Brigadeiros
I’m not a big fan of fudge but god(!!) do I love Brigadeiros. Seriously, they’re melt-in-your-mouth incredible. You don’t know what Brigadeiros are? Neither did I until just a few years ago.. Brigadeiros are essentially Brazilian fudge balls made from sweet condensed milk, butter, and cocoa powder. Typically crusted in sprinkles—but really, the world is your oyster with that part—Brigadeiros are rich, chocolate-y, silky smooth and irresistibly pop-able. It’s impossible to eat just one. If you’re a chocolate-lover, Brigadeiros might be your new diety (ok maybe not but you get my point, they’re awesome). Make them for a party, or for a night in with that special someone—if it’s a special occasion, they’re worth the effort.
Speaking of special occasions, while you might go to great lengths to ensure that you’re sourcing your ingredients for this recipe as sustainably as possible (local producers, small-scale, fair trade), there’s no getting around that this recipe simply isn’t a very sustainable one. Products like chocolate and sugar usually have to travel great distances to get to your kitchen, and involve a lot of processing. We can’t recommend that you make this all the time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t whip it out on special occasions! Ingredients of high impact (meats, dairies, tropical fruits, etc.) have a place in a sustainable diet if they’re used infrequently, and this recipe certainly falls in that category. That being said, if you’re going to make them, you might as well really enjoy them!
One more admission: I took a fun but VERY untraditional route with finishing this recipe. Traditional Brigadeiros are covered in high-quality chocolate sprinkles and they’re amazing. I was curious about other possibilities and thought it could be fun (and extra crunchy!) to cover them in candied walnuts. Choose your own adventure! (and let us know how it goes of course!)
Check out the recipe below!
Yield : 15-20 Pieces
Ingredients
1 (14oz) Can of Sweet Condensed Milk
4 Tbsp Cocoa Powder: Sifted
3 Tbsp Butter: plus more for rolling the balls
¼ tsp Salt
1 Cup of Walnuts
¼ cup of granulated sugar
High Quality Chocolate Sprinkles
Preparation:
Begin by preparing your candied walnuts. If you want to go the traditional route, then you can skip to step x. Bring your walnuts, 1 Tbsp of butter, and your sugar together in a small pot. Place the pot on the stovetop over medium heat and stir constantly. Once the sugar is fully melted (you can add a very small splash of water if these takes more than 10 minutes) and the walnuts appear to be completely coated, transfer your walnut to a parchment-lined plate or tray and spread out to cool.
In a small saucepan, combine the sweet condensed milk, the cocoa powder, the salt and the butter.
Bring the sauce pan to the stove and cook it over medium-low heat. While it’s cooking, mix constantly (seriously, don’t stop, it can burn very easily!) as it thickens. If the mixture comes back together slowly after running a wooden spoon or spatula through (like “several-seconds” slowly), then its ready! This may take up to 20 minutes.
Transfer to a heat-safe bowl and let cool to room temperature (this can be sped up by putting them in the refrigerator, just don’t let them become too cold or they’ll be very difficult to work with!)
If you chose the traditional coating route : spread your sprinkled in a wide bowl. If you made the candied walnuts (and they’re completely cooled), chop them up into small pieces and spread them into a wide bowl.
Once your Brigadeiro has cooled, grease your hands with a little bit of butter, portion roughly a tablespoon of the mixture into your hands, roll them into a ball, and then roll that ball into your sprinkles/walnut until totally coated. Place them on a parchment-line plate/tray and continue until you finish!
Place your plate of Brigadeiros in the refrigerator to chill. Remove 20 minutes before eating/serving
Enjoy!
Best Practices:
As always:
Avoid packaged produce, or really anything packaged for that matter. This is not to say that you’ll always have the option, but when you do, go for it! For example, you may likely see walnuts sold in small plastic containers. These are very often available in bulk, so take the opportunity to use your hands, smell them, build that relationship with your ingredients! That being said, the cocoa powder, sugar, butter, and condensed milk will be essentially impossible to find sans their standard packaging. As always, pick your battles and fight them well!
Bring your own bags when you go shopping for these ingredients
Make sure you’re not buying more than you think you’ll reasonably use! All of these ingredients will last a fairly long time if properly stored, but walnuts lose quality over time and the condensed milk will only last several days after being opened. So buy and store with care!
These ingredients have been chosen with several things in mind:
As we mentioned before, the main ingredients of this recipe are not particularly sustainable in nature. Dairy has a large environmental impact and cocoa bean production can as well (and even if it doesn’t, it likely had to be shipped long distances to get to you). That being said, there are measured steps you can take to try and reduce these impacts. You can try to source your dairy from small-scale local producers, and you can buy your cocoa fair trade. Most importantly, you can value these ingredients for the luxuries that they are and be sure to use them as such! We don’t believe in abstinence, but moderation (and lots of appreciation for everything that went into them!).
Did you enjoy this recipe? Let us know! If you really loved it, share it on social media and tag us (@groundedgrub), or, better yet, share it with your friends and family!