Chipa is also known as chipá and pao de queijo. It’s a snack that is very popular in the South of Brazil, Paraguay, and Northeast of Argentina. Recipes vary slightly from one to the other (use of butter vs oil, diced vs grated cheese) and this recipe is from Zena, a Brasilian friend of my mom who lives in my hometown now!

We tried these at the O’Leary family reunion so making an English version to be shared with the family for internationalization of this classic snack!

Ingredients (makes about 35 chipa)

• 500 gr tapioca flour (a 1lb bag is fine even though not exactly 500gr)
• 2 tbsp salt (eyeballed)
• 100 ml milk (I use oat milk, but regular 2% milk should do)
• 100 ml water
• 100 ml oil (ideally sunflower)
• 300 gr small dices of cheese
  • Here is where it’s at. I use ~150 gr Gouda, ~100 gr White Cheddar, ~50 gr Parmesan.
  • Others that we’ve added a bit of are Provolone, Roquefort, Reggianito
• 2 eggs

Steps

1. Pre-heat the oven at 425 F
2. Put the tapioca flour and salt in a bowl
3. In a sauce pan, heat up the liquids – milk, water and oil. Once it starts to boil, put it aside out of the heat.
4. Add the liquids to the flour and mix. Try to break the little balls that form to a very small size.
5. Add the dices of cheese and mix.
6. Add the eggs, whisk them over the dough and start to integrate it as one. You don’t need to touch it a lot, just need it to be formed as a dough but don’t over-knead it.
7. Make balls the size of 2-3 bites (I make them a bit larger than a walnut) and arrange them on a baking sheet.
8. If you want to eat them right away, put them in the oven for ~20′ until golden. If you want to keep them for later, send them to the freezer in the tray and after an hour or so move them to a stasher or tupper. You can keep them for ~2-3 months. When you want to cook them, pre-heat the oven at 425 F, put them in a tray when the temperature is ready, and cook them for 20′ or until golden.

Now you’re only missing a «mate»… and you’d be underway to becoming an Argentinian!