Brigadeiro – Brazilian Sweets

Posted on by Ben | Havocinthekitchen
Brigadeiro - Brazilian Sweets

Brigadeiro – Brazilian Sweets are chewy, scrumptious, and chocolate-ly dulce de leche based candy originated in Brazil. You will only need a pan, whisk, a can of condensed milk, cocoa, butter…and a little arm workout!

Brigadeiro - Brazilian Sweets

This post was originally published in October 2015. I have uploaded the new pictures and slightly updated the recipe while the actual blog post remains unchanged. 

You’ve been waiting for this moment for many, many months. I hope you haven’t lost your sleep or appetite.

Finally, this is happening. It’s another part of my revelations. Do you still remember them (all parts are here)? In fact, this might be the most important part because it’s about havoc…Havoc In The Kitchen!

However, I’m a wet blanket, and I’m going to spoil your fun. It’s not going to be a bombshell! Basically, I’ve mentioned many times what kind of person I am in the kitchen.

Okay, let’s get this Havoc started!

First of all, I’m probably the only person in the world able to use up all the tableware and cutlery at once while making an avocado toast. At least Andrey has said that numerous times. That’s just an outrageous exaggeration. Never ever has I used up all the kitchen stuff at once.

I must admit that’s somewhat true cause I always use a lot of things. Usually, after my cooking, the dishwasher is ready to be turned on. Plus, often, while photographing, it’s so hard to figure out which props work best, so you need literally try a few things.

I guess that’s quite a common thing for food photographers. Or I hope so. So if that has happened to you at least once, please sign the petition and send it to Andrew. We should stop his insinuations!

I won’t be saying that the area around me is perfectly clean once I finished. Nope. I’m always an honest guy. On the other hand, just imagine this: you’ve been cooking for a few hours and taking a lot of pictures for another 5 hours. You’re completely fatigued. Perhaps, you’re even sick of seeing the kitchen. How could someone anticipate from you the immaculately clean kitchen? Don’t be ridiculous! You can’t clean the walls, curtains, and sometimes the ceilings by yourself. Sure you can skip some spots. In my book, when Andrey has something to say, that’s not because of me being messy but because of him having too high standards.

Don’t get it twisted, please. I’m not that guy who blames everyone but not himself. I’m just a human being. I accept my mistakes.

As you may remember, I have mentioned a few times one of my favourite TV characters, ALF. I love him for being such a handsome and hilarious guy. Andrey says it’s so because I see some connections between us. That’s true. Sometimes I feel I’m a handsome and hilarious guy too. Buy Andrey certainly hints at ALF’s ability to damage the kitchen stuff and blow up the kitchen. Lies! I’ve never blown up the kitchen!

I might have broken a few things while cooking or whisking the eggs, though. I also admit I’ve damaged a few pieces of equipment too. That’s okay. Any gadgets cannot last for ages. And that doesn’t sound strange if they got broken after 2 weeks of running either, right?

But I still feel you’d love to hear some breathtaking revelations. Okay, I’ve got one story indeed.

When I was a small boy, I did love sweet condensed milk and especially dulce de leche. In Russia, it was quite difficult to buy dulce de leche, so most of the people made it at home. That wasn’t too hard. You just needed to put an unopened can of condensed sweet milk in a large pot of boiling water and boil it for a few hours.

A piece of cake. Nothing dangerous. If you keep an eye at the level of water. The can must be fully submerged in water. All the time.

One day, being alone at home, I was craving for some dulce de leche. So I decided to make it. In the beginning, everything was fine. Then something went wrong. I just didn’t have a chance to realize that. I might have had a blackout. But when I come to the kitchen to check out the pot, I found out there wasn’t the can anymore. Not exactly. The can was still in that pot. But it wasn’t full anymore. The good news was that the dulce de leche seemed to have turned out perfectly, thick and with the intense caramel colour. The bad news was I wasn’t really able to sample it since I needed to lick the wall and ceiling.

That was only one serious accident in the kitchen. Not a big deal.

