Cheesy Poofs – Cheap Eats


Yesterday I reviewed “I’m just here for MORE FOOD” and there was a recipe for Cheesy Poofs. Yes, those cheesy staples of Eric Cartman from South Park.  So I had to try them.  They are amazing.  Not quite the cheddar ones that have the cheetah on them, but they are tasty none the less.  This is the ultimate cheap eats.  Making snacks at home can save you a ton of money.  Plus, you know what goes into each snack, so they are good for the kids.

I love cheesy poofs almost as much as Cartman, although I have never written a song about them.

Cheesy Poofs – (from Alton Brown’s, “I’m just here for MORE FOOD“)

Dry Ingredients

  • 9.5oz or 2 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1/4oz or 2tsp baking powder
  • 1/3oz or 1.5tsp dry mustard

Wet Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs
  • 3tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1tbs sugar
  • 1tsp kosher salt

Extras

  • 8oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese – grated

Alton’s recipe was for a single loaf of cheesy goodness.  I wanted to have more hand friendly snacks so I adjusted the method a bit from the book.  Must say this is cheap eats.  The cheese cost the most but overall it was $2.15 for everything.  It made 60 poofs that were 3in. x  1.5in.  Enough for a whole week of lunches for 4 kids.

Place your oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees.

First step is to shred your cheese. I shredded my cheese rather coarse so it did not spread out that much throughout my cheesy poofs (I laugh every time I say that, Ha-ha). I recommend that you finely shred your cheese to make sure that it evenly distributes.

 Extra Sharp New York Cheddar  Cheese Glorious Cheese

Sift the dry goods into a bowl and then add the shredded cheddar cheese and mix.

Stir everything together

Next wisk together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl

 All of the wet ingredients  Whisk

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir just until the mixture comes together.

Don't over mix the batter, when you don't see flour anymore you are good.
Don’t over mix the batter, when you don’t see flour anymore you are good.

Next scoop the whole mixture up and place it into a 1 gallon plastic bag. This is so that you can pipe little bite size pieces onto a cookie sheet.  I used a silpat on my cookie sheet, but if you don’t have one I recommend that you use parchment.  Then again, if you don’t have parchment, I would grease and flour the cookie sheet.

I cute the tip a little big so it made really big cheesy poofs
I cute the tip a little big so it made really big cheesy poofs

I actually piped about 60 cheesy poofs (haha) onto two cookie sheets.  I cut a little too much of the corner of my bag and I made quite big cheesy poofs (haha).  Sorry, I can’t stop laughing when saying that name.  I would recommend that you cut about a 1/4 off the corner of the bag.  That should create good sized cheesy poofs (reluctantly I held back).

It makes a ton of cheesy poofs
It makes a ton of cheesy poofs

Place them in the pre-heated oven and bake for 15 minutes, if you like them perfectly cooked through, or 18 minutes if you like them crunchy like I do.  When done remove to a cooling rack.  Don’t worry they will crisp up nicely.

Look at all of the melted cheese
Look at all of the melted cheese

In the end, they were extremely tasty.  I cooked mine until they started to turn golden brown.  When cooled they were crunchy and delicious.

Light and fluffy with a crunchy outside

I ate about 10 with my dinner.  They are amazing.
I ate about 10 with my dinner. They are amazing.

Rex

Rex is an avid griller, barbecuer and bacon enthusiast. He is the Pitmaster for the Rex BBQ competition team. Rex was also featured on the TV show American Grilled. If you have any questions or wish to have Rex decode your favorite dish, click on the ASK REX link in the menu above.

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