I recently published a post on Brazilian treats and there I briefly mentioned brigadeiro. Well, now the whole Street Smart Brazil team has gotten together to show you how to cook brigadeiro. And, yes, we ate it all at the end 🙂
What is brigadeiro
Brigadeiro is a soft chocolate sweet made with condensed milk and cocoa. It is present in every Brazilian birthday party. Every Brazilian knows brigadeiro, and I think that almost everyone likes it. I love it ♥
It is easy to make brigadeiros, but it can be tricky to get the perfect consistency. We share a few tricks in the video.
The history of brigadeiro
Brigadeiro was created by the wife of Brigadeiro (Brigadier) Eduardo Gomes, who was a Presidential candidate in Brazil in the 1940s. His wife would cook the candies and serve them during their fundraising events. The guests loved the treat and soon enough people started asking: “Have you tried the Brigadeiro’s candy?”, which translates to, “Where is the Brigadier’s candy?”
And that is where the name brigadeiro comes from.
Brazil is a large, very diverse country. We have different dance, music, and cuisine in different parts of the country. Brigadeiro has managed to be popular and to have its recipe unchanged throughout Brazil or, as we say there, from Oiapoque to Chuí. Oiapoque and Chuí are counties located at the extremes of Brazil, Oiapoque to the North and Chuí to the South.
We had a blast making this video for you 🙂 The Brigadeiros came out oh so delicious! Let us know how your brigadeiros turn out.
Ingredients to make brigadeiro
The video will give you detailed information on how to prepare your Brigadeiro. You will need:
- 1 can of Leite Moça (sweet condensed milk)
- 2 table spoons of cocoa power (You can use more cocoa, some recipes call for 4 spoons. You can also use chocolate powder in which case you need 7 spoons, but the Brigadeiros will be intensely sweet. With practice, you will find your own perfect recipe)
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- chocolate sprinkles
- a non-stick pan
- a wooden spoon
- mini baking cups
Here is how to cook brigadeiro
- Put roughly 2 tablespoons of butter to melt in the pot.
- Set the stove top to medium-low.
- Once the butter is melted, add a whole can of condensed milk.
- Now you will add the chocolate. If you are using cocoa powder, get a glass with a bit of water and slowly add the cocoa while mixing it with the water. This is because cocoa powder does not dissolve very well in the condensed milk, so you want to totally dissolve it with a bit of water and then add the mixture to the condensed milk in the pot.
- Stir with the wooden spoon. Uou will need to stir for at least 20 minutes and it can take as long as 40 minutes. Stir in circular movements and make sure you get the brigadeiro from the sides of the pot so it does not stick there and burn.
- The Brigadeiro will get thicker and thicker and will reduce in volume.
- You know it is ready when a) you divide it in half with the spoon and it stays parted for a few seconds; and b) you scoop some brigadeiro with the wooden spoon, turn the spoon upside down, and it holds there for an instant before falling back into the pot. The video will show this.
- When your Brigadeiro is ready, spread the content of the pan on a plate and put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes. You want it nice and firm before you roll it into balls.
- To make the little balls, spread a little bit of butter in your hands and make sure to get your fingers. Using a small spoon, scoop some Brigadeiro, put it in your hands, and roll it in a little ball.
- Roll the ball on the chocolate sprinkles to cover it completely.
- Place your brigadeiro in a baking cup.
- Repeat. It should yield about 25 brigadeiros.
- Put the Brigadeiros in the fridge for about 15-30 minutes to make them firmer.
- They are ready 🙂 Bom apetite!
This is how we serve brigadeiro in parties. However, in everyday brigadeiro eating I love to eat it straight from the pot. We call it brigadeiro na panela. We each grab a spoon and eat from the pot. I am feeling nostalgic now ♥
Can I make it with white chocolate? Does it need to be cocoa?
Your tip on how to know the brigadier’s point is perfect, thanks.
Bom apetite!
Nice! I’m Brazilian and I love brigadeiro, but I think they taste way better without water on it. But this is just a variation of the recipe.
Your tips are very good.
Parabéns!! Gostei das dicas!!!
Obrigada!
