How to make Brazilian Chocolate Truffles or Brigadeiros

How to make Brazilian Chocolate Truffles or Brigadeiros


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Rolling the chocolate and dipping it in toppings after it cooled

We try to do projects and fun things with our kids on the weekends. My oldest son Cole has been asking to make these chocolate truffles ever since he studied about Brazil a few weeks ago. He had gotten a Little Passports kit in the mail, and his subscription is the one with different countries. He has really enjoyed this subscription, and he loves getting special mail each month. This is a great gift idea for all of you parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who want something engaging and educational to give the children in your life this year.

So, it was time to finally make these delicious looking Brigadeiros. I asked Cole to bring me the recipe from his Little Passport Suitcase. He got a little cardboard travel suitcase at the beginning of the subscription with a story about 2 kids who travel around the world to different countries. Sometimes it comes with a recipe from that country or a small souvenir. He has been saving all of the information and recipes they’ve sent him from Little Passports each month, so he knew exactly where it was. Nope, he didn’t. Of course, it wasn’t where he thought he left it. I’m sure this doesn’t happen in anyone else’s house either, right? He knew where the suitcase and most of his stuff was, but the recipe was nowhere to be found.

Luckily, I have an aunt who was a missionary in Brazil, who I knew had a recipe since she had made these delicious treats for us before. She said she would send me the recipe later that day. Cole was eager to make his treats, so we googled a recipe.

It seems that all of the Brigadeiro recipes have the same 3 basic ingredients of sweetened condensed milk, cocoa, and butter. This one also added vanilla and salt. I’m a firm believer that almost everything is better with a little vanilla and salt.

I’ve been starting to teach my 11 yr old to cook and bake, but this recipe definitely needs adult supervision as it involves a lot of stirring hot sugar on the stove. Our arms did get a little tired stirring. We all took turns, but that did make the chocolate truffles taste even better. It was worth the work and worth the wait. Once the chocolate mixture starts to pull away from the pan, you put it in a bowl and let it cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then roll it into little truffle balls, and roll in chocolate jimmies.

We didn’t have jimmies or sprinkles and my kids aren’t fans of them anyway, so we took a Hershey chocolate bar we had and used a carrot peeler to make chocolate shavings to roll the truffles in. My younger son also wanted to roll some into a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. It was a lot of fun, and they were very good. It was a great cooking project for the weekend.

Brigadeiros (Brazilian chocolate fudge truffles)

These little chocolate truffle balls were named after a Brazilian General who loved these treats. They are served in Brazil for festive occasions including most birthday parties. Because of the sweetened condensed milk, they have a caramel and chocolate flavor. Once rolled into balls they are put in mini candy papers. Store these in the refrigerator.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Brazilian
Servings: 20 truffles

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
  • 3 tbsp Cocoa powder
  • 2 tbsp + butter plus a little extra to grease hands with
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  • In a heavy saucepan, stir together sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder, and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 10 minutes. Do not allow to boil.
  • Add sea salt and vanilla.
  • Cook until the mixture starts to pull away from the bottom of the pan.
  • Pour into a bowl to cool.
  • Once cool, butter fingers and roll a small amount of cooled mixture in between your hands to shape into balls.
  • Roll into chocolate sprinkles or shaved chocolate. We also rolled a few into a cinnamon and sugar mixture.
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Written by
Noelle
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