TapiocaFlour

Brasil Nut Cookies

I remember the first time I saw Brasil nut when I arrived in Britain a good  few years ago. I got all excited, proud even. The funny thing was that I didn’t even fancy Brazil nut when I lived back home. I did not dislike it but it was something that I would not put on my list of I-have-a-craving type of food.

There was just one (1) thing that contained Brasil nuts that I was pretty keen on : Brasil nut cookies. The thing is, I grew up in north Brasil, in the capital city of Belém and Brasil nut is native to north Brasil. They do some real great Brasil nut cookies. Brasilians love cookies. Not cookies as you call them in the USA. Our cookies are medium to small size.

 

The recipe I am sharing with you is very easy and simple to prepare. It was given to my mom by a friend of hers back in the days when we lived in Belém – couldn’t be more typical. Besides being very crunchy – which automatically qualifies it as yummy to me, another lovely thing about these cookies in my opinion is the fact that when the cookies are done and you remove them from the oven you get a really lovely whiff of nuts. Kind of earthy.

 

300g of ground Brasil nuts

300g unsalted butter, softened

200g plain flour

200g corn flour

100g sugar