We love these Holiday Cheese Puffs as a quirky appetizer that’s a fun alternative to cheese twists.
By Amy Traverso
Dec 23 2021
In the 1960s and ’70s, we ran reader-submitted recipes in a regular column titled “My Favorite Recipe.” Some dishes (Kidney Bean Relish, Liver & Rice Casserole) are best left to memory, but Holiday Cheese Puffs — a quirky appetizer from December 1974 — caught our eye. The cheese sauce is leavened with egg white so that it toasts up, a bit soufflé-like, on rounds of French bread. A fun alternative to cheese twists.
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
3 ounces cream cheese
8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter
2 egg whites, beaten to firm peaks
1 baguette, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices
1 clove garlic, halved
Garnish: about 30 small sage leaves
Preheat your oven to 400°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Set a double boiler over a pot of simmering water. Add the cheddar, cream cheese, and butter, and melt, whisking continuously until creamy. Remove the bowl from the heat and let it sit 5 minutes to cool. Now fold in the egg whites in two batches. Rub one side of each bread slice with the halved garlic. Dip one side of each bread slice into the cheese mixture. Arrange on the prepared baking sheets, coated side up. Press a sage leaf into the center of each slice.
Bake until puffy and browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee magazine and co-host of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with WGBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.
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