Brigadeiro

Ingredients

Mixture

• 395 gtin sweetened condensed milk
• 30 gunsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 20 gbutter, plus more for your hands
• a pinch of salt

To finish

• 150 gchocolate sprinkles

Directions

1. Sift the cocoa straight into the condensed milk in the cold pan and whisk it completely smooth before any heat goes near it. Cocoa added to a warm pan clumps instantly and you will be chasing lumps for the rest of the cooking.
2. Add the butter and the salt. The salt is a small quantity doing real work here, because condensed milk on its own is flatly sweet and needs it to taste of chocolate at all.
3. Cook over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula and scraping the base and the corners of the pan. Do not stop stirring at any point, because the sugar catches and burns in seconds.
4. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes. The test is to drag the spatula through the middle: when the mixture parts cleanly and you can see the bottom of the pan for a full second before it flows back, it is ready.
5. Stop there. Undercooked it will never hold a ball, and taken further it turns hard and grainy on cooling, and neither can be corrected.
6. Pour it onto a buttered plate without scraping the pan. The film left on the base is overcooked and scraping it in will make the whole batch grainy.
7. Leave it to cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours. Do not put it in the refrigerator, which sets the outside hard while the middle stays soft and makes it impossible to roll.
8. Butter your hands, take a heaped teaspoon at a time and roll into balls about the size of a walnut.
9. Roll each one in chocolate sprinkles until completely coated and set them in small paper cases.

Technique

• The spatula test is the whole recipe. Timings vary with the pan, so watch for the parting rather than the clock.
• It was named for Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, whose supporters sold these to raise funds during his 1945 presidential campaign, and no Brazilian children’s birthday happens without them.
• Unsweetened cocoa only. Drinking chocolate has too much sugar and milk powder in it and will not set.

Substitutions

• Good dark chocolate melted into the condensed milk in place of cocoa, which is the gourmet version and sets softer.
• Margarine for butter, which is common and works perfectly well.

Variations

• Brigadeiro de colher, cooked two minutes less and eaten from the pot with a spoon.
• Beijinho, made with coconut instead of cocoa and topped with a clove.
• Cajuzinho, made with ground peanuts and shaped like a cashew.

History

Named for Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, whose supporters sold the chocolate and condensed-milk balls during his 1945 presidential campaign.

Frequently asked questions

What is Brigadeiro?

Brigadeiro is a dessert from Brazil: chocolate condensed-milk truffles rolled in sprinkles, birthday essential. Named for Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, whose supporters sold the chocolate and condensed-milk balls during his 1945 presidential campaign.

How long does Brigadeiro take to make?

Brigadeiro takes 15 min plus 2 hr cooling of preparation and 12 min of cooking. The recipe makes 25 truffles. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Brigadeiro?

Yes, within limits. Good dark chocolate melted into the condensed milk in place of cocoa, which is the gourmet version and sets softer. Margarine for butter, which is common and works perfectly well.

What is the most important thing to get right in Brigadeiro?

Cook over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula and scraping the base and the corners of the pan. Do not stop stirring at any point, because the sugar catches and burns in seconds.