I made these for Ben’s birthday yesterday, thanks to Pip in the City for the delicious recipe. They were easy to make and definitely a cheesey snack but I love the crisp outer layer and the contrast with the chewy insides.

It will definitely become a repeat recipe.

Traditional cheese rolls with tapioca (chipá)
Yields about 40 chipá

Tapioca flour or tapioca starch, 500g
4 eggs
Butter, 200g (about 1 3/4 sticks)
2 teaspoons salt (this will depend on the amount of salt the cheese you use has)
pepper
parmesan cheese, 250 grams (about 1/2 a pound)
mozarella or other soft cheese, 250 grams
manchego or other hard and somewhat spicy cheese, 250 grams

1. Put the tapioca flour in a big bowl (it is quite volatile so it can make a mess), along with cold butter (chopped roughly), the mozzarella or any semi-soft cheese (also roughly cut to make the process easier), the grated parmesan cheese, and the eggs.

2. Start mixing the ingredients by hand until the dough is somewhat formed. (Another method I´ve used is to first process the butter and the flour till it resembles a fine crumble and then add the soft cheese, the parmesan and the eggs until it forms a ball.) [dx: I used a food processor and it all came together easily.]

3. Add the hard cheese cut into small squares to the dough and keep kneading until you all the squares of hard cheese are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so. This step can be skipped if in a hurry and they´ll still come out great. Or you can keep it in the fridge and finish the next day. [dx: I kept it covered in the fridge after I formed balls]

5. Take small pieces of dough and form little balls with it. (At this point, you can also freeze some of them raw and bake them later.) [dx: I used a small ice cream scoop to make even size rolls.]

6. Cook in a 400°F oven for around 10 mins, checking every 5 mins or so. The result should be crunchy outside and softer inside. (Be careful not too overcook them, otherwise they´ll get too dry. They should be quite soft and chewy on the inside.)