Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

Pao de Queijo - made February 25, 2018 from Olivia's Cuisine

Having developed a foodie crush now on Brazilian cheese bread, I googled recipes for it literally as soon as I left Pampas that night. It took me awhile to make it as I had to suss out some tapioca flour but I finally got to it. While tapioca flour is available on amazon, like millions of other hard-to-find things, I balked at how expensive it was on amazon and instead turned to my trusty local Ranch 99 Asian grocery store. 

The plus side is it cost a fraction of what it sells for on amazon. The minus side is it takes me forever and 3 days to find anything at Ranch 99 since I don’t know where anything is located and I can’t read anything non-English except for my smattering of Tagalog. And in the interests of brutal honesty, I couldn’t find it on my first trip so I asked my mom, a more regular Ranch 99 shopper than me, to get it for me on her next shopping trip. She eventually found it but even she had to ask someone where it was. Something I didn’t do since I couldn’t find anyone on the floor at the time to help.

But once the tapioca flour was secured, I finally made this recipe. It was surprisingly simple to make. Finding the tapioca flour was harder than mixing this together. Be warned that the dough does get super sticky and difficult to work with. I didn’t even bother trying to hand-shape it with my bare hands, envisioning my fingers getting cemented together with the sticky, pasty, rubbery mass. Instead, I spooned generous dollops of the dough directly into greased but unlined muffin tins. I was a little afraid they would be hard to pry out of the tins after but was pleasantly surprised to find they not only puff and rise during baking but also easily popped right out of the muffin cavities.

The first batch came out a little pale. I baked them for the time suggested in the recipe and they looked fine. The outside was crusty-soft but the inside looked like baked brie. I was afraid that meant they weren’t done because the cheese bread from Pampas had more structure than that so I put them back into the oven to bake another 10 minutes. I finally took them out before they got too brown. The outside was pleasingly crunchy and the inside was warm cheesy gooeyness. These still didn’t have the same texture as the ones from Pampas but they tasted pretty good. These are best eaten warm! While the outside is crusty (it softens after cooling) and the inside is warm molten cheese. These are a good bread-basket option if you want something gluten-free. But seriously, eat them warm. So good that way.

4 cups tapioca flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup water
6 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Combine the milk, water, oil and salt over medium high heat. Add the tapioca flour to the bowl of a stand mixer. Once the milk boils, pour over the flour. Mix flour and milk on medium-high speed until well combined.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, until combined.
4. Add the cheeses, a half cup at a time, until incorporated.
5. Wet your hands and shape the dough into golf-ball size balls. Space evenly on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and puffed. Serve warm.

Restaurant Review: Pampas Brazilian Churrascaria

Pampas Brazilian Churrascaria - team dinner on January 20, 2018

We had a team dinner back in January at Pampas, a Brazilian steakhouse. I’d heard of Pampas before and of Brazilian steakhouses in general so I had some idea of what to expect. But, as is the case most of the time, reality was way better than theory.

Cheese bread, fried bananas, fried polenta

If you’ve never been to a Brazilian steakhouse before, my advice to get your money’s worth is: go hungry, pace yourself, and go easy on the sides. If you’re on a high protein diet, this is very diet-friendly for you. If you can manage to pass up the Brazilian cheese bread that is, served warm with a crunchy crust and is soft, cheesy goodness on the inside.

Best cheese bread ever

At Pampas, we were a large enough group that the restaurant gave us part of a separate room on the lower floor, away from the madding crowd. It was perfect. While we waited for everyone to arrive, we went to the “salad bar”. If you’re a vegetarian, you can still get a decent meal here. The side bar is filled with all manners of veggies and other non-protein choices, including a variety of cheeses. I was there for the steak so I limited my carb choices to a few chunks of cheese, half an ear of corn and a little mashed potatoes.

Once most of our tables were filled, the servers began arriving. The hallmark of a Brazilian steakhouse is the servers come to the tables, with long metal skewers of various proteins: different cuts of steak (sirloin, roast, filet mignon), poultry (turkey breast wrapped in bacon, chicken hearts, chicken drumsticks) and lamb. They snip off a serving to anyone who salivates asks for it. And they just keep coming until you turn the sign on the table to red, indicating “stop! I’m stuffed to the gills”.

Although they tell you what each thing is as they serve it, there were so many items that I have to confess I lost track of what I was eating. All I can say is it was amazing. All of it. Seriously flavorful, tender cuts of beef. I passed on the lamb because I was getting full but my favorite protein turned out to be the turkey breast wrapped in bacon. Bear in mind, I don’t normally like turkey and I’m usually indifferent to bacon. But this thing was extremely delicious.

Ironically though, despite it being a (to me) very good Brazilian steakhouse, the two things I loved and would go back there for those alone aren’t meats at all but the cheese bread and the roasted pineapple. I’ve never had Brazilian cheese bread before but it was so good, crusty on the outside, melting-warm on the inside, just cheesy goodness all around. I need to learn how to make it (more to follow on that).

