Brigadeiros Delight!

Photo Credit: http://brigadeiroslucrativos.com.br

Spring break is almost over! Due to the fact that Zhou and I were incredibly busy attending events with our families, we were unable to make our desired creation: brigadeiros! We debated over making brigadeiros or churros, as we only had one ingredient for brigadeiros (butter), but all of the ingredients needed for churros (water, oil, sugar, flour, cinnamon). In the end, since brigadeiros were slightly easier to make, we opted to go for that idea. It was also great because I had made brigadeiros in the past by myself when I was immensely interested in baking, and they turned out very delicious, if I do say so myself! I hope that my previous experiences making brigadeiros will help us make the chocolatey balls with ease. I stumbled upon the idea of these common Brazilian delicacies while scrolling through the Tasty section of Buzzfeed’s website, expecting to find some desserts that sounded simple yet challenging for us to make. I caught a glimpse of the word ‘brigadeiro’, and I was instantly reminded of the times when I used instant chocolate milk powder and condensed milk to replicate the chewy balls of goodness when I was in my early teens (11, 12, 13, perhaps 14? years old). Brigadeiros are quite decadent and sweet, and it is a traditional candy from Brazil (discovered in 1940) that is typically served at parties. The ingredients and process in making brigadeiros are very minimalistic: butter, sweetened condensed milk, and cocoa powder; mix the three ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until thickened (approximately 10 minutes). Then let rest before buttering hands and forming balls to roll into desired toppings, such as sprinkles or cocoa powder. As stated up above, we unfortunately only have the butter aspect of the recipe. However, since we only need to obtain cocoa powder and sweetened condensed milk, we found that brigadeiros are perfect for this project, as it will not cost much to purchase these ingredients. This is because we only need one can and a couple of tablespoons of cocoa to make approximately 40 balls - enough for the entire class with leftovers to give out seconds to our peers or hand out to friends outside of class. We will attempt to make the Brazilian creations next week, once we have bought the two ingredients!