Receita de Brigadeiro: Traditional Brazilian Truffles Recipe

I was first introduced to Brigadeiro by a Brazilian friend in college. He had just recently transferred from another university and had shown great interest in me. Being kind, intelligent, and most of all, foreign, I began spending time with him and his other Brazilian cohorts. After one evening of raggae music, drinks, & FIFA, one of the guys brought out a plate of what looked like fudge. He told me pinch off a piece of the chocolate mound. It was creamy and fudge-like but unlike anything I had tried before. This is how I became introduced to the Brazilian dessert Brigadeiro.

Since that first taste of Brigadeiro, I have tried many variations of the dessert and decided to share my favorite with you! Brazilian recipes use grams and other metric units to measure ingredients, but I've gone ahead and included American baking units (i.e. cups, ounces, etc.). Try out this quick and easy recipe the next time you have some friends over for some drinks & FIFA (or you know, wine & bachelorette. She chose Brian? Over Peter?).

Run your spatula through
the mixture

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter

1 can condensed milk (14 oz.)

4 Tbsp cocoa powder (Use the Brazilian cocoa
powder Nescau for a more authentic taste)

Chocolate sprinkles (optional)

Mini cupcake tins (optional)

1. In a small or medium saucepan combine butter, condensed milk, & cocoa powder over medium heat
2. Continue to stir until the mixture becomes thick
3. Run your spoon or spatula through the mixture, if it slowly returns to
   its original state, it is thick enough to be removed from heat
4. Allow the mixture to cool and then transfer it to a plate, spreading it evenly

Brigadeiro de Panela
(my personal preference!)

From here, you can refrigerate & then serve your Brigadeiro on a plate with spoons (this is known as Brigadeiro de Panela), or mold the chocolate into balls and roll in sprinkles to serve in a more traditional truffle form!

1. Place chocolate sprinkles in a small bowl or plate and set aside
2. Grease your hands with a small amount of butter and carefully roll your desired size of chocolate into a ball
3. Roll the ball in the sprinkles and then place in a small cupcake tin
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve