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Bolos De Arroz - Portuguese Rice Muffins

Name: Bolos De Arroz - Portuguese Rice Muffins
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 75 gram (1/3 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature; 150 gram (3/4 cup) sugar; 3 large eggs; 1/2 cup milk; zest of 1 lemon (~ 2 teaspoon), or 1/8 teaspoon lemon oil; 120 gram (1 cup) all-purpose flour; 100 gram (2/3 cup) rice flour; 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 1/8 teaspoon salt; sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

Last updated: Aug 11, 2020 — Published: Aug 11, 2020 — By: Anita — 5 comments

Rice flour and lemon make these Portuguese little cakes (muffins) so tender and delicious. You'll understand why these are always popular once you give them a try.

Bolos De Arroz - Portuguese Rice Muffins.

Bolos de arroz is traditional Portuguese rice flour cakes/muffins. You can find these in most Portuguese bakeries, and they are a favorite breakfast item too. The use of rice flour in the batter gives these treats a more cake-like texture.

Bolos de arroz is usually taller and comes in paper cups. You can get the look by using tulip baking cups if you wish. I never bother using any paper cups since these never stick on my muffin pan as long as I lightly grease the pan with some butter.

Ingredients for Bolos de arroz

We will need unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, milk, lemon zest (or lemon oil), all-purpose flour, rice flour, baking powder, and salt.

Butter vs. margarine

Most traditional recipes use margarine instead of butter. So if you want to go that route, replace unsalted butter with margarine. Also, since margarine is almost always already salted, be sure to omit the salt when using margarine.

Lemon zest vs. lemon oil

If you have fresh lemons in your home, it is better if you can use fresh lemon zest from one lemon. An average size lemon should give you about 2 teaspoon of freshly grated lemon zest.

If you want to use lemon oil, I highly recommend Boyajian pure lemon oil. You will only need 1/8 teaspoon of lemon oil to replicate the zest of one lemon.

(1) Mix eggs, milk, and lemon oil/zest in a bowl. Whisk all-purpose flour, rice flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl. (2) Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. (3) Add egg mixture and flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar and mix until uniform. (4) Divide batter into a greased (or lined) muffin pan, and sprinkle the top with sugar.

Preparing bolos de arroz batter

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius). Lightly grease a standard muffin pan or line with paper cups.

Whisk together eggs, milk, and lemon zest/lemon oil. Set aside.

In another bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, rice flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg mixture and mix until uniform, then add the flour mixture and mix. Stop mixing once there is no longer any flour streak in the batter.

Bake the muffins in a 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) oven until golden brown.

Baking bolos de arroz

Divide batter into the muffin pan, they should be about 70-80% full. Optionally, sprinkle the top with sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-23 minutes, or until golden brown and a cake tester/toothpick/skewer inserted to the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven, and place it on a wire rack. After 10 minutes, gently remove the muffin from the pan. Serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an air-tight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.

After 10 minutes, remove muffins from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Mini muffins and jumbo muffins

You can bake these in a mini muffin pan. It should take only about 12-15 minutes at the same temperature.

The ones sold in a Portuguese bakery are bigger than a standard size muffin pan, probably close to a jumbo muffin pan in size. If you bake these in a jumbo muffin pan, it will take about 30-35 minutes at the same temperature.