Brigadeiros - Brazilian Chocolate Balls

Nate ate these at Christmastime while living in Brazil. He tells me they make these brigadeiros all the time for holidays. To keep the festive spirit I decided it was high time I made them! Nate loved them. He already wants another batch made for New Year's Eve. I saw this recipe at Mmm...Cafe but I found this video to be really helpful for the technique of making these treats. Add these to your holiday dessert table.

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk
3 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
chocolate sprinkles (I had a 10 oz. container and used the majority of it)

Preparation:
Bring butter, cream, and milk to a boil in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat. It's important to use this size of pan. You want a nice large surface area of heat. If you use a smaller saucepan your mixture will take forever to get to the right consistency. Add chocolate and cocoa powder, and reduce heat to a low/medium-low; cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is the consistency of thick thick batter. This is where watching the video comes in handy. You want to be able to drag your spoon across the bottom of the pan and have the chocolate take a sec to fill in. You want to be able to get a scoop on your spatula, turn it upside down in the air and have it take a sec to fall of the spatula. This will take at least 15 minutes, perhaps longer. Be sure and stir constantly, taking care to scrape the sides and bottom of your sauce pan. Nate and I took turns stirring. Once it's at the right consistency, transfer to a bowl and let cool. Chill in the refrigerator until set. I let mine set in the bottom of a 9x13" glass dish for a bit over an hour. When you're ready to shape, take a little bit of butter and rub on the palm of your hands. Using a tablespoon, portion out fudge and roll into balls. Roll each ball in chocolate sprinkles until evenly coated. Chill until ready to serve.

This made about 50 brigadeiros.

Estroganofe - Brazilian Stroganoff

Okay, so Nate has been asking me to make Brazilian stroganoff for years and years! I know, I'm a slacker! In my defense I did tell him that if he would find me a recipe I would make it. One of Nate's colleagues is married to this cute lady from Brazil. This recipe comes straight from her so you know it's authentic! We had a couple over for dinner last night and both he and Nate served missions in Brazil and loved this dish. They both raved about it, and our guest even took some leftovers home, I was so flattered!

Ingredients:
3 lbs. filet mignon (I used tri tip)
3 Tbsp. butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced (we don't like mushrooms so I omitted these)
3 cups whipping cream
1 cup ketchup
1 1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. mustard (I used dijon)
2 tsp. cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Cut filet mignon into narrow strips. Season with salt and pepper. Brown in butter. When browned add the onions and mushrooms. Do not overcook. Add the ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook slowly. When time to serve, dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of cream. Add that and rest of cream to meat mixture. Serve over rice. Muito bom!

Pao de Queijo - Brazilian Cheese Bread

I am seriously wife of the year for making these. As many of you know Nate served and LDS mission in Brazil. He ate these rolls all the time while living there. Last night we had dinner with some friends, and he also served a mission in Brazil. I made Brazilian stroganoff and these rolls and they were such a hit! I got the recipe from Our Best Bites. It's an authentic recipe too. The author happened to serve a mission in the same city as Nate, so these are the real deal! Here is her recipe verbatim.

Ingredients:
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup tapioca flour (sometimes labeled tapioca starch) no substitutions
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese* (preferably medium or sharp)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place egg, milk, oil, tapioca flour, and salt in blender and blend until smooth. Add cheeses and pulse 2 times. Immediately pour batter into a mini muffin tin (if your muffin tin isn’t non-stick, spray lightly with non-stick spray first), filling each well about 3/4 full, or just slightly less. If desired (and I recommend), sprinkle a bit of parmesan cheese on top and/or a tiny sprinkle of kosher salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes before removing rolls from pan. Serve warm. These actually don’t re-heat well so I recommend making and eating fresh.

Yield: anywhere from 16-24 rolls, depending on how full you fill your muffin pan. I fill mine pretty full (a good 3/4 full) and I generally get about 16-18.

Cachorro Quente -- Brazilian Hot Dogs

Tonight I made cachorro quente, pronounced ko-sho-ho ken-shi for those like me who don't speak Portuguese. Nate ate this a ton while living in Brazil and since I have gained a little more confidence in the kitchen, I decided to make it. It is such an easy dish. It is definitely not the prettiest meal, but I have to admit, it tasted pretty good. I like that it has tons of veggies, it is really hard to get Nate to eat his vegetables! :)

Ingredients:
6 hot dogs, cut up into bite-sized pieces (I used all beef hot dogs)
4 hoagie buns or 6 hot dog buns
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced (I used romas)
8 oz. tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning
Lawry's seasoning salt (you can use regular salt)
Lawry's seasoned pepper (you can use regular pepper)
garlic powder
olive oil

Preparation:
In a large skillet, heat 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil. Once hot add diced green pepper and onion. Season with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook for a few minutes until vegetables are tender. Add diced tomatoes, 2 Tbsp. tomato paste, and 2 Tbsp. of water. Stir until everything is combined and bring to a simmer. Add tomato sauce and 1 Tbsp. of garlic bread seasoning. Give the sauce a taste, you may need to add a little more salt and pepper. Once sauce is simmering add cut up hot dogs. Keep simmering, stirring occasionally until the hot dogs are hot. I recommend toasting your hoagie rolls or hot dog buns. Spoon hot dog mixture over toasted rolls and eat it while it's hot!

Great served with Brazilian lemonade!




Cooler ranch doritos and cachorro quente. My husband was a happy man tonight.

Brazilian Lemonade

Oh my gosh, it tastes just like Tucano's! We love it, but I only make it on special occasions because of the sugar content. Also, it doesn't do well left over. Drink it as soon as you make it! This recipe is from Our Best Bites.

Ingredients:
4 juicy limes (try and find the ones with thin, smooth skins. they’re the juiciest and the thin skin cuts down on the chance of your drink being bitter)
1 cup sugar
6 cups cold water
6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk

Preparation:
Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill until ready to use. This step can be done ahead of time.
Wash limes thoroughly. Cut the ends off the limes and then cut each lime into 8ths.
Place ½ of the limes in your blender, skins and all.
Add ½ of the sugar water, place the lid on your blender, and pulse 5 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher (the one you’ll serve the lemonade in) and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Dump the pulp and stuff in the strainer into the trash. Repeat with remaining limes and sugar water. Add sweetened condensed milk. Serve immediately over lots of ice. Serves 4.