Savory Pimento Cheese Puffs

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Every year for our annual Kentucky Derby gathering, my husband and I include pimento cheese in some form or fashion. It’s a classic Southern thing. But you know that I get bored making the same things over and over, and finding new ways to incorporate the classics is what makes me (and my guests) happy.

In past years, Les has contributed with crowd-pleasing homemade pimento cheese, and our table has also been graced by our spicy pimento cheese deviled eggs, which are so addictive, and an unexpected twist. This year, pimento cheese made its mark in these soft and savory cookies that pay homage to yet another Southern finger food, the “cheese straw.” 

A Southern party feels incomplete without pimento cheese.

If you’ve ever attended a wedding reception, bridal shower, funeral or other family gathering in the American South, you’ve probably seen some squiggly little cheese cracker-looking things served alongside the sweet tea and ham biscuits. They resemble pieces of straw, having been squeezed out onto a baking sheet through the star plate of a cookie press. Cheese straws are crispy and wispy, made with three simple ingredients— butter, finely shredded cheddar and flour, though some folks add cayenne to shake things up. These were my inspiration for the pimento cheese puffs I’m sharing today.

The idea for subbing in pimento cheese struck me when Les and I were packing up to leave after a weekend at our favorite North Carolina beach a couple of weeks ago. We had hardly touched the tub of spicy pimento cheese that we’d bought for seaside snacking, and my mind was on the Derby Day party that was coming up the next weekend. I thought, why couldn’t I do an ingredient swap? Mayo has enough fat to sub for butter, but also a bit of vinegar and of course, egg yolks, and I imagined that the resulting “cookies” might be a bit softer than a typical cheese straw. I was correct.

I loved how soft and spongy these cookies turned out!

These were delicate and puffy, but also deeply flavorful from the ingredients in the pimento cheese, including a few finely diced onions. I highly recommend this twist for any “share-a-snack” event that you may have coming up this summer!

How to make pimento cheese puffs

I’m going to be intentionally vague about the exact amounts of each ingredient I used because the consistency of the pimento cheese can vary widely from one brand to another. I’ll focus instead on the ideal outcome of the “dough,” which should be dense, heavy on cheese, with just enough of the mayonnaise and/or butter to bind the mixture together. For the size of our Derby Day crowd, I mixed in additional sharp cheddar, and I figured that I may as well also mix in some extra pimentos for good measure.

I ended up shredding about one third of my extra cheese block for this mixture.

The spicy pimento cheese we bought at the beach was low on mayonnaise (just the way we like it), and for this reason I added a dollop of mayo to my mixing bowl, along with a couple tablespoons of softened salted butter plus a splash of Worcestershire sauce. The pimento cheese, additional cheddar and pimentos went into the mixing bowl and I blended it until it was evenly combined. Next came the flour, and I followed the rule of thumb from my Kentucky bourbon pecan cheese biscuits here, blending in about one cup of all-purpose flour for the combined volume of the other ingredients. Again, give or take as needed, depending on the overall consistency of your mixture. The dough should be firm enough so that you can stand a spoon or spatula straight up in the bowl. Chill the mixture in the fridge for a few hours or overnight before baking.

A cookie scoop ensures equal-size snacks, and a quick press with the fork helped flatten them.

My teaspoon-size cookie scoop made quick work of this task, resulting in puffs that measured about an inch and a half across— perfect for our appetizer spread. I have ordered several sizes of these quality scoops from King Arthur Baking Company, and I find that I reach for them for many things other than cookies. 

For texture, I lightly pressed each cookie with a fork before baking, though it didn’t have much impact as the cookies puffed a lot as they baked. The cookies are best served the same day, but any leftovers may be stored at room temperature in a covered container.

Savory Pimento Cheese Puffs

  • Servings: About 12
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Any self-respecting Southern hostess will find a way to include pimento cheese on the party table. These soft and flavorful bites were my creation for our latest Kentucky Derby bash, and they turned out terrific.


Ingredients

  • A dollop of mayonnaise
  • 2 Tbsp. softened salted butter
  • 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • About one cup prepared pimento cheese* (see notes)
  • Up to one cup finely shredded cheddar cheese (sharp or extra sharp for best flavor)
  • 2 Tbsp. jarred pimentos, drained and patted dry
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

Note: My recipe was made with a low-mayonnaise pimento cheese. Some prepared spreads are very loose and almost runny, and I do not recommend that consistency.

Directions

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the mayonnaise, butter and Worcestershire sauce.
  2. Add pimento cheese, additional cheddar and pimentos, and mix with beater blade until evenly combined.
  3. Add the flour, half at a time, blending with the beater blade just until incorporated. Chill dough in the refrigerator for at least a few hours (up to overnight) before baking.
  4. Heat oven to 350° F, with rack in center position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  5. Portion cheese cookie dough onto the parchment in rounded teaspoons. Press lightly with a fork. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until cookies are puffy and slightly browned on the edges. Transfer right away to a cooling rack.

