Renée’s Brazilian Cheesy Muffs

If you don't have mini muffin tins, go to your Amazon app, or wherever you buy your kitchen stuff, and order them now. Yes, right now. Your whole life will change for ten dollars. Every time you host a little party or invite guests over, rather than wondering what the heck to make, you will know exactly what to make. With Renée's Brazilian Cheesy Muffs you will have a trick up your sleeve, which will please everyone, goes great with any cocktail, isn't too greasy or filling, and can be prepared in five minutes in a blender! Your guests will be impressed that you made such a sophisticated hot appetizer. Nobody needs to know that sophistication can be as easy as sin!

This cheesy bread recipe is totally unique. How do I know this? I have never eaten similar Brazilian cheesy breads ever, and I have eaten a lot of Brazilian cheesy breads in my 35 years of eating on this earth. Because they are so different, I sometimes refer to them as "muffs" in shorthand for muffins, instead of 'breads'. They're not quite muffins either, so perhaps they should be called "muffs" as a totally new name for a new thing? Cheesy Muffs? I kind of like the way it sounds. Regardless of what you decide to call them, I can't emphasize enough how unique these little guys are. If you think you've tried Brazilian cheesy breads, think again. If you have tried BCB's, and you loved them, get ready to take your love to the next level.

Do you have a blender? In my experience, everyone has a blender. Maybe you live in a 300 square foot studio apartment in a walk-up building, with creaky stairs, way the heck out in the middle of nowhere in Brooklyn, and your lights dim whenever you use your blender, but you do have one. That's the important part. If you've got a blender, and an oven, then you're ready to try this recipe. There's no scooping dough, or forming biscuits. Once your blended batter is done, you can pour it into muffin tins, one handed, with a baby on your hip, while you greet your guests, who are walking in the door just as your oven hits the optimal temperature! In 20 minutes, everyone will have a seat and a cocktail, and fresh Muff's will be hot and ready.

Pao de Queijo is ubiquitous in Brazil. The bread basket in restaurants often comes with cheesy breads. If you are Brazilian, eventually you will eat one, it's a mathematical certainty. In the US, Brazilian cheesy breads have been all the rage for a few years, because they're gluten free (and delicious). They're just one of the jewels of globalization, that arguably make it all worthwhile: We ruined the future of the planet, but hey, at least you've experienced the nirvana mouth feel of pão de queijo. If you live in a place like Astoria, NY, there are Brazilian supermarkets with the frozen kind you can buy in massive bags. In DUMBO the overpriced hipster enclave mart had americanized frozen ones that were ungodly expensive. I'm waiting for them to hit the mass market...right next to the bags of frozen french fries at Kroger!

I recently asked my mom about the source of her Cheesy Muffs recipe. True to form, the recipe is apocryphal. Sometimes life imitates poetry, and not the other way around. The story goes like this: A long time ago in Brazil, my mom was a young woman in her twenties, browsing her sister's (my aunt's) recipe cards, and she found a recipe for "Pão de Quejo no Liquidificador" which translates roughly to "Cheesy Breads in the Blender." An acquaintance from Minas (southern Brazil) had written it out for her. My aunt never was and still is not into cooking, whereas my mom was drawn to cooking at an early age, so when my mom asked if she could have the recipe card, she said, "Sure." Whatever the origin of the recipe, I can't be more thrilled that it made its way into my life before I can even remember, and I am so grateful for every batch of cheesy breads I have ever enjoyed.

The Cheesy Muffs story doesn't end there. It is also a tale of degrees of separation and serendipity. My mom made the muffs for her friends all throughout her life, whose setting changed from Brazil to the United States, and later for a few years, Hong Kong. She made it for a friend who made it in Japan. And then she made it for a friend who made it for a friend in France. And then she made it for friends in Hong Kong, and one of the women in Hong Kong recognized it as a recipe she tried once in france. They talked and they realized that the French friend was a walking partner of my mom's friend Simone. They used to take walks in Larchmont, NY together. Because of these cheesy breads, a group of women in Hong Kong realized they were actually connected.

Usually something so decadent has repercussions, and while this does, they are mild.

If you want to try the traditional cheesy breads recipe, fear not. There is a recipe for that as well.

They're gluten free. Use any oil. They are denser the next day.