Trini cheese puffs are savory, cheesy snacks you can get in any local bakery.
But it is really easy to make
It’s delicious and hard to resist. I mean who can say no to cheesiness?
What is in this trini cheese puffs recipe
The puffs recipe is the same as choux pastry. So, you will need:
- all purpose flour
- butter
- eggs
- salt
- water
The filling I use for my puffs is not the typical, traditional cheesey filling. I use the same recipe as my cheese paste with herbs. They taste so good!
In that filling recipe, I often use:
- cheese
- butter
- chives
- cilantro (we call it celery) leaves
- pepper
There are lots of Trini snacks you can make besides puffs, take a look at all the ‘snack’ recipes on my blog here.
How to make Trini cheese puffs
Step 1: Preheat the oven at 400°F.
Melt the butter
Step 2: To a small pot on medium heat, add boiling water and butter. Allow the water to come to a boil and the butter to melt fully.
Add flour
Step 3: Mix the butter and water right before adding all the flour. Be careful – it can bubble up a bit.
Step 4: Stir rapidly to incorporate the flour to form a soft dough ball in the center of the pot. When this happens, remove from the heat. You may see small pockets of flour in the dough ball. Be sure to break these up and continue mixing.
Step 5: Allow the dough ball to cool down for about 15 minutes.
Mix in eggs
Be sure the dough is sufficiently cool before adding any eggs; otherwise the heat will cook the eggs and you’ll see white strands in the dough.
Step 6: Once cool, add one unbeaten egg. Mix into the dough ball until it is fully incorporated. Repeat for each egg.
Although you can do this by mixing with a fork, I like to use my cake mixer. It adds more air to the choux pastry and makes it fluffier.
The puffs also expand in the oven nicely when you use the cake mixer.
Shape the puffs
Step 7: You can use a greased spoon to scoop about two tablespoons of dough onto a tray lined with parchment paper. Or you can add the choux mixture to a piping bag and pipe the mixture into a cone-shape, ending at the top. It’s up to you how fancy you want to be with your puffs (forgive me for my lack of piping skills).
Bake
Step 8: Bake the puffs in the preheated oven at 400°F oven for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before filling.
Fill
With traditional cheese filling, you can pipe it straight into the cooled puff. But, with the one I’m using here, you’ll need to slice into the puff and place a dollop of the filling into that large air pocket.
Step 9: To make the filling, chop up the chive and cilantro (celery) leaves. Mix in cheese and room temperature butter. The relatively soft butter will make the cheese filling spreadable (check out my cheese paste recipe here).
Step 10: Add a nice amount to each puff. Serve immediately or refrigerate. The puffs will stay well in the fridge for a week. I taste tested while photographing here. It’s so good!
Trini cheese puffs recipe
Trinidad cheese puffs recipe
Equipment
- Cake mixer (optional)
Ingredients
Puffs
- 1 cup boiling water
- 100 grams unsalted butter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 eggs
Filling
- 2 cups cheddar cheese (grated)
- ½ cup butter
- ¼ cup chives (chopped)
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves (chopped)
- 1 pimento pepper (chopped)
Instructions
Puffs
- Place a small pot on medium heat.
- Add boiling water and butter.
- Bring to a boil.
- Stir thoroughly.
- Add in flour all at once.
- Mix to fully incorporate the flour, breaking any small flour pockets.
- Remove the formed flour ball from heat.
- Set aside for at least 15 minutes to cool down.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Add one egg to the cooled flour ball.
- Mix until there is no sign of the egg yolk or egg white.
- Repeat for each additional egg.
- Scoop or pipe the choux pastry onto a buttered or parchment-lined tray.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 400°F.
- Remove and set aside to cool.
- Slice the lower end of the puff to add filling.
Filling
- Allow the butter to soften and come to room temperature.
- Mix the chopped chives, cilantro and pepper with the softened butter.
- Add in the cheese and incorporate.
- Fill the puffs.
- Serve.
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