of an oven?

I decided to remake it, but this time I reduced the oil. Instead of using 3 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of butter, I used just 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. I also added a little garlic powder and white pepper. You can skip these if you want it to taste more like the traditional one.

This version tasted 100% better than my first attempt and was much less oily! If you want to give it more of an artisanal bakery feel, feel free to add some chives, oregano, or Italian herbs. Feel free to improvise 😉

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Add the egg, milk, olive oil, melted butter, salt, white pepper and garlic powder to your blender. Blend for 10 seconds.
2. Add the tapioca flour. Blend on medium-high speed for 20–30 seconds until completely smooth. Scrape the sides with a spatula if needed.
3. Add the grated Pecorino and Mozzarella. Pulse 3–4 times just to fold the cheese into the batter.
4. Pour batter into the mini muffin cups. You can add a bit of oregano (taste like pizza)/ chives / italian herbs (earthy taste).
5. Let the pan sit on the counter for 5 minutes before putting it in the oven. This allows the tapioca starch to fully absorb the milk, eliminating any powdery or crumbly top layer.
6. Bake in Airfryer for 8-10 minutes in 180°C until the tops are puffed up and pale golden brown. 
7. Immediately transfer the rolls onto a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any surface moisture.