Probably, I shouldn’t have told this story to my husband because after that he started to reject all my attempts to buy a torch. Weird reaction, isn’t it?

Brigadeiro – Brazilian Sweets

To finish this up, I’d love to share this recipe for Brigadeiro – Brazilian Sweets. A couple of years back I made these and some other Brazilian sweets, and I fell in love with them.

These soft chewy Brigadeiro don’t require boiling a can of condensed milk, so the recipe is totally safe. I’ve got to mention only two thighs.

First, be prepared to have a great workout for your arms – you will need constantly stirring the candy mixture. You can freely skip your gym session after this:)

Secondly, that may be an issue to clean up the pot. I usually fill it with water, add some soda, and bring to a boil. After this simple procedure, you could easily clean it after some good scrubbing. Anyways, the result will pay you off!

Have you ever tried Brigadeiro or other Brazilian sweets, guys? Do you like ALF? And more importantly, have you ever blown up the kitchen made dulce de leche?

I hope you like these Brigadeiros, and you will give it a try shortly. If you make it, let me know in this post or send me an Instagram message or share your photos adding the hashtag #havocinthekitchen.

Cheers!

Brigadeiro - Brazilian Sweets
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Brigadeiro – Brazilian Sweets

Recipe by Ben | HavocinthekitchenCourse: DessertCuisine: Brazilian
Servings

16-24

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

14

minutes
Chilling time

1

hour

Brigadeiro – Brazilian Sweets are chewy, scrumptious, and chocolate-ly dulce de leche based candy originated in Brazil.

Ingredients

  • Brigadeiro:

  • 1 – 1 1/2 cans sweetened condensed milk (400 gr. total)

  • 3 tbsp. (22 gr.) unsweetened dark cacao powder

  • 2 tbsp. (28 gr.) unsalted butter + 1 tbsp. (14 gr.) butter for greasing

  • ~1/2 cup of chocolate sprinkles (jimmies, like in the photos)

  • Equipment:

  • medium, heavy-bottomed pan or saucepan

  • whisk

  • spoon or spatula, preferably wooden

Directions

  • Grease a heavy saucepan with 1 tablespoon of butter, both the bottom and sides.
  • Add the condensed milk, cacao, and 2 tablespoons of the butter to the pan.
  • Bring to a slow boil constantly stirring with a whisk first then with a wooden spoon or spatula.
  • Reduce heat to low and continue cooking, constantly stirring, for about 12-16 minutes. First 10 minutes or so you won’t see significant difference, but very soon the mixture will become creamy and fudgy. It’s important to keep stirring the mixture even more vigorously as that’s the point it can easily burn.
  • Pro-Tip: If you feel the mixture is boiling too fast or you see little bites of caramelization (They are totally fine and delicious – unless they are burnt) appear, simply remove the pan from the heat for 30-40 seconds. Reduce the heat and then return the pot back. You can also also add a small amount of extra butter, to cool down the cooking process (You can add up to one extra tablespoon – at once or divided and used throughout the cooking process.)
  • Pro-Tip 2: Pay attention to the bottom of your pan as it can easily start burning. If that happens (significantly), transfer the mixture into another pan, without scratching the bottom. However, during the cooking process you can see some tiny caramelized ‘drops’ develop in the mixture – they are totally fine and delicious – just chewy bits that makes Brigadeiros not as homogeneous yet equally good. However, if such pieces turn brown and you feel the burning smell – there is no much you can salvage the recipe. Bottom line: vigorously mix the mixture most of the time, and don’t leave the pot for a second, especially after 8-10 minutes have passed.
  • As soon as it has thickened enough – until you can see the bottom of the pot for 2-3 seconds when dragging a spatula through – turn the heat off and remove the pot from heat. The overall cooking time should take between 12 and 14 minutes, in some cases 16 minutes. Don’t overcook or you will have hard handy. Keep in mind the mixture thickens even more once cooled.
  • Chill the mixture in the fridge for an hour.
  • When the mixture has cooled, lightly wet your hands (or apply some butter), put a tablespoon of the chewy mixture on your hands, and roll into a small ball. Roll in the jimmies sprinkles.
  • Refrigerate a bit and enjoy it! Keep refrigerated for up to one week. For the best result, remove from the refrigerator 10-15 minutes prior to serving.

