I had an opportunity this summer to work with an amazing cook from Brazil. She encouraged me to try to make these really cute chocolate truffles from her home country.
She pointed out that there are a few classic toppings to coat the truffles with after they are cooled and rolled into balls by hand. You will often see brigadeiros covered entirely in tiny chocolate sprinkles or ground coconut. I made a few with the chocolate sprinkles, but I also had fun experimenting with an array of different toppings, such as chopped nuts, chocolate, and dried berries.
This recipe makes about 20 small truffles.
Brigadeiros - Brazilian Chocolate Truffles
I had an opportunity this summer to work with an amazing cook from Brazil. She encouraged me to try to make these really cute chocolate truffles from her home country. She pointed out that there are a few classic toppings to coat the truffles with after they are cooled and rolled into balls by hand. You will often see brigadeiros covered entirely in tiny chocolate sprinkles or ground coconut. I made a few with the chocolate sprinkles, but I also had fun experimenting with an array of different toppings, such as chopped nuts, chocolate, and dried berries. This recipe makes about 20 small truffles.
Ingredients
- 1 can, or 14oz, sweetened condensed milk
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 4 Tbsp softened salted butter
- 20 Baby paper or aluminum foil muffin baking cups, for serving brigadeiros
Ideas for Truffle Coatings:
- Chocolate sprinkles, or a mix of finely chopped dark, milk, and white chocolate chips
- Ground coconut
- Chopped pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, or peanuts
- Chopped cranberries
Instructions
- Heat sweetened condensed milk and stir in cocoa powder.
- Cook on medium heat for 11-14 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened significantly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pot when stirred with a rubber spatula.
- When the mixture has thickened, remove from the heat and stir in the salted butter and vanilla extract until fully incorporated.
- Spread the mixture out onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
- Place in the refrigerator to cool down for 60 minutes.
- When the mixture has cooled, remove from fridge.
- Butter your hands with softened butter, so that when you roll the mixture into balls in your hands, your hands won’t stick to the truffle mixture.
- Form the mixture into evenly-sized balls, smaller than the size of a golf ball but bigger than a marble.
- Roll the balls in whatever assortment of topping you prefer, and place in the muffin baking cups.
- Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes
These will store great covered in your fridge for a week.