Recipe for Brigadeiros (Brazillian Fudge Balls)
Having a Brazilian husband means that you must learn how to make Brigadeiros. However, I first learned about these Brazilian fudge balls during an international culture party at Cambridge. It was love at first bite! These “chocolate balls” (as my kids used to call them) are the perfect combination of chocolate and caramel, in delicious spherical shapes! As we learned in our Brazil lesson plan, Brazilians always eat Brigadeiros at birthday parties, celebrations and even “just because.” They are truly addictive, and I love that you only need three ingredients to make this recipe for Brigadeiros! Since my husband’s birthday (and coincidentally, my birthday too!) were a few days ago, we had to include how to make Brigadeiros in our cooking classes for kids!
Cooking Classes for Kids
We are having so much fun doing cooking classes for kids this week! If you didn’t get a chance to make our tortilla pizza, give it a try (it has been SUCH a lifesaver in our house!) Don’t forget to checkout our shopping list for all of the items you will need for our virtual cooking classes for kids this week. Also, join our Facebook group to see our live classes and follow us on Pinterest, so you won’t miss a thing!
Brigadeiros Ingredients:
We always make at LEAST a double portion of Brigadeiros, so the ingredient list below is technically a double recipe. If you want to halve the recipe, feel free to do so (but be warned… it won’t last long!) Alternatively, if you are having a big party, feel free to triple or quadruple the recipe (and invite me please!)
- 2 TB butter
- 2 cans sweetened condensed milk (be careful NOT to grab evaporated milk by accident… I have done that before… it did not end well!)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder (my husband’s Brazilian relatives swear by this chocolate malt Ovaltine in the orange container, because it is the most authentic for how Brigadeiros taste in Brazil!)
- chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, coconut flakes or your favorite “topping” to roll chocolate fudge balls in! Feel free to be creative here! We even crushed up red and white peppermints and the kids LOVED those the most, surprisingly!
Recipe for Brigadeiros
The absolute BEST way to learn how to make Brigadeiros is to watch my daughter’s video below. Make sure to like her video here, and follow her Inspired Sparks YouTube channel here, because you do NOT want to miss her science, cooking and art videos for kids! If you haven’t seen her DIY Lava Lamp, be sure to check it out too!
Brazilian Fudge Balls Direction
Now that you have seen the how to make Brigadeiros video, here is a break down of the step-by-step directions. It is super simple! If you have questions at any point, just post it in the comments below or in our Facebook group. I’m always happy to help out!
1. Melt the butter over medium-low heat
You don’t have to melt the butter completely, before going on to step two, but it is usually almost all melted by the time I finish adding the sweetened condensed milk anyway. Make sure to use medium-low heat! You do not want high heat, or the mixture can burn.
3. Add your sweetened condensed milk & cocoa powder
Mix in your sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder. As you can tell from the video, it is important to constantly stir the ingredients! Never stop! The cocoa powder may seem like it isn’t dissolving at first, do not worry, just keep on cooking and stirring!
4. When is Brigadeiro done cooking?
Continue cooking and stirring the mixture, until you can run your spatula through it without it immediately “closing the gap” you created. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Look at the photo below. Do you see how we ran our spatula through the center of the mixture, and it didn’t close immediately? That means it is done!
Another way to tell that your Brigadeiro mix is thick enough is to scoop some up with your spoon or spatula, and drop it back down on top of the mixture. It shouldn’t reincorporate immediately, if it is done!
5. Put it in the fridge to cool down for 30 minutes
This is the hardest part. My husband is definitely guilty of eating it straight out of the container with a spoon, before it has cooled down long enough to make into Brazilian fudge BALLS! If you want to eat it by the spoonful though, your secret is safe with us! You can tell how much the double recipe makes by looking at the depth of the Brigadeiro mixture in the photo below.
6. Roll the chocolate fudge into balls
After your chocolate fudge mix has cooled down enough, put all of your toppings into small bowls. We used mini-Cincinnati Reds baseball hat bowls, because our kids love them!
We used crushed peppermint candy, rainbow sprinkles and powdered sugar. The powdered sugar was underwhelming, but it is certainly the easiest and least expensive… plus, we always have that in our pantry! In terms of aesthetics though, go with the sprinkles, shredded coconut, crushed peppermint candy, etc.
Here is a close-up of photo how the rainbow sprinkle ones turned out.
This was our first time trying out crushed peppermint sticks, but look how cute they turned out!
I thought our kids would prefer the ones with sprinkles (because hello, rainbow colors!) However, their favorite type was the crushed peppermint candy!
Brigadeiro: Kids Cooking Trick
Credit for this trick goes to Hannah from Inspired Sparks… seriously, go follow her here!!! As an adult, I prefer to lightly coat my palms with non-stick spray and form chocolate fudge balls, which you then roll in the toppings. However, this proved to be difficult for my kids. Their hands were getting super sticky and the balls were… well… not at all spherical.
So, we came up with a trick to help kids make Brigadeiros on their own! Rather than roll the chocolate fudge into balls, just drop a spoonful of the mixture straight into a small bowl with your desired topping. Gently shake the bowl to move the chocolate fudge around until the surface is lightly coated in the topping. It will not be a perfect sphere yet, but don’t worry! Now that the surface is coated in a topping, when your kids pick it up to roll it into a ball, it won’t stick to their hands! Genius! No sticky mess!
How Many Brigadeiro Does This Recipe Make?
This double batch recipe for Brigadeiros made around 55-60 Brazilian chocolate fudge balls. However, as you can see, they did not all make it to the final platter!
Share Your Brigadeiro!
How did this recipe for Brigadeiros turn out for you? What toppings did you use? Make sure to let us know by posting a photo of your masterpieces in our Facebook Group, and don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest and Hannah at Inspired Sparks.
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