I took the American favorite of Pigs in a Blanket and the Brazilian favorite of Pão de Queijo, fused them into one, and made them vegan! Whether you’re gluten free, vegan, or just a fan of good food, you definitely want to try these!

Thanksgiving has now passed, but with the oncoming holidays, and football games (or actually basketball — if you’re like me), this was only the start of finger food season. It’s hard, for me at least, to think of a vegan appetizer to bring to gatherings that isn’t just another dip with chips or veggies. Not to say I don’t make a darn good hummus (and my Cashew Cheez Sauce that my friends all go crazy for), but it’s nice to have other options.

I’ve been wanting to do a gluten free and vegan version of Pigs in a Blanket for a while now. I had the meat and cheese parts taken care of since there are so many good vegan substitutes out there, but it was the bread part which sat unknown. For my first experiment, I had a completely different approach, making muffins with almond flour, and rather than stuffing the dogs, I wrapped sliced “cheese” around them. They were okay, but not quite to my standards. I knew I still wanted to perfect my Cheezy Dawg Muffins, as they were originally called, but it wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that I got the brilliant idea to try these inside the Pão de Queijo.

I first discovered Pão de Queijo on Flipboard, which is where I find a lot of recipes to try. It wasn’t an authentic recipe, but a veganized version. I’d never heard of this Brazilian favorite, so I did a little research and found out they are naturally gluten free, since tapioca flour is the main ingredient, and that they are really popular among not only Brazilians, but every American who tried them as well. This got me really excited, and I knew I had to try them.

The Pão de Queijo became a regular side dish in my home. I’d often make it when I made jambalaya or something else with a sauce or broth that made me want to dip rolls into. When I decided I’d use it to make the Pigs in a Blanket alternative, rather than just going from the already veganized recipe I’d been using, I decided to look up an authentic recipe and veganize it on my own.

What I found was that the recipe I’d been using, even without the egg and dairy substitutes, wasn’t very authentic. I’m glad I discovered this, because it gave me the chance to make these even better!

The recipe I used to veganize was from Olivia’s Cuisine. Aside from substituting out the egg and dairy products, I made a couple other small changes. I added more tapioca flour to the batter, because I found it too sticky to work with (though it should and still will be sticky). I cut the recipe in half, and I replaced both white cheeses with a vegan cheddar because I thought that would be yummier with the hot dogs — I mean hot dawgs. I know it’s not proper, but I have to call them that for my own sanity. It’s too hard associating food with animals anymore.

My first step in making these was to prepare the hot dawgs. I used Lifelite Smart Dogs, but you could use whichever brand is either your favorite or available to you. If you don’t use this brand, make sure the ones you choose are gluten free, if necessary. Lifelite has two sizes, long and skinny, or short and fat. I chose the short and fat variety and cut five dawgs into five equal parts, making 25 hot dawg pieces, each one equalling somewhere between 3/4 of an inch and one inch long.

At the health food store, I found some straws that were still plastic-like but environmentally friendly — made from corn rather than petroleum, making them plant-based. I used these to pierce holes in the center of each hot dawg piece. At first I started with one perfect hole in the center of each piece, but once I was done decided this just wasn’t wide enough. I then went back and made the holes wider by running the straw through two to three more times.

Once all my hot dawg pieces were hollowed out, I took Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds and stuffed them into each hole.  These could now be set aside while I went to work on the bread portion of my recipe.

To make the Pão de Queijo, I first measured out the flour and egg substitutes, and set them aside. The flour in these, as I mentioned, is tapioca flour, also referred to as tapioca starch. I became familiar with tapioca flour after entering the gluten free world. I often make some paleo, gluten free naan bread using both tapioca and almond flours. I buy mine at my local health food store, but I have found it at Asian markets as well.

The tapioca flour I set aside in the mixing bowl to my Kitchen Aid. If you don’t have a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl — one that won’t be compromised by hot temperatures.

For my egg replacer I chose to take a different route than the recipe I had been originally using, which had been with golden flax meal. Don’t get me wrong, I use flax meal as an egg replacer often, and it gets the job done, but I didn’t want to compromise the rise of these delicious rolls, not even by the tiniest increment, and so I had to use aquafaba. Do you know of aquafaba? Have you used it? If not, you absolutely should! It is the best vegan egg replacer by far!