Pimento Cheese Cornbread

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It took me nearly 10 years, but I’ve finally found a way to persuade my husband to appreciate cornbread. I love this humble side for its texture, its subtle sweetness and its perfectly rustic personality alongside a bowl of chili, a hearty Brunswick chicken stew, or even a plate of pulled pork barbecue and baked beans. But the grainy texture of plain cornbread, or maybe its simple flavor, has been a turnoff to Les as long as I’ve known him. As a result, I don’t make cornbread very often because I can’t (or shouldn’t) eat the whole batch myself. But now!

I highly recommend enjoying this warm! 😋

This version, featuring tangy pimentos, hot cherry peppers and a hefty amount of cheddar cheese, has made my husband a believer. He actually liked it! This is my adaptation of a recipe that dropped into my email inbox a few weeks ago from NYT Cooking. The NYT version called for roasted red peppers and feta cheese— flavors I also love, and a light bulb went off in my head, perhaps because Les had made a batch of pimento cheese the weekend before New Year’s, and I just knew that the same pimento cheese flavors would work in a cornbread. Did they ever!

What I changed to make it mine

The substitution of pimentos and cheddar is straightforward, but there were a couple of other things I modified from the NYT recipe to suit our preferences. I cut the suggested sugar in half, as recommended by many people who took time to comment on the NYT recipe. Many southerners do not use sugar in their cornbread at all— weird, given that we put it in literally everything else, but I’ll let the dissenters duke that out in the comments. My version had a quarter cup, and that was plenty.  

The only ingredients missing in this picture are melted butter and an egg.

Les loves spicy foods, so along with pimentos, I subbed in some hot cherry peppers, which made for a nice flavor kick. I only had a bit of sour cream, so I went halvsies with plain Greek yogurt. I’m grateful that the two are almost always interchangeable, but in this case, I had a very heavy batter so I splashed in a bit of buttermilk, too. It’s good to be able to pivot in the kitchen! 

This was a much thicker batter than I’m used to, but it turned out amazing!

A quick shake of sweet paprika in the dry ingredients lent additional color and a touch of smoke. I didn’t want green flecks in my cornbread, so minced onion stood in for the scallions called for in the NYT Cooking recipe. I rehydrated the onions with hot water so that they wouldn’t steal moisture from the batter. If I’d had a Vidalia onion, that would have been even better— sautéed first, of course.

Bringing it all together

Finally, rather than mess with lining a baking dish with parchment, I chose to bake my cornbread directly in a cast iron skillet. I love the crusty edges achieved this way, and in the South, everything is better in cast iron. To be successful with this, melt two tablespoons of butter in the skillet until it’s bubbly and starting to brown. Then pour the batter into the hot skillet and transfer it to the oven for the recommended baking time, 35 minutes.

The hot skillet makes this extra good, but you could also bake it in a buttered square dish.

This cornbread smelled amazing when I pulled it from the oven. The cheddar melted throughout, and the pimentos and hot cherry peppers gave the whole thing a “pimento cheese” vibe. The only thing I plan to do differently next time will be trade the melted butter for mayonnaise, which will serve the same purpose and bring it even closer to true pimento cheese. 

A traditional “good luck” meal for New Year’s in the U.S. South.

Our pimento cheese cornbread was a perfect side to our New Year’s Day “good luck” meal that also included spicy collard greens and black-eyed pea soup. How would you enjoy it?

Pimento Cheese Cornbread

  • Servings: 8 wedges
  • Difficulty: Average
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Sharp cheddar and diced pimentos have transformed a classic cornbread into something utterly addictive. If you're adventurous, swap in a few hot cherry peppers for even more great flavor.


Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup medium grind cornmeal
  • 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
  • 6 Tbsp. butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp. dried minced onion, rehydrated in hot water
  • 1/3 cup pimentos, drained (or mix it up with diced hot cherry peppers)
  • 3/4 freshly shredded extra sharp cheddar
  • 1 tsp. coarse sea salt for sprinkling on batter before baking
  • 2 Tbsp. cold butter, for cast iron skillet

Notes: You may need to adjust the amounts of sour cream or Greek yogurt, given that consistency of these ingredients varies from brand to brand. If your batter is too thick, consider stirring in a couple tablespoons of milk or buttermilk so that the dry ingredients can be fully incorporated.

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375° F, with rack in center position. Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium-low heat and add cold butter, rubbing the butter along the side of the skillet to grease it. Keep the skillet on low heat while you prepare the batter.
  2. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, pepper and paprika. Set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl or batter bowl, combine sour cream, yogurt, egg and melted butter. Stir in rehydrated onion.
  4. Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture, half at a time, only until flour is fully incorporated. If batter is too thick or dry, don’t hesitate to stir in a splash of milk. Use a silicone spatula to fold in the cheddar cheese and pimento/pepper mixture.
  5. The butter in the skillet should be completely melted and beginning to brown. Transfer batter to the hot skillet and lightly smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle coarse salt over the batter and bake 30 to 35 minutes, until edges are crispy and center passes the toothpick test. Serve warm, and then cool leftovers completely before wrapping and storing for up to three days.

