Savoury Cheesecake Puffs

These little puffs are wonderful as a pre-dinner nibbler, appetizer or as part of a buffet table. You can make them ahead and re-heat in 5-7 minutes. For some reason the amount of garlic does not show up in the recipe - it is 2 tsp or to taste (I add more)

• Ready In: 55 mins
• Serves: 36
• Yields: 36 puffs

Ingredients

• 1⁄3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⁄3 cup parmesan cheese, grated (use the dry variety, not fresh)
• 2  cups ricotta cheese
• 250  g cream cheese, softened
• 2  egg yolks, large
• 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 6  tablespoons all-purpose flour
•  garlic clove, minced
• 1⁄2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon sugar
• 1  pinch cayenne
• 1⁄2 cup chives, finely chopped, divided

Directions

1. preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix 1/3 cup each of flour and parmesan; grease 3 dozen mini muffin tins and spoon flour and parmesan mixture into tins. Roll pan around to coat all sides of tins. Shake out excess.
3. Beat ricotta, cream cheese, and egg yolks on low speed until smooth.
4. Gradually beat in rest of ingredients, except chives. Stir in chives, reserving 1/4 cup for sprinkling when serving.
5. Scoop spoonfuls of batter and push into tins with finger. Fill tins slightly above rims as the batter will puff and then settle. Sprinkle batter with additional chives.
6. Bake on middle rack of oven 35-40 minutes or until golden on top. Cool before removing from muffin tins. These puffs are ideally served warm, but are also delicious at room temperature.
7. They can be made ahead, removed from muffin tins, chilled up to 2 days and reheated for serving. To reheat, place on baking sheet in 250°F or 350°F oven for 5-7 minutes or until warmed through (the reheating temperature ranges to allow the cheesecakes to share an oven with other foods baking a the same time.