My Brigadeiros did not form a soft ball after 30 minutes and I had no more time to cook it. Can I reheat it tomorrow and cook longer to firm up or is there something else I can do? I tripled the recipe and wonder if that is the reason?
Nossa, que bacana hein! Tu parece ser uma pessoa que entende bem do assunto, gostei
particularmente do que tú falou pela metade do website, adorei mesmo.
Eu estava procurando um website sobre nesse tema pra começar a acompanhar.
Grato!
I made brigadeiros earlier, but it’s too HARD to chew, like your jaw will fall off ? Why is it so hard to do? 🙁
They are not hard at all. They are soft. Something went wrong with yours 🙁 I guess it takes a little practice.
Hi Have you tried freezing Brigadiers, please let me know
I have not, but I have seen articles online saying that you can do so.
This is my fav sweet recipe and it tastes like childhood 🙂 Idk how people in other countries can live without it (i’m from Brazil) haha. Everyone should try this one bc is awesome and pretty easy
I absolutely love it too!
This is *so* true. I lived in one place in Australis for 9 months and found it so hard to part with stuff I had accumulated when it was time to move on! bedbreakfastatlanta.com
bregaderios is kind off new stuff that I recently came across. This is an Italian food stuff and here I got the best cooking instruction for this. Brazilian food stuffs are always favs for many people. I like ti read on more on new stuffs.
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Brigadeiro looks delicious. I love sweets and creams made out of chocolate and I’m sure I would love this one too. I asked my mom to make it for me. The tutorial video really helped, can’t wait to have it. Thanks from spywareutility.com
all information about Brigadeiros recipies in this post were love facebook status very helpful for people who does not knew how to make this dish can learn after read this whole method and procedure of brigadeiros romantic quotes
Hi I’m doing a project on Brazil, and am wanting to make Brigadeiros for my class. I was just wondering what size of sweet condensed milk you use? These look sooo delicious and you did an excellent job showing every aspect in the video, but I just need to know the size of the can. It looked to be a 14oz can, but I just want to make sure! Thanks once again for the great video!
(brazilian here) Yeah, you should definitely go for a 14 ounce one. Hope they all taste great! cheers
LOL
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Thank you Bengy!
Cool that your friends liked brigadeiros!!! They are definetely the stars in any Brazilian home or birthday party!!!
Last year, Luciana posted another one that you might like! (if you haven’t seen it yet!)
It is called “Desserts from Recife, Pernambuco – Brazil“. Check it out!
hummmmm….yummyness!
Vanessa
As a single guy, cooking wasn’t really a requirement. So whatever fast food was close by or whatever I could snag from the vending machine was the extent that I took to feed myself. Then it all clicked for me, I started taking the time and finding recipes that I liked and started making some really great meals that I could share with my friends. I found this recipe and made it last week, my friends haven’t stopped talking about it, in fact they wan’t me to start adding more Brazilian recipes to my list. Haha, thanks for the awesome recipe!
Well this is really nice desert difficult to make and also difficult to pronounce. Moreover the desert looks fantastic and I have never heard about this desert. After reading the article given above I want to try and make this desert. As my big brother is getting married next month and above all Wedding Favors sweets and deserts and Brigadeiros would be a great idea. Thank you for the update look forward to try this recipe.
Thank you for your post. Brigadeiro is truly delicious. And so is pão de queijo.
I am afraid you forgot to post the link to your video making the brigadeiros. Instead there was a link to unrelated services, so I went ahead and deleted it.
Please share your brigadeiro video with us!
I learned how to make a delicious Brazilian chocolate truffle called Brigadeiro from a Brazilian friend Yuri when I went to the University of Cambridge. My husband was definitely impressed that I already know how to make brigadeiro before I met him (and you would never believe how super easy and impressive looking this recipe is)! Here is a video of how to make Brigadeiro, made by your truly! My first step in learning how to cook Brazilian Food was to get a wonderful book called Brazil: A Cook’s Tour by Christopher Idone, (content deleted) to begin cooking away! I have made Brazil’s national lime drink called Caipirinha, Brazilian black beans called Feijoada and really amazing Brazilian cheese rolls or cheese bread bites called Pao de Queijo.