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EveryCow

Milk sweets

Brigadeiro

Condensed milk cooked with cocoa and butter, rolled into small balls and coated in chocolate sprinkles at every Brazilian party.

Brigadeiro is a Brazilian sweet of condensed milk, cocoa powder and butter, stirred in a pan until thick, then rolled into small balls and coated in chocolate sprinkles. It is served in paper cases at every birthday party in Brazil, and also eaten warm from the pan with a spoon. Its name honours a brigadier.

What goes in

Condensed milk: 62%62%Cocoa powder: 15%15%Butter: 8%Chocolate sprinkles: 15%15%4parts
  • Condensed milk862%, The base.
  • Cocoa powder215%, Sifted in.
  • Butter18%, For gloss.
  • Chocolate sprinkles215%, To coat.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Cook Melt butter in a pan and stir in condensed milk and cocoa.
  2. Step 2: Cook Cook over low heat, stirring, until it pulls away from the base.
  3. Step 3: Set Cool on a buttered plate.
  4. Step 4: Shape Roll into small balls with buttered hands and coat in sprinkles.
  5. Step 5: Serve Set in paper cases and serve.
  6. Condensed milk: 62%62%Cocoa powder: 15%15%Butter: 8%Chocolate sprinkles: 15%15%
    Finished Brigadeiro, by share.

A campaign sweet

The usual story links it to the 1945 presidential campaign of Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, whose supporters are said to have made and sold the sweets to raise funds. Condensed milk was then widely available, and the recipe needed no fresh eggs or milk. Gomes lost the election, but the sweet took his rank as its name.

Parties and shops

No Brazilian children's party is complete without trays of brigadeiros. Bakeries make gourmet versions with Belgian chocolate, pistachio or coconut. Beijinho is the white cousin, made with coconut and rolled in sugar with a clove on top. Brigadeiro is also spooned between cake layers. Rolling them is often a family task on the night before a party.

Where it is used

Birthday partiesWeddingsCake filling

The breeds behind it

GirIndian zebu bred for milk in Brazil.Holstein FriesianKept on Brazil's southern dairy farms.

Also part of it, and being written: Girolando (Brazil's main dairy cow, a Gyr and Holstein cross.).

More on EveryCow

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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