Brigadeiro Recipe
I learned to make brigadeiro, which is one of the easiest candy recipes I’ve ever seen, just in time for the Rio Olympics! Brigadeiro is sort of a chocolate caramel. It’s extremely sweet which means that kids love it and adults will probably be satisfied with just one or two candies. It’s typically rolled in chocolate sprinkles but in the video we used those and some rainbow sprinkles just to be a little more festive. Tuany suggests you could also use minced roasted peanuts on the outside, or even try filling your brigadeiro with a piece of strawberry or cherry.
This same recipe is also used to frost cakes in Brazil. If you take the mixture off of the heat a minute or so early while it is still kind of runny, you can pour it over cake as a glaze. Tuany made my birthday cake like that this year and it was so good.
It’s important to note that the brigadeiro recipe uses chocolate milk powder, not cocoa powder. We used Nesquick. Cocoa powder would likely work but I have not tested it. You can also try the same recipe using strawberry flavored milk powder and roll the candies in granulated sugar instead of cocoa.
For more Brazilian recipes, try Brazilian cheese bread and coxinha
Brigadeiro Recipe Video – scroll down for recipe card
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Brigadeiro Recipe – printable
Brigadeiro Recipe
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 20-30 1x
Ingredients
- 1–14 ounce can sweetened, condensed milk
- 3–4 tablespoons chocolate milk powder (ie Nestle Quik)
- 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
- Chocolate sprinkles
- Paper candy cups
Instructions
- Pour the milk, chocolate powder and 1 tablespoon of the butter into a medium sauce pan. Stir with a silicon spatula until smooth.
- Place over medium or medium-high heat and stir constantly until beginning to bubble around the edges. Reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer.
- Continue stirring until the mixture darkens and thickens. Adjust the temperature if necessary to keep the mixture from burning. You want to slowly caramelize it without burning or sticking. Be careful to scrape the sides and bottom of the pan well.
- After about 10 minutes (give or take a few minutes) the mixture should be quite thick and, when you tilt the pot up it should sort of fall away from the bottom of the pot. This is called ponto de brigadeiro (See the video for a demonstration of what to look for).
- Turn off the heat.
- Smear a little of the reserved butter onto either a plate or a marble slab and spread the mixture out into about an 8″ disk. Let cool about 5 minutes or until cool to the touch.
- Lightly oil your hands with butter and roll the mixture into small balls about the size of a large grape. Coat in sprinkles and place each brigadeiro into a paper candy cup.
- These will keep in a container at room temperature for about 3 days.
41 Comments
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Anything sweet with a total time investment of 10 minutes is a sure bet in my house. Thank you for giving me another quick way to satisfy my sweet tooth. 🙂
Bye
Sounds tasty!!! Gonna try it.
I love this recipe so so much as it is a sweet Brazilian snack,my grandmother used to make them when i was little and would never reveal the recipe then when i figured out she wasn’t the only person who knew how to make them it took a while for me to remember about the yummy brigaderos but once i remembered that was when i searched up this recipe and i fell in love for the second time(:
I’m so happy to hear that, Jessica!
I made this for the first time, and honestly I thought it would be difficult since some of the reviews said it didn’t set well but, its really easy, and it requires patience – this was a challenge for me since I am impatient… I’m going to make this for my friend who left my school a year ago, and try to convince her to stay to eat my brigadeiros everyday!! ?
Thank you for the recipe!!?
Haha! That sounds like a good plan. No one can resist brigadeiro! Glad the recipe was easy for you 😀
This was great. My friends and I made 108 of these (and 6 other things) for a school drive and they were a hit. We raised a total of $1,461 for the Alexandria House.
Amazing!! How wonderful, Ben 😀
Making these for christmas!
What happened to your youtube channel Hilah? Miss seeing your vids 🙁
Enjoy these brigadeiro, Beti! I decided to stop making videos after seven years, just ready to focus on other things.
I wanted to make some brigadeiro for my Brazillian friend who was missing home, and she loved these! For me, it took about 15-20 minutes with constant stirring to reach ponto de brigadeiro. The video was very useful to know what that looks like and when to stop. It really does just…shlop (for lack of a better word) right from the bottom of the pan. It took about 15-20 minutes to cool to a good malleable consistency. I coated them in chocolate and rainbow sprinkles, crushed peppermint candies, and crushed sliced almonds. Really delicious and turned out fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us, Hilah!
Aw! How sweet! You are a good friend. So glad the video helped you find the Ponte de brigadeiro 🙂
what does 2-28 ounces mean I normally measure in Grams so im not sure
I don’t know what you are referring to with those numbers. The recipe calls for 1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, which is a standard size also labeled 397 g
Just made this for my daughters Olympics day each class is a different country and have a world feast at lunch. This year her class was Brazil. These were perfect and all the kids loved them. Thank you!
So glad to hear, Rebekah!
How many tablespoons of chocolate powder? It is not very clear
3-4 tablespoons depending on how chocolatey you want it. The recipe card is at the bottom at the post
Waoooh. Thank you am begginer on baking ..from Tanzania you gave me a very big ideal for decorate chocolate cakes … thank you .. my english is good.. just take as it is????????
I made thesefor family & friends for Christmas last year & they were a hit. I rolled mine in chocolate sprinkles, hot cocoa mix, & even did some chocolate covered. Needless to say, everyone has put in their wishlist for Christmas this year & they’re on everyone’s list.
Has anyone tried using it as a filling for a bon bon?
A hit with family and friends everytime!!
Hi, I was raised in Brasil and remember these were called “piffy paffy” instead of brigadeiros, does that ring a bell?
I’m Brazilian. They are called Brigadeiro.
So yummy. Taste like i’m in my happy place! Long ago, my mother used to make them. That is a beautiful memory with me.
Thanks you for recipe!
Aww, I’m glad you like the brigadiero!
I really want to make this for the Brazil portion of my English camp. Would it be possible to let the mixture cool, put it in the fridge, and transport it to a classroom without the brigadeiro mixture losing its consistency??
I guess so … are you planning on rolling it into balls with your classmates? I don’t know where you live, but it seems like it’d be much safer to finish it at home and bring them to class ready to eat. With the pandemic, I would not recommend letting a whole bunch of people touch your food.
Brigadeiro is awesome. My kids really like it. Thanks you!
It tastes quite good!
These are so cute – and I never realized how easy they are to make. Thank you so much!
Oh, my god. This was awsome. I usually don’t write reviews a lot, but this one, YES… I had to write it!!! It looked like professionally made chocolate, like Godiva chocolate, and tasted like better than those. I used some crushed nuts to mix in the dough, and used cocoa poweder (both unsweetened for adults and sweetened for kids), crushed nutes and confectionary suger to cover them. (black bitter ones, black sweet ones, nutty ones, and romantic white ones…etc:)) Oh, my God,,,,, this was awsome. Pls do try!! I honestly do do od think that people can not distinguish these from famous brand chocolate. (both tastes and looks) 10 stars. It deserves it
How many does this recipe make? I need to make about thirty.
It makes 20-30 depending on how small you roll them
This recipe was simple to make. I cooked the mixture on low constantly stirring about 15-18 minutes.I placed it in a round shape on a greased cookie sheet and placed in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to cool. When cool to the touch I rolled them in chocolate sprinkles, colored sprinkles snd crushed peppermint.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/09dttXwm_vrVJGBNWLBIfvR_A
Peppermint sounds delicious!
What should the consistency be if you cooked it to the proper temp
Wow, interesting
Could you please mention the 6 other things? I’d appreciate the ideas
Sounds tasty!!! Gonna try it.
Great recipe. Easy and tastes wonderful!