This Brigadeiro Recipe shows you how to make the chocolate fudge balls that are a sentimental and history-filled dessert in Brazil. They are made with sweetened condensed milk and are normally topped with sprinkles!
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This Brigadeiro recipe is the perfect dessert because they take 3 ingredients, 20 active minutes, and 2 steps to make. And then—and this is the best part—when they’re done, they taste like little balls of chocolate frosting.
They’re thick enough to hold their shape, but once you take a bite, they melt in your mouth and turn into this awesome, portable frosting treat that just makes me want to sing. I can’t wait for you to try making them!
Why Make this Recipe
- 4 Ingredients: You don’t need a lot of ingredients to make this recipe. Keep it simple!
- Bite Sized: I love that these brigadeiros come in individual, bite sized servings
- Great for Celebrations: These brigadeiros are great for celebrations, such as birthday parties! Make them festive and decorative for whatever occasion you have coming up next.
What Do I Need to Make this Recipe?
Ingredients
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: This is different than evaporated milk, so make sure you grab the right thing!
- Cocoa Powder: Use sweetened cocoa powder. If you don’t have cocoa powder, you can also sub chocolate milk powder.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter.
- Sprinkles: It is traditional to use brown sprinkles, but you can really use anything you’d like! If you prefer a different color, feel free to experiment!
Tools
- Small Pot
- Rubber Spatula
- Brigadeiro Cups: These aren’t necessary, but they are a fun way to add the finishing details to your fudge balls! They are the size of a mini chocolate peanut butter up.
How to Make this Recipe
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Step 1: Make the Fudge
In a medium pan, combine sweetened condensed milk and baking cocoa before you turn on the heat. Use a spatula to mix the ingredients together until the cocoa dissolves and the sweetened condensed milk looks brown.
Add the unsalted butter and the salt into the mixture.
Turn the stove to medium high heat and place the pot over the flame, stirring continuously for about 8-10 minutes.
Step 2: Cool
Transfer the mixture to a cool bowl and allow it to cool for about an hour and a half in the fridge.
Step 3: Roll and Decorate
Once cooled, break off portions of the mixture and roll into one inch balls in your hand. Roll the balls in your colored sprinkles and enjoy.
Other Toppings
If you want to add some more flavors to your brigadeiros, try some of these options:
- Citrus
- Coffee
- Lemon
- Nuts (pistachios, walnuts, etc)
- White chocolate
- Pumpkin
- Passion Fruit
- Strawberry
- Coconut
- And more
Expert Tips
- You know that your Brigadeiro recipe is done cooking when you can use your spatula to draw a line through the middle of the mixture and the mixture takes about 3 seconds before trying to mold itself back together.
- The old brigadeiro recipe called for eggs but this is uncommon these days.
- Sometimes the brigadeiro just looks too good, and Brazilians will eat it right out of the bowl with a spoon (without rolling it into balls!)
My Biggest Tip
The secret here is simple, but vital. Make sure to add all of your ingredients together BEFORE you turn the stove burner on.
Before discovering this secret, I heated my sweetened condensed milk up before adding in the butter and the cocoa powder. If you do it in this order, the cocoa never quite combines with the milk and the Brigadeiro recipe ends up with some lumps. We don’t want that!
Instead, pour your sweetened condensed milk into the pan, and add the cocoa while it’s still cold.
Use a spatula to mix the ingredients until the cocoa has dissolved and the sweetened condensed milk now looks brown. Then, add the butter into the pot, turn on the burner, and start a-mixin!
Recipe FAQs
If you are having a hard time getting the sprinkles to stick to the outside of your brigadeiro, it’s probably because you didn’t work the chocolate enough before rolling it into a ball.
Use your hand to knead and warm up each piece of dough a bit before forming it into a ball. This will make the sprinkles stick to the outside of the fudge ball when you’re rolling it!
Yes! Other fun sprinkles are always welcome. I think nonpareils would be really fun.
Brigadeiros taste like a chewy chocolate fudge ball, or even like thick chocolate frosting.They are so delish!
I recommend keeping your fudge balls in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
I would not recommend refrigerating or freezing them, as the texture will change and they will dry out a bit.
The key to thickening your Brigadeiro recipe is simple: time and heat. Put your pot on the stove and stir consistently for about 20 minutes. The longer you stir, the thicker your mixture will get.
You want to make sure that your Brigadeiro is sufficiently thick before allowing it to cool. If they aren’t, they won’t hold their ball shape and will instead melt into a puddle.
