Brazilian Cheese Puffs

These cheese puffs are deceptive--they're light and fluffy, but as soon as you bite into one you realize that they are deliciously gooey on the inside. Make these right before serving as they do not keep well and should be eaten within a few hours of baking.

Brazilian Cheese Puffs

1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup milk

1 1/4 cups tapioca flour

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450 and grease a mini muffin tin.

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. The batter will be liquid. Pour batter into mini muffin tin, filling each one about 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the breads puff up and become very lightly brown on the edges.

Cool slightly (the tops may cave in a bit, that's okay) and then serve.

Potato Rolls

Potato rolls are great for both dinner and sandwiches the next day. Here's a recipe I made yesterday. The recipe is geared towards someone with a stand mixer that has both a beater and a hook attachment. If you don't have those, you can still do it by hand. It makes 16 rolls, so you may want to cut the recipe in half. My rating: 4 out of 5.

Potato Rolls

1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup butter
1 large Russet potato
1 1/2 cups water
2 pkg (5 tsp) yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 cups flour

Combine milk and lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside on the counter for later use. Get butter out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter so that it can be warming up.

Peel the potato and cut into small cubes. Put potato and water into a small saucepan. Cover. Heat until the water boils. Then cook for an additional 10 minutes or until potato pieces are soft.

Pour the potato and water (don't drain!) into the bowl of your stand mixer. Use the beater attachment to beat it until the potato is essentially mashed. It's okay if there are still little pieces of potato in there, but you don't want any big chunks.

Add the milk/lemon mixture to the bowl and mix. Feel the mixture (yes, with your hand) to test the temperature. It should be fairly warm, neither hot nor cold. If it is hot, keep stirring until it cools down.

Add yeast to the warm liquid and stir again. Then let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

Add sugar and salt. Stir. Slowly add 3 cups of flour while mixing. Now take off the beater attachment and put on the hook one.

Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the bowl. Mix. Slowly add remaining 3 cups of flour.

Knead with the hook for 5-7 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. This dough should be slightly sticky but if it is too sticky add additional flour while kneading.

Spray a large bowl with non-stick spray and put the dough into it. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap that has also been sprayed with non-stick spray. Let rise for 1 hour or until dough doubles in size.

Cut dough into 16 pieces (a pizza cutter works well for this). Let dough rest for 5 minutes. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with non-stick spray. Roll dough into balls and place 8 balls on each baking sheet. Let rise for an additional 30 minutes. Sprinkle lightly with flour.

Cook at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool for a few minutes and then enjoy!