Pao de Queijo

My favorite Brasilian breakfast food! Perfectly chewy, crusty, cheesy, and warm (usually). Oh, even when it's cold it's divinely delicious as long as it's not day old. Then, it's disgusting. Universally liked as my Jaru team can testify--Russia, Puerto Rico, Texas and California were represented in an unofficial pao de queijo study and the results were unanimous--yum.

If mochi and cheesy biscuits could have a baby, this would be him. I like to bake them at 350 degrees for the last 10 minutes so they're more biscuity on the outside. You know, for that contrast of textures I love so much.

The recipe below is adapted from a recipe from a sister in Uberlandia. All measurements are according to what it looks likes and how it feels, as is the norm with home cookin'. Joanna Yang did her best to quantify the recipe. I only adjusted it a liiiitle bit since I wasn't actually there to watch the sister make it.

Look! Joanna made them soooo perfect.

1 C water
1 C milk (whole is preferred but I used 1%)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C canola oil (she said about 80% of 1 C which made my first batch oily)
2 C mandioca flour
2-4 large eggs (depending on consistency)
1/2 C parmesan cheese
1/2 C powdered Mexican Cotija cheese

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Boil the water, milk and salt and remove from heat. Add the oil and whisk together. Remove from the heat and pour in the Mandioca flour. When cool enough to touch, mix in the eggs. This is what it looks like when it is a little too wet:

Stir in each egg and check it out. It should resemble mash potatoes, but not be super greasy. Add in the cheeses.

Oil hands and roll into 1" balls with less than 1" apart. Bake for 30 minutes. Be patient. They're hot. Let them cool on the tray.

This makes a full cookie sheet of more than 2 dozen