Brigadeiro 🍫

Name: Brigadeiro
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Brazilian
Ingredients: 1 can (395 g) sweetened condensed milk; 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (sieved); 1 tbsp butter (+ extra for greasing); Butter for the pan; 100 g chocolate sprinkles (vermicelli), for coating; Optional: 1 splash of milk if the mix goes too stiff; Paper candy cases, to serve

Brazil's birthday ritual in one bite: condensed milk, cocoa and butter stirred in a copper pan until the mix pulls away from the bottom — the ponto de brigadeiro — then rolled, oiled and showered in chocolate sprinkles. Legend links the name to a 1940s presidential campaign for brigadeiro (brigadier) Eduardo Gomes, whose supporters handed out the sweets at rallies. It takes twenty minutes of patient stirring and no skill beyond knowing when to stop: too early it won't roll, too late it turns grainy.

São Paulo Brazilian ⏱ 30 min Easy

Method

1

Butter a heavy pan and stir in condensed milk, sieved cocoa and 1 tbsp butter over medium-low heat until smooth and lump-free.
2

Keep stirring with a spatula, scraping the base constantly; after 8-12 minutes the mix thickens and, when you pull it across the bottom, the pan stays clean for a few seconds — this is ponto de brigadeiro.
3

Tip into a buttered dish, cover touching the surface and cool completely (an hour in the fridge).
4

Butter your hands, take teaspoonfuls and roll into neat balls.
5

Roll each ball in chocolate sprinkles to coat fully and sit them in paper cases. Keep cool; eat within a day or two.

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Brigadeiro 🍫

Method

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