Daily Archives: July 6, 2018

BRIGADEIROS FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY

Posted in Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by

Brazil meets USA, big time! A traditional Brazilian delicacy dresses up in American colors for one of the biggest holidays celebrated here, Independence Day. We were invited for dinner and fireworks over at a friend’s home, and on a last-minute move, I prepared these babies to take with us. They are a departure of the classic Brazilian brigadeiros, made with cocoa powder. In this case, I flavored them with a touch of coconut extract, but probably should have added more than I did, the flavor was barely noticeable.


PATRIOTIC BRIGADEIROS
(from Easy and Delish)

2 (14-oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or substitute 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract)
food coloring (Red and Blue)
red/white/blue sprinkles (optional)
white chocolate ganache to drizzle (optional)

Combine sweetened condensed milk with unsalted butter in a wide, no stick pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth.
Mixture is ready when it thickens and starts to peel away or show the bottom of the pan when you scrape it with your wood spoon (about 10-15 minutes). The fudge mixture should be thick enough to reveal the bottom of the pan for a couple of seconds before the mixture levels out again.
When the fudge mixture is ready, remove from the stove top and stir in the vanilla or coconut extract. Next, spread 1/3 of the mixture in the center of a half-sheet pan coated with a little butter so that it won’t stick. 
Place another 1/3 of the mixture in a bowl and stir in  blue food coloring.  Place the remaining 1/3 of the fudge mixture in another bowl and stir in red food coloring. Transfer both the blue and red mixtures to the greased baking sheet, spreading them around side by side. Allow to cool completely.
Using a tablespoon as measurement, scoop out one spoon of the white/red/blue mixture (starting from the center to the edge of the plate) and with greased hands, roll out into balls. Place each little ball into a small paper liner  and decorate the way you want.  They can be kept in the fridge until serving time. 
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here

Comments: If you’ve never made traditional brigadeiros, or worse yet – have not even heard about them, please read my old blog post to fix this major gap in your culinary knowledge. It’s important. It was really fun to make these, I advise you to use two cans of condensed milk, so that you have enough to play with. With this amount, I made 26 brigadeiros. They are rich and sweet, so one or two is all you’ll need. But they bring me so many nice memories of my home country, I usually have a bit of a hard time stopping at two. So I accept my weakness, and move on. And jog on. Weight lift on. Kickbox on… you get the picture… damage control.

You can definitely use different colors to celebrate your favorite team, your school, your mood. Halloween Black and Orange brigadeiros might be the rage this year (wink, wink).

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