Harissa Cheese Puffs

These savoury, light snacks are satisfying in flavour, easy to handle and perhaps even little healthy. Our Harissa EVOO has smoked chili peppers, garlic, caraway, coriander and cumin so you don’t need a long list of ingredients; it’s all infused into the olive oil. Whip up a batch for your next party, just make sure you keep an eye on them before the party. They tend to disappear quickly!

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons of Glasses & Grapes Harissa EVOO
1 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs plus 1 egg white
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus ½ cup for topping before baking
1½ teaspoons curry powder
1 tsp Maldon Sea Salt
1 tbsp poppy seeds for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine 1 cup of water and the Harissa EVOO into a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium. Stir the 1 cup of flour into the boiling oil and water mixture.
Stir the flour mixture well to fully combine.
With a wooden spoon stir constantly over heat for 5-6 minutes.
Remove from heat. At this point the dough should be at a consistantcy that you are able to form a ball.

Transfer the dough to a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse the mixture a few times to cool it off a bit. Set the food processor to run continuously and add the 4 eggs – one at a time.  Finally, add the egg white and process until the batter looks thick and creamy.

Once the batter is resembles thick mustard, add the 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, 1½ teaspoons of curry powder and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Continue to process until well combined.

Transfer the batter to a piping bag or better yet do what we did, use a medium-sized, zipper-locking bag and make a ½-inch diagonal cut off the bottom corner of the bag.

On parchment-lined baking sheets, pipe out about 1 tablespoon of batter to form 48 puffs.
Top the puffs with additional shredded cheddar cheese and lightly sprinkle with poppy seeds.
Bake in the 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Do not open the oven door, at all.  After 20 minutes, reduce the temperature to 375 degrees, again without opening the oven, and bake for 10 more minutes.

After the final 10 minutes, remove them from the oven and let cool. Served best slightly warm from the oven…bon appetit!