Pao de queijo (vegetarian not vegan)

We found somewhere in CPH selling pao de queijo! Which was exciting... and also reminded me that (1) they are easy to make; (2) I have never made non-vegan ones, which presumably are even easier than the vegan ones I made before; and (3) we were close to the best place I could think of to find tapioca flour.

I read around a bit on Google, and decided to use this recipe, because it was clear and seemed straightforward.

(makes c 24 medium sized ones)

1 cup milk (used oat milk)
1/2 cup veg oil
1 tsp salt
10 oz / 284 g tapioca flour
2 large eggs
1 packed cup grated cheese (used a mixture of parmesan, pråst and jarlsberg... the internet suggests that pretty much any cheese will do - most recipes use either parmesan or a mix of parmesan and mozzarella... pics of the real Brazilian cheese look quite like pråst - perhaps that's a good local sub?)

Heat the oven to 450F / 232C. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Bring the milk, oil and salt to a gentle boil over a medium heat in a medium-large saucepan (big enough to fit all ingredients and mix the dough). Stir occasionally. Remove when you can see big bubbles.

Add the tapioca flour and stir with a wooden spoon until there is no dry flour and the dough is grainy and gelatinous. Beat the dough for a few minutes until it smooths out and has cooled down enough that you can hold your finger against it for a few seconds. There may be a bit of an oily unincorporated bit.

Beat in the eggs one at a time - fully incorporate the first one before adding the second. Beat in the cheese until fully incorporated. It should be a sticky, stretchy, soft dough.

Scoop the dough into approx 2 tbsp sized balls and place on a baking sheet approx 2 in apart (should be 12 per sheet). Try dipping the scoop in water between scoops to prevent sticking.

Put the baking sheets in the oven and reduce the heat to 350F / 177C. Bake for 15 min, then rotate top-bottom and front-back. Bake 10-15 min more, until puffed, outsides dry, and golden brown on the bottoms (mine only needed 10 more min). Cool a few minutes and eat while warm.


I shaped them in the afternoon and let them sit for an hour or so, then baked half of them for dinner. The other half I put in the fridge for a couple of days and then baked, and they were good too. I wanted to try baking from freezing but the freezer was too full.

They were good! And simple and quick (for a bread). I kind of want to go back and try the vegan ones again - I remember them being really good too, and thinking you don't really need the cheese - the texture and savoury deliciousness is all you really need...

Also! I think potato starch might be easier to find and give a similar texture, and so I want to try making some with that instead of tapioca - I found a recipe, I'll add it when I've tried.

Biscuits (or cookies?): chocolate-pecan vs brazil nut

I was bemoaning the lack of biscuits while I took a teabreak with my labmates yesterday. Last night, on reflection, I decided I should stop moaning and take action: just make some! The obvious place to find effective biscuit recipes was ppk, so there I looked and there I found - happily without margarine, I dislike that stuff (palm oil) - decided to try two, slightly different methods - choc-pecan with ground linseed, and brazil nut with tapioca. I guess these may be cookies really, but I still want to call them biscuits...

Chocolate-pecan
(makes ~ 20)

1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tsp ground linseed
1/2 cup pecan pieces
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup fake milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Heat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl with a fork. Add the oil, milk and vanilla and mix until well combined, going in with your hands to make sure it's all together. Make into 1 inch balls and flatten into discs, arranging on the sheets so they have enough room to spread a little. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit on the sheets for 5 min, then remove to a cooling rack and leave to cool.

Brazil nut-brown sugar
(makes ~24)

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup coconut oil (liquid state)
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup brazil nuts, chopped

Heat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Mix sugars, oil, milk and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl with a fork: beat for about 2 min,until it resembles smooth caramel. Mix in the vanilla. Add 1 cup of flour, bicarb and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the brazil nuts. Make into 1 inch balls and flatten into discs, arranging on the sheets so they have enough room to spread a little. Bake for about 8 minutes – no more than 9 (+less if they are small) – until they are just a little browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and let sit on the sheets for 5 min, then remove to a cooling rack and leave to cool.


The chocolate pecan ones were super simple and came out really, really good: rich and intensely chocolatey, masses of pecans and chocolate pieces, sweet and slightly salty. I followed the recipe to the word.

The brazil nut ones didn't go so well. The batter was really oily and sticky so I added a little more flour (total ~2 cups instead of 1 1/2), so then I could shape them, but they didn't really spread or brown in the oven. They taste OK but the texture is kinda cakey instead of biscuity, and they don't look so nice as they are really pale all over. Perhaps this is all because I used coconut oil instead of canola? Dunno, but if looking for a quick, effective biscuit recipe the choc-pecan assembly is the way to go... Edit: although... I took the first half of each batch to woodturning clean-up and the boys pounded the brazil nut ones and left almost all the choc-pecan ones. Different tastes? Also I ate a brazil nut one about 6 days later and thought they had really improved with age.

Vegan 'Brazilian' 'cheese' bread

Brazil is pretty high on my list of places I want to visit. But I'd never even heard of Brazilian 'Pão de Queijo' (cheese bread) until I went to our friends' (C+J who we made spaetzle with) place for brunch on Sunday and found another friend, B, who frequently travels to Brazil for work, putting these in the oven. They are little, golden, savoury bread-buns, made using tapioca (cassava) flour - so they are accidentally gluten-free and have a wonderful sticky-gooey, almost mochi-like crumb inside a crusty exterior.

Obviously the real thing is full of cheese, and also eggs. But I felt like a vegan version should be attainable, and was even more convinced when I did an internet search and found that the breads are sometimes made with potato as well as the tapioca flour - I have had a recent run of success with putting mashed potato in baked goods - Kartoffelbrot in particular is a firm household favourite. I found a vegan recipe already in existence here, and it looked good, pleasingly simple and similar to what I had in mind, so I pretty much followed it... although obviously I couldn't resist throwing a few extra things in the mix (and yes, I did just happen to have potatoes, tapioca flour and nutritional yeast lying around at home: our pantry is getting a little out of control but I kinda love it).

(makes approx 17 small bread-buns)

(total time approx 1 hour, halved if you have mashed potatoes made already and you do small buns)

2 1/2 cups tapioca flour (glutinous rice flour also works)
2 cups mashed potato (or yucca)
~1 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup veg oil
1 tbsp baking powder
2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

Heat the oven to 350F. Mix the tapioca, salt and nutritional yeast / chilli / sesame seeds (if using) together in a medium bowl. Heat the water and oil in a small pan. When the water has boiled, add it to the bowl, stirring rapidly. It's OK if it doesn't all come together. Add the mashed potato and mix/knead until a smooth dough forms. Add the baking powder and continue mixing until it is well incorporated. Oil your hands and shape the dough into small balls. Place them on a baking sheet and bake until golden: 30-40 min (depending on size). Delicious warm, still good the next day, freezing possible if they are not all eaten straight away (unlikely).


The vegan ones are just as good as the non-veg variety: really savoury and crusty and I absolutely love the salty, gooey interior. These did come out quite gooey - I like it, but perhaps adding a little xanthan gum would give a more defined crumb? Or maybe a little less water? Or more mash?

Note: I made this a second time, and used ~1 3/4 cups of tapioca flour (all I had left) plus ~3/4 cup glutinous rice flour. I also used more like 2 1/4 cups of mashed potato. They came out even better than the first time - less gluey in the middle, more of a consistent crumb. Obviously I changed a couple of things so not a well controlled experiment, but my suspicion is that the extra potato did it.

Another note: I tried the real deal from a Brazilian bakery at the weekend; these are really, really close. I would never be able to guess which were the veg ones and which were nonveg.