Cheese Puffs

When I was in my early years in high school, in cookery class, we made some cheese puffs. When tidying my digital files this week, I found the recipe. Now I can tell you, the teacher who gave us the recipe was Mrs Cunliffe, but I don’t know whose recipe it actually is. After more than 40 years, it would be rather impossible for me to find out!

The original recipe had bacon or ham optional, which got mixed in, but I didn’t like the sound of that. I excluded that.

The recipe below makes six muffins (puffs), but that is useless in my house, so I doubled it up to fill my patty pan. It doubles up neatly with no loss of recipe integrity.

The recipe said to cook for 15-20 minutes. I actually only cooked mine for 10 minutes, but my oven does run a little on the hot side. I would say, just keep an eye on them from about ten minutes onwards, despite what the recipe says.

These really are nice served hot, with a bit of butter, in my opinion, but that is just how I like them. Nothing to say that was how they were meant to be eaten. I tested to see if they were cooked using a hot skewer, the same way I would test a cake.

These are really easy to make, and quick as well. They come out light and fluffy, especially if you do sieve the flour!

CHEESE PUFFS

4 level Tbs flour

4 level Tbs grated cheese

25g margarine (room temperature)

pinch each salt, mustard powder, cayenne pepper, dried mixed herbs

1 egg, beaten

1 heaped tsp baking powder

Milk to mix

Sieve flour, salt and baking powder together.

Add cayenne pepper etc.

Rub margarine in with fingertips.

Add grated cheese and mix well.

Add egg and enough milk to make a soft dropping consistency. Mix well.

Using a dessertspoon, put the mixture into a greased patty tin (1 dessertspoon per cheese puff).

Bake at 220°C for 15-20 mins until well risen and golden brown.

(Makes 6)