31 thoughts on “Brigadeiro – Brazilian Sweets”

  1. Mel says:

    Great pictures,
    I made brigadeiros to sell here in Brazil, but I have problems to take good pictures of my job.
    Here we cook a lot of recipes with sweetened condensed milk (almost every deserts) ;),
    but brigadeiro has an special place in our heartsl

    Reply
  5. Laura says:

    Ben! This sound so tasty! And easy! I will pin for later! Strangely, I just made some Dulce De Leche – it was pretty easy in the InstantPot! Since the lid is locked, i wasn’t too nervous about an explosion. Maybe naive on my part, though. Anyway, thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
  6. Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen says:

    So much to say! I too usually have to run the dishwasher after I cook :). How a simple batch of cookies can use twelve pots and pans I’ll never know. And also, I’ve been meaning to try brigadeiros for a long time. Thank you for reminding me!

    Reply
  8. Kimberly Peterson says:

    This is such a real and relatable post Ben! On blog-cooking days I go through at least one roll of paper towels if not more, have a sink full of bowls that won’t fit in the dishwasher, and a hungry family hovering over my shoulder while trying to shoot. It’s all good and I wouldn’t trade it in for the world. Your recipe sounds absolutely divine and the chocolate sprinkles remind me of my childhood. I would never order an ice cream cone on the boardwalk without them. Thank you for republishing this post and the trip down memory lane. :)

    Reply
  9. Jeff the Chef says:

    What a great story! I once slipped while walking across the kitchen with a cup of coffee, and managed to get it on the ceiling, but fortunately, my husband continues to let me walk around with coffee in my hand (although he always seems nervous about it). Well, don’t let it deter you! Dolce de leche is wort a mishap now and then!

    Reply
  11. Kevin | Keviniscooking says:

    You had me laughing when you wrote, “Lies! I’ve never blown up the kitchen!”
    Then you went and said, “The bad news was I wasn’t really able to sample it since I needed to lick the wall and ceiling.” Now that’s funny.
    Did you know you can make Dulce De Leche In The Slow Cooker? http://huff.to/1dMaD57
    This look scrumptious Ben. Thanks for this recipe and a few chuckles along the read. :)
    Kevin | Keviniscooking recently posted…Easy Roasted Vegetables with Honey and Balsamic SyrupMy Profile

    Reply
  16. Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary says:

    Hahahaha! Your dulce de leche story had me cracking up, Ben! I will sign that petition for you, because I dirty a lot of dishes when I cook, but I keep the actual space very clean (Habit from culinary school and working in a professional kitchen). AND tell Andrew I am getting you a torch for Christmas… but only if you post a picture of his reaction after you open it! lol. Anyways, I’ve never had Brigadeiro before… nor have I ever heard of it! It looks seriously delicious! I’m sad that I will never be able to eat it, because helllllo no cocoa for me. But, I’m sure Boy would love these! Cheers, buddy! <3
    Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary recently posted…Loaded Southwestern Roasted Cauliflower “Bisque”My Profile

    Reply
  19. David @ Spiced says:

    Alf! Man, I loved that show. I went back a few months ago and found an episode online. Best show ever. I mean he ate cats! And he had an attitude! Anyways, these brigadeiro. I’ve never heard of these sweets before, but they look incredibly tasty…even if you had to destroy half the kitchen to make them! :-)
    David @ Spiced recently posted…Rusty NailMy Profile

    Reply
  20. mimi says:

    What a great post! I’d completely forgotten about ALF! My kids really loved him! These candies are beautiful. I’m glad that you showed the inside, because I had made an incorrect assumption for what that was like. They look soft and chewy! Fabulous!
    mimi recently posted…Non, Je Ne Regrette RienMy Profile

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