Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Balls)

Name: Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Balls)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 70 min
Ingredients: 14 ounces condensed milk; 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted); pinch cinnamon; Chocolate sprinkles for coating (~1/2 cup)

26 January, 2015 by Tara 36 Comments

Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Balls) recipe for Secret Recipe Club!

After a month off in December, Group D of the Secret Recipe Club is back for January! For those who haven’t seen my previous Secret Recipe Club posts, this club includes a group of bloggers who are assigned a different blog each month and secretly make a recipe to post on their specified reveal day. I look forward to my assignment email every month and discovering new blogs. It is also fun to see what someone chooses from your blog.

This month, I was assigned Bewitching Kitchen. The author, Sally, was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She has also spent time in California and Paris before settling into her current Manhattan, Kansas working with the Biochemistry Department of Kansas State University. In addition to her job and cooking, she is quite active! Hobbies include golf, running, and P90X. She has quite an amazing variety of recipes available. Since my blog is quite lacking in South American recipes, I wanted to choose one of Sally’s many Brazilian dishes. I picked one that has been on my bucket list for quite a while, Brigadeiros. Other great recipes I have pinned for later include: Pasteis, Carrot Nib Orzo, Cocada de Forno, Korean Barbeque Burger, Shrimp Moqueca, Oeufs a la Neige, Canja de Galinha, Tlayuda, Coconut Brigadeiros, and Mangos Flambe.

The Brigadeiro was created in Brazil in the 1940s and named after Brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes. They have since become one of the most well known Brazilian treats and are especially popular at birthday parties and other celebrations. It is traditional to arrange them around the cake. They would also make a perfect addition to your Valentine’s Day meal.

Brigadeiros come together easily using only condensed milk, butter, cocoa powder, an optional pinch of cinnamon, and chocolate sprinkles. The trick is to cook them to just the right consistency, similar to fudge. You want the condensed milk to become thickened enough to hold their shape so the balls can be rolled in sprinkles. You can tell when it has reached this point by sliding a wooden spoon through the mixture on the stove and it continues to stay parted. They can be made up to about 4 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until ready to serve (good luck letting them last that long!).

Check out what everyone else made!

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