Bacon-wrapped Turkey Breast (top), sausage (bottom)

And the pineapple! I usually prefer my pineapple to be cold because that’s what I’m used to. But served warm off the skewer with perfectly sweet goodness? I’m now a fan. The roasted pineapple comes at the end so next time I would do a better job of pacing myself so I leave room for it.

Roasted Pineapple - so good

All in all, thumbs up on Pampas. It’s rather pricey at $55 a head if you get the full meats and side bar option ($29 if you just want the side bar) but the service was good and the food was amazing. 

Affogato

Peanut Butter Cup

Profiteroles

One last look at the cheese bread

Millionaire's Shortbread

Millionaire's Shortbread - made February 19, 2018, shortbread layer only from Sugar Spun Run

 I received multiple requests for this recipe and that’s always a good sign. I didn’t quite make it up “from scratch”. More like I had a vision of what I wanted this to be and cobbled a couple of different recipes to make my vision an edible reality.

Feuilletine

I’ve made Millionaire Shortbread Bars before; they’re essentially a shortbread layer with a caramel layer in the middle topped with a ganache layer. They’re supposed to be “rich”, hence the play on the name. I’m not a big fan of ganache though since it’s often too rich for me, being chocolate and heavy cream, and frankly, ganache isn’t sweet enough. Plus I used dulce de leche last time instead of caramel and wasn't wild about it. Not to mention the rice krispies I used in the top layer back then couldn't hold a candle to feuilletine.

My vision for these bars was to have the shortbread, salted caramel and the Nutella-chocolate-feuilletine layer I’d made for the Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch Bars be on top instead of the bottom this time. I plucked the shortbread layer from this recipe then cheated by skipping making the homemade caramel and instead used a jar of salted caramel from Trader Joes. The feuilletine topping was super easy to make and I did say I’m now obsessed with feuilletine so I had to use it. Plus I’ve written it so much that I can now spell it correctly without having to look it up each time.

Given the multiple requests I’ve had for the recipe, I’d say this was well-received by my coworkers. You can substitute your favorite shortbread recipe if you wish but I don’t advise going for super-buttery shortbread as the bars are already pretty rich with the caramel and the feuilletine topping. I love the shortbread base, the sweetness from the caramel and the crisp-crunch from the feuilletine.  My feuilletine obsession continues.

Shortbread Crust
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 10-ounce jar salted caramel sauce (I got mine from Trader Joe's)

Chocolate Topping
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
10 ounces (about 1 cup) Nutella
5 ounces (about 2 cups) paillete feuilletine

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds.
3. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract; beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl to keep even textured.
4. Add salt and flour in 3 additions, mixing until just combined. Do not overmix. Press dough evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until edges are light golden brown. Cool slightly.
5. Heat caramel until of pourable consistency. Spread evenly over shortbread crust. Let cool completely.
6. Chocolate topping: in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, combine chocolate and nutella. Whisk until smooth and completely melted. Stir in feuilletine. Spread topping over bars, covering caramel completely. Smooth into even layer. Let set before cutting.

Cookie Butter Bread Pudding

Cookie Butter Bread Pudding - made February 17, 2018 modified from Wine and Glue

Ah, cookie butter, how do I love thee? Let me count the pounds. I also love bread pudding so it’s almost surprising I haven’t married the two together before. I pinned this recipe long ago but only just got around to making it now. Shame. Because it was delicious.

Just a couple of cautionary notes: I changed the directions slightly to temper in the melted cookie butter before you add the milk. That will help ensure the cookie butter is well blended with the eggs before you add more liquid. It’s harder to fully incorporate the cookie butter after you add the milk because it’s not as liquid-y as the milk so they don’t emulsify well together. You also want the eggs and milk to be at room temperature because if they’re cold from the refrigerator, it cools down the warmed-up cookie butter too fast and you end up with bits of cookie butter, no matter how much you whisk the mixture. 

Ultimately, it wasn’t a big deal and the cookie butter does melt into the bread pudding during baking. I also recommend soaking this overnight so the liquid will have time to be fully absorbed into the bread for that perfect bread pudding texture. This doesn’t have a strong cookie butter flavor in the bread pudding itself so you can both increase the amount of cookie butter in the custard as well as – highly recommend – melt some cookie butter and drizzle it over the top of the bread pudding once it comes out of the oven.

If you’ve never had bread pudding while it’s still lukewarm, this is a good one to start out with. The top is crisp, the bread pudding has firmed up enough not to be overly mushy and the warm cookie butter drizzled on top just sets it off. Loosen that belt and have a slice.

5 eggs, room temperature

1 cup whole milk, room temperature

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup cookie butter, warmed in microwave for 30 seconds

1/4 cup sugar

5 cups cut up challah (I used a loaf from Trader Joe's)

1. Whisk together eggs, sugar and cookie butter until well combined. Add heavy cream, milk and vanilla, whisking until mixture is uniform.
2. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Layer in bread and custard mixture, covering bread pieces completely with the liquid. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes or until completely cooked through.
4. Optional but recommended: Heat another 1/2 cup of cookie butter and drizzle over top of bread pudding. Serve warm to lukewarm.