Have you tried Brazilian Cheese Buns yet?

Well, if you’re new to the concept of ‘Brazilian cheese buns’ you need to test this recipe out.

As a matter of fact, if you’re new to the idea of cooking with tapioca flour, we are HOOKED and have been using it to bake and experiment with lately, and it’s been awesome.

This little recipe was inspired by a classic, but with a modern-day twist.

What Are Brazilian Buns?

Brazilian cheese buns, AKA Pão de Queijo are basically cheese breads, or cheese puffs made from a couple of incredibly simple ingredients: cheese, tapioca flour, milk, oil and salt. The way they’re created and baked leave you with these delicious balls or puffs of cheesy goodness, that are gluten-free, grain-free, low carb and incredibly delicious.

We’ve decided to do some experimentation with these little puffs of joy to bring you an option that’s healthy and delicious, doesn’t use white flour or any refined ingredients, but instead is simple, easy and tastes just like pizza bites.

Why Tapioca Flour?

The yucca root (woody shrub native to South America and the Caribbean) is the plant that’s cultivated to extract cassava flour. This cassava flour is then refined further to extract the pulp, or tapioca. Over the past couple of years, both cassava flour and tapioca flour have risen in popularity as a lot of people are finding grains and gluten hard to digest, or cause intestinal upset. Grain-free diets are popular, and these flours are great alternatives when considering baking.

Tapioca flour is a great replacement for cornstarch, as it thickens any liquid it’s placed in. Plus, tapioca flour has been popularly used in these little cheese puffs, and due to its rise in popularity we thought we’d give it a try.

Can they be Dairy-Free?

Totally, we have given an option and provided our favourite dairy-free and vegan shredded cheese options below, and have tested this recipe with both mozzarella and dairy-free/ vegan shredded cheese to make sure that all your cheesy puff pizza dreams are going to come true, no matter what the dietary requirement.

Can they be Vegan?

We have not yet tested this recipe to be vegan, but if you want to experiment, you can try using a flax egg in place of a regular egg. Get the flax egg recipe here.

Why These “Pizza Bomb” Brazilian Buns are the Perfect Snack

As far as nutritional value goes, tapioca flour is pretty bland. It’s low in fat, protein and calories and due to its processing, it’s been stripped of many nutrients. BUT, that doesn’t mean you can’t create healthy recipes with it.

Tapioca flour is grain-free, nut-free and gluten-free, which make it an allergy-friendly base for baking. It’s also versatile and you can add in other healthy ingredients that can vamp up the nutritional profile of what you’re cooking.

For example, you can add matcha, chia, flax, pureed sweet potato, pureed spinach, fruit, and other nutrient dense foods to these buns to create something that’s healthy and allergy-free.

These buns contain cheese, a great source of calcium, vitamin B12, selenium, zinc and many other essential vitamins and minerals; eggs, which contain so many powerful nutrients such as choline (part of the B’s) that’s important for brain health; and with a homemade marinara you get the antioxidants from tomatoes, as well as other benefits from the sauce. All of this together you have a delicious, healthy, grain-free recipe that fits into a variety of diets.

We’re all about these cheesy buns and are excited to be whipping them up on a regular basis! If you’re a fan of pizza and ok with gluten, you can check out this amazing healthy recipe Veggie & Goat Cheese Spelt Flatbread.

The best low-carb cheese buns ever, get the recipe below:

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup olive or avocado oil
• 2/3 cup milk of choice, we used unsweetened almond milk
• 1.5 cups tapioca flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian herb blend
• 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, or vegan cheese shreds work wonders (but if you don’t have a dairy issue, you can use regular)
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce, reserve 1 Tbsp to top your buns with
• Coconut oil for muffin tray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 400F and coat muffin liners with a layer of coconut oil.
2. Add everything (except for marinara) in a high-powered blender, pulse or blend until fully combined *.
3. Pour into muffin tray, about 3/4 full.
4. Take a teaspoon and add a small dollop (about 1/4 – 1/2 of your spoon) to the top of the batter and swirl it around.
5. Bake for 20- 25 minutes.
6. Serve dipped in marinara.

*Blending is the most important step; we’ve made the mistake of not blending all ingredients and the recipe doesn’t fluff up as nice. This recipe also works well without adding the marinara, but we like the pizza element.

This amazing guest post was written by Jenni + Mimi, Registered Holistic Nutritionists and founders of The Naughty Nutritionists! They’re passionate about helping you incorporate delicious foods into your lifestyle without dieting. You can take their free Diet Review Quiz here that examines your current diet and gives you realistic strategies to help turn that ‘diet’ into the lifestyle that works for you.

The post How to Make Delicious, Gluten & Dairy-Free Pizza Bombs That Won’t Make You Bloat appeared first on The Hearty Soul.