Now, when I say egg replacer I don’t mean for scrambling up breakfast. We have tofu, chickpeas, and the Follow Your Heart Veganegg for that. I meant for baking. There are many vegan baking options, and I believe I’ve tried them all, or at least all the ones I’m aware of. As I mentioned I’ve used flax meal — I’ve also used ground chia seeds, bananas, applesauce, store bought powdered egg replacer, cans of soda (for cakes), and I’ve even used Vegenaise (it works). However, aquafaba — nothing compares. Well maybe the soda, but I’m certainly not going to use a root beer in my cheez bread, LOL.

What’s aquafaba you ask? If you haven’t heard of it, aquafaba is the liquid from canned or home cooked beans. To use as an egg replacer, we use the liquid from garbanzo or other white beans. I’ve read that some use the liquid from red and pinto beans as well. I know weird, right? But I promise you — it works!

I’ve gotten off track some, so let us get back to the recipe. I took three fluid ounces of aquafaba from a can of garbanzo beans and set it aside in the mixing cup to my immersion blender. If you’re instead using a hand mixer you can place the aquafaba into a small mixing bowl.

Next, in a medium saucepan, I added cashew milk, water, olive oil, and salt. I brought this to a boil and then turned off the heat. I poured this hot fluid into the large mixing bowl over the tapioca flour. I mixed this well on high and once it was completely smooth and combined I turned the speed to low, but if you’re using a hand held mixer and are using it for both the dough and the aquafaba, you can just turn it off and rinse off the whisk.

Now I blended the aquafaba on high until it was white and frothy. I turned my stand mixer back to a higher speed and poured in the aquafaba, one-third at a time, mixing well in between. This is when I decided my recipe needed more flour, which may be due to the amount of aquafaba I used versus the egg quantity from the original recipe. You shouldn’t be needing to add more flour at the end like I did, because I’ve since edited the starting amount. Finally, I added in the vegan cheddar shreds and mixed until they were well incorporated.

At this point, all I had left was to form these delicious, stuffed bread rolls and I could pop them in the oven. Did I mention the batter was sticky? I’m pretty sure I did. This was a pain when starting out, but by the time I was done, I had it under control, and I’ll share with you now what I learned to make it so much easier!

The original recipe mentioned wetting your hands, and I can’t emphasize how important this is! I kept a large pot of water in my work space and between forming each dawg into a bread roll, I not only re-wet my hands, but rubbed them clean in the water untilall the precious dough was rinsed off. That made handling the new batch of dough much easier. If there’s a lot on your hands, try first saving it with the rest of the dough before rinsing your hands clean.

To form the rolls, I’d put a dollop of the dough in my hand (just about the right amount to cover one of the dawg pieces), flatten it, place a dawg piece on top, and then roll the dough around the dawg piece, covering it completely. I lined these up on baking sheets covered in parchment paper, and baked them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. I checked them after 15 minutes and you may want to as well, being as all ovens are slightly different. They’re done once golden and puffed.

I was so happy when I opened the oven and saw how beautiful these turned out! That aquafaba sure did the trick! For the longest time I knew about it’s magic but never used it because it seemed silly to open a can of beans just to use the fluid. I then decided to save it in the fridge whenever I used garbanzo beans, but it would get forgotten and pushed to the back. So finally, I got smart and started freezing it in ice cube trays. That way when I need it, I just pop a few cubes out and either defrost them in the microwave or I’ll let them sit out at room temperature until melted.

How’d I get back to talking about the aquafaba? These Cheezy Dawg Brazilian Breads!!! Oh my goodness!!! Yum! They were the perfect snack for my husband and I as we watched the Warriors game last night. I was even nice enough to share some with our son, but these sure are addictive. We decided we’d try some dips and loved them in a little vegan ranch, ketchup, or mustard.

If you try these and love them like we do, be sure to let me know by sharing a pic on Instagram and tagging me @veggiesattiffanis, or by writing a review or leaving a comment on the Veggies at Tiffani’s Facebook page.