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Tennessee Cheddar Puffs Recipe

Mark Boughton Photography; styling by Teresa Blackburn

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cheddar , puffs , eggs , butter , water

We've received several comments about our recipe for Tennessee Cheddar Puffs published in the November 2009 issue. Readers found that the dough was too runny and that the puffs spread like pancakes instead of puffing up during baking. We retested the recipe and made revisions (below). The most important thing to remember is to cook the water, butter, flour mixture until it's difficult to stir and it forms a ball-like mass. Our original recipe called for cooking it 1 minute. It actually takes 2 to 2 1/2 minutes.

Ingredients

4 to 5 eggs
6 tablespoons butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 to 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Paprika

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.
2. Break eggs into a small bowl. Beat lightly. Measure. You will need 1 cup of beaten egg.
3. Combine butter, water, sugar, salt and cayenne in a large saucepan. Cook until mixture comes to a boil and butter melts. Remove from heat. Add flour all at once. Stir until smooth. Return to heat and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture forms a ball and clears the pan bottom and sides, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes.
4. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon 1 to 2 minutes to cool slightly. Form a well in the center of dough. Pour in 1/4 cup beaten eggs. Stir until smooth. (Mixture will look like it's separating and will be lumpy. Stir vigorously until smooth.) Add another 1/4 cup eggs. Stir until smooth. Repeat with another 1/4 cup eggs and the final 1/4 cup. (Mixture should hold its shape when you scoop up a heaping spoonful.)
5. Fold in cheese.
6. Drop by tablespoons onto baking pans. Sprinkle with paprika.
7. Bake 20 to 22 minutes, until browned and crispy. Leftover puffs can be frozen. Makes about 40.

Recipe adapted from Dancing Bear Lodge, Townsend, Tenn., "Sweet Home Tennessee," Nov. 2009.

Nutritional Information

Per puff: 70 calories, 5g fat, 35mg chol., 2g prot., 3g carbs., 0g fiber, 140mg sodium.

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Here are some of the current comments about this recipe. To read more or post your own comments, visit our message boards.

This is the only recipe from this site that has not worked out for me. The batter was still runny after adding the extra flour. I added more than the suggested amount until I felt that the recipe would really be compromised and then baked a tray to see how they would be. The batter spread (as I knew it would) to make a thin crackerlike object. I also tried refrigerating the batter to see if it would stiffen up. Finally for the last batch I added more flour and some baking powder and they did at least rise a little. I followed the recipe exactly (checked it twice) and wonder if it did not include cooking the flour mixture until it was thick as you would for a cream puff recipe. Stirring one minute did not seem sufficient. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to try this again. It is tasty and would make a great appetizer with pepper jelly.

tigerlily75
11/7/09 4:18 PM

I too just tried to make these cheese puffs. Like the review before, I added about twice the flour, put them in the refrigerator, and still they did not look like the picture. They came out like cheese pancakes. I wonder if there is something wrong with this recipe. I'm considered an excellent cook and baker, but there is something wrong here.

jangal717
11/8/09 1:41 PM

This is very strange. The original recipe we received from Dancing Bear Lodge called for 2 cups of flour. When we make them at our photography studio, we found that we needed an extra 1/2 cup flour. But with that amount of flour (a total of 2 1/2 cups), we got the results you see in the magazine.

We will run these through our test kitchen again, and let you know what happens.

We're very sorry that you had trouble with the recipe.

The Relish Editors
11/9/09 8:57 AM

I tried the above recipe and had the same results as others.
After adding extra flour I still had a very runny batter and ended up putting the batter in a baking pan. When cooked it was not really edible but there was a tasty flavor to it.

cookie
11/9/09 10:09 AM

We ran this recipe through our test kitchen again yesterday. We used 2 1/2 cups of flour. They turned out perfectly. (And I ate way too may of them last night.)

Could all those who've made the recipe let us know the exact names and brands of all the ingredients you used?

Also, let us know what your location's elevation is? Maybe high altitude has an impact???

We're at a loss.

The Relish Editors
11/10/09 8:50 AM

Hi. I think your egg count may off. Could that be the solution?
I found the Dancing Bear's recipe here:

http://theunemployedcook.blogspot.com/2007/05/does-bear-dance-in-woods-includes.html

zesty
11/10/09 6:03 PM

I just experienced all of the same results when I tried this recipe an hour ago. I see that your test kitchen has had great success and it seems a real mystery. The last post discovered the recipe as printed from another source, but it listed 8 eggs. That would seem to make it even more runny I would think. I have searched other cheese puff recipes on-line with different proportions for the main ingredients. Perhaps I will try one of them, although the picture in your latest mag looks so much more appealing than the ones in other recipes that I saw. They were all basically cheese balls. Hope there's an answer!!!

NancyNavarra
11/10/09 6:22 PM

I was excited to try these cheese puffs! I followed the recipe exactly and checked it twice. My dough is runny too. I used Martha White all purpose flower, 6 large eggs, 2 sticks butter (not margarine) and the sugar and salt should not cause dough to be runny. I even added about a cup extra of flour. i'm going to put some in baking cups and see how they will turn out. but I am not going to hold my breath.

karenrednog
11/10/09 6:39 PM

We also had runny dough, using Pillsbury flour, fresh eggs & butter, and Amish cheddar. The result was tasty, but like little cheese pancakes. Do you think the dough needs to be cooked longer, like pate choux?

zesty
11/11/09 7:55 AM

The ingredients I used were: Gold Medal all purpose flour, Eggland large eggs and Land o' Lakes butter. We live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and there certainly isn't much altitude here. I can't imagine that there would be a problem with any of these factors. Thanks to all the people who responded to my comment, I was really feeling foolish about this recipe. Thanks, too, to the prompt response from the staff, it was nice to know that they pay attention to problems. What ingredients did you use? Did you cook the batter more than one minute?

tigerlily75
11/11/09 8:05 AM

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