Spicy Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs

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Every home cook has an arsenal of “go-to” dishes, tricks or final touches to elevate their menus in a given situation. One of mine is deviled eggs—who doesn’t love them, right? It’s a staple at potlucks and family get-togethers for good reason. This simple but universally loved finger food is one that I consider a blank canvas for interesting variations. With just a few ingredient swaps, you can turn a basic deviled egg into something flavorful and unexpected, and that’s what happened with these pimento cheese deviled eggs only a few weeks ago. 

Go ahead, grab one!

When my husband’s adult son, Alex, announced in February that he would be visiting from Europe for a few weeks, my mind went racing about all his favorite tastes of home I would need to make while he stayed at our house. Like his dad, Alex has a very short list of foods he doesn’t enjoy, and pretty much everything else is fair game, especially if there’s spicy heat involved. He likes spice so much, in fact, that the hostel he co-owns in Budapest is literally called Spicy Hostel! It is apparently the place for young, adventurous people to stay when visiting the capital of Hungary.

That’s Alex, on the bench!

The hostel keeps Alex very busy, so we try to make the most of his infrequent visits home, and I was ready to cook whatever he requested! On the first day of his visit, I invited him to join me on a journey to one of our supermarkets, where I quickly realized that the “taste of home” he missed the most was not any home-cooked meal at all—nope, he wanted junk food! I watched in awe as he piled cans of Spaghetti-Os, Spam and chunk light tuna into the shopping cart. These are all things he cannot easily find in Budapest, so he spent the first week or so satisfying those cravings. He was also pretty excited about York peppermint patties, which he loves so much that he smuggled a multi-pack onto the plane for his trip home.

By the end of his three-week visit, though, we had treated Alex to many home-cooked meals, including the Hot Italian Sausage and Cherry Pepper Pizza that was inspired by our 2021 visit to New Haven’s Modern Apizza. We tossed some burgers on the grill, with American cheese—something we take for granted around here—and he loved it. He also requested fresh seafood (not much of that in Hungary, either), and I was happy to oblige with a panko-crusted halibut, as described in my post about Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Miraculous Mayo Marinade. Finally, Les fired up the bullet smoker at the end of his visit and made a veritable feast of smoked meats, including a pork shoulder, brisket, several artisan sausages and a gorgeous side of fresh salmon.

This smoker holds enough to feed a hostel-ful of hungry travelers!

For that smoked feast, Alex invited a couple of local friends over for dinner, and we enjoyed a great meal that started with a smoked salmon spread that Les makes—I will insist that he make it again this summer and share it here on Comfort du Jour—and these pimento cheese deviled eggs.

This is about to become a flavor explosion.

I had picked up this very spicy pimento cheese in the cold pantry section at the butcher shop where I purchased the meat for the smoker. The spread was quite heavy on the mayo (not really our thing), so rather than serving it just with crackers, I decided to mix it with the egg yolk filling for a batch of deviled eggs. There was so much heat and flavor in the pimento cheese that no other seasonings were necessary. I only needed a little dab of extra mayo to loosen the filling and some finely minced shallot for crunch. As usual, I grabbed a small zip-top bag to use as a makeshift piping bag for filling the split egg whites. It’s easier and less messy than spooning it in.

Let me tell you, Alex and his friends devoured these deviled eggs in no time flat, and you can bet this treat will be coming up in the rotation again this summer. Come to think of it, deviled eggs are great for both Easter (this Sunday) and Passover, which starts this evening at sundown. I might be convinced to make another batch this weekend!

Spicy Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Here come two of the South’s favorite all-time foods, combined into one tasty little two-bite appetizer—let’s just call this a win-win!


Ingredients

  • 6 large or extra large chicken eggs
  • 1/2 cup prepared pimento cheese, on the mayonnaise-y side
  • 2 Tbsp. finely chopped onion
  • A few tablespoons additional mayo, as needed to loosen yolk filling
  • Salt and pepper as desired

There’s no “right” amount of pimento cheese or mayonnaise to add, as it depends on the texture of the egg yolks and pimento cheese. Adjust each ingredient to suit your fancy.

Directions

  1. Boil the eggs, following your own preferred method. Here’s mine: Bring a pot of water to a full, rolling boil, then lower the eggs in on a slotted spoon. Set a timer for 12 minutes, then use the same spoon to transfer the eggs directly to an ice water bath for about 30 minutes. Peel under cold running water. Works great every time.
  2. Cut the eggs lengthwise, and empty the yolks into a medium bowl.
  3. Add pimento cheese, onion and additional mayo (if needed) to the yolks, blending to a smooth, creamy texture. Adjust seasoning to taste. Spoon the mixture into a quart size zip-top bag and seal.
  4. If working ahead, chill the filling and the egg white halves (covered, of course) until just before serving. Snip a small triangle on the corner of the zip-top bag and pipe the filling into the egg white halves. You will probably have some filling left over; enjoy it on crackers or fill a couple of celery sticks. Or, if nobody is watching, squeeze the bag directly into your mouth. 🙂