Chocolate

Brigadeiro Sandwich

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Brigadeiros are popular in Brazil. That’s almost an understatement, but we are indeed always trying new recipes and ways to perfect this national passion. Recently I came up with this tinny “sandwich” ideas using ice cream wafers.

The wafers are ready made (sorry!), so the recipe is actually going to be for the brigadeiros themselves.

Recipe

Yield 20-30 brigadeiros balls • 20-30 min

Ingredients:

  • 60g (2 Oz) of bittersweet (60%+) of chocolate chips
  • 395g (14 Oz) of sweet condensed milk

Directions:

In a heavy bottom pan (and I really stress this, because it WILL make your brigadeiro better) mix the chocolate chips and condensed milk.

Mix it constantly in high heat until the mix come to a boil. Lower the heat for mid-high/mid and keep mixing it. You should take the mixture off the heat when it comes off the bottom of the pan, when you tilt it, easily. This is somewhat sensitive… but you’ll get it.

Pour your brigadeiro on a tempered glass container to chill.

Once chilled, you can scoop out some and roll on your hands (that should be coated with butter or oil). After rolling your brigadeiro balls put on your wafers (I used Crisps  34o) and voi lá! You have brigadeiro sandwiches! Perfect on their own or with ice cream!

Comments:

Silicone spatulas are the best to mix your brigadeiro. But make sure you have a full body spatula, not those that the head come off.

If you don’t have a heavy bottom pan, just be extra careful with your heat.

“Can I make it with milk chocolate chips? Or white chocolate? What about cocoa powder? What about hot cocoa mix?”

Yes to all, but the portions and ingredients will vary. Bitter chocolate chips (and the bitter the better) will make your brigadeiro less sweet and, for that reason, more enjoyable. Milk chocolate is slim on cocoa, so no ideal but… ok. White chocolate chips are basically only fat, so you should use 25% less. Only have cocoa powder, great! Add some heave cream (1/2cup to 1+1/2 tbs) to the mix to grant the fat needed. Hot cocoa mix, sure… same thing as for the cocoa powder. Cocoa mixes are full of sugar that can make your brigadeiro crack (from crystallization) in a short time.

 

Happy Easter!

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In Brazil we don’t have the egg hunt tradition (well, we don’t search for real eggs…), but we do have the delicious chocolate egg tradition. This year my loved one demanded his Easter gift in egg shape and I could not refuse.

Here is the result! Drizzle some white chocolate to make it fancy… remember to temper the chocolate to make it shiny, fill them with some goodies and tchanã: our easter treat! In the tray: pistachio brigadeiro, lemoncello (almonds covered in lemony candy) and coconut little kisses (as we call coconut brigadeiros back home).

 

Roll Inlay Cake

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Valentine's Cake

Recently Craftsy – an incredible platform for crafty people – posted a pattern roll cake idea for Valentine’s Day. Since my husband is a true roll cake lover, I decided to give it a try.

The original post from Craftsy teaches how to make the batter for the patterns/inlays and how to build the cake, but lacks on giving the cake recipe itself letting us, baking aficcionados, free to use our own.

Well, that said, you may know (or not… nothing wrong with that), that  roll cakes (and a numerous amount of “caky” desserts, including my happily ever afters) are constituted by a genoise cake with some sort of filling (buttercream, dulce de leche, brigadeiro, jam…).

There are a thousands of recipes available to be tried. I personally have tried a couple, some more successful… some less… until I decided on the one that I’d love to present to you today. I hope it works for you as well as it has been working for me.

What you will need:

  • 1 cup Flour
  • 3/4 cup Sugar
  • 3 tbsp softened Butter
  • 4 Eggs
  • Hot water (for the double boiler)

How 2 make:

Pre-heat the oven at 325ºF (160ºC) Heat the water in a pan. Pour the eggs and sugar on a thick-bottom bowl and double boil it, whisking all time. Stop double boiling  when the mixture reaches approximately 155ºF (68ºC), or when it is slightly thicker and lighter in color.

Beat the mixture in high speed (8-10x) for 8-10 minutes (or until completely cool). Stir in half of the flour and the softened butter. Stop the mixer and slowly mix (with a spatula) the rest of the flour.

Pour the mixture on the medium size (10 x 15  inches) baking sheet greased and covered with parchment paper (the parchment should already have the design for the inlays at this point, if in doubt, check here for this part).

Take it to the oven and bake it for 12-15 minutes (or until the edges start to become a really pretty gold brown). Roll it with the help of a towel and let it cool rolled. When completely cool, unroll, fill with your favorite filling, roll it back and TCHANHÃ, a beautiful, charming, nhamy, rolled cake!

I’m also using this post to introduce the Comic2Recipe. Every recipe, for now on, will be posted also as a comic book page! It is a simplified version of the recipe, but makes a statement. Tell me what you think about it!

RollCake - Comic2Recipe

Don’t forget to expand it to read the spirituous comments on the balloons!

Tips and Advice:

  • Genoise cakes are known for theirs flexibility and elasticity, as well as its fluffiness. Not such an wonderful choice for an stacked cake, but pretty perfect for rolling and molding.
  • You don’t want to end up with a sweet omelet so, be careful with your double boiler! A thick-bottom bowl is essential for the success of this process.
  • If your oven won’t reach such a low temperature, you may crack it open a bit. The escaping heat will work as a temperature counter.
  • Folding the flour on your mixture is a delicate process. You don’t want to loose all the air.
  • After pouring the mixture on the sheet, don’t forget to bash it against a counter top (or other hard surface) to release the air bubbles that might get stuck between the batter and the sheet. These naughty bubbles can make your cake brake when trying to roll it.