Recipe Origins
Once upon a time, in the year 1945, Brazil was in the process of electing a new president, and one candidate in the running was named Eduardo Gomes.
Prior to running for president, Gomes had served in the military and had held the rank of Brigadier. Over the course of the election, Gomes became known simply as “El Brigadier.” His slogan was (translated), “Vote for Brigadier; he is handsome and single.”
As the election began, Gomes was short on money for his campaign. His supporters wanted to help, so they developed a plan to sell candy to raise money for Gomes’s campaign.
However, World War II had just come to an end, and milk and sugar were scarce. Instead of making typical candy, Gomes’s supporters had to make the chocolate balls using only sweetened condensed milk as a replacement for the butter and sugar.
The sweets were so delicious that they became widely known across the country. Because they were the campaign sweet of the Brigadier, the citizens started calling the chocolate balls “Brigadeiros”.
Gomes did not win the election, but his legacy has lived on in the form of these wonderful chocolate treats.
Brigadeiros & Brazilian Culture
This Brigadeiro recipe holds a special place in the hearts of many Brazilians. Similar to how Americans celebrate birthdays with birthday cake, Brazilians celebrate birthdays with Brigadeiros. In fact, even if a cake is served at a Brazilian birthday party, Brigadeiros are also served after the cake.
Brigadeiro boutiques also exist plentifully around Brazil and serve a fancier version of these homemade Brigadeiros.
Some are, of course, still simply sweetened condensed milk, chocolate, and butter. However, others are filled with cheese, nuts, dried fruits, alcohol, Nutella, peanut butter, and more. The options for artisan Brigadeiros in Brazil are endless.
If you liked the Brigadeiro recipe, don’t forget to check out some of the other recipes on my site I’ve picked out just for you!:
- Sacher Torte from Austria
- Liege Waffles from Belgium
- Colombian Hot Chocolate with Cheese
- Chocolate Molten Lava Cake Recipe
- Chocolate Glazed Donuts Step by Step
Brigadeiro Recipe (Chocolate Fudge Balls) from Brazil
Equipment
- Pot(s)
- Rubber Spatula
- Brigadeiro Cups
- Mixing Bowl(s)
Ingredients
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 pinch sea salt
- Brown or colored sprinkles
Instructions
- In a medium pot, combine 14 oz sweetened condensed milk and 3 tbsp baking cocoa before you turn on the heat. Use a spatula to mix the ingredients together until the cocoa dissolves and the sweetened condensed milk looks brown.
- Add the 2 tbsp unsalted butter and a pinch of salt into the mixture.
- Turn the stove to medium high heat and place the pot over the flame, stirring continuously for about 8-10 minutes until the mixture thickens.
- Transfer the mixture to a cool bowl and allow it to cool for about an hour in the fridge.
- Once cooled, break off portions of the mixture and roll into one inch balls in your hand. Roll the balls in your sprinkles and enjoy.
Notes
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: This is different than evaporated milk, so make sure you grab the right thing!
- Cocoa Powder: Use sweetened cocoa powder. If you don’t have cocoa powder, you can also sub chocolate milk powder.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter.
- Sprinkles: It is traditional to use brown sprinkles, but you can really use anything you’d like! If you prefer a different color, feel free to experiment!
- Use your hand to knead and warm up each piece of dough a bit before forming it into a ball. This will make the sprinkles stick to the outside of the fudge ball when you’re rolling it!
- The brigadeiros can keep in the fridge for a few days.
- You know that your Brigadeiro recipe is done cooking when you can use your spatula to draw a line through the middle of the mixture and the mixture takes about 3 seconds before trying to mold itself back together.
- Old brigadeiro recipes called for eggs but this is uncommon these days.
- Sometimes the brigadeiro just looks too good, and Brazilians will eat it right out of the bowl with a spoon (without rolling it into balls!)
hannah says
Loved these! They are so easy to make and fun to eat! I think the next time I make these I might even add chunks of berry in the middle. I was very nervous to make these because I have very little experience but they turned out amazing and everyone loved them!
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
What a great idea!! Raspberries would be DELICIOUS in the middle of these fudge balls. These are an easy recipe to make, even if you have no experience cooking at all. I’m glad that you loved them 🙂
Meghan Hallewell says
Soooooo good!!! I might’ve had 2….or 3!! Do they ship well? Or should I just make my own? ????
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Haha!!! 5 ingredients and 20 min!!! Sounds like this is an easy one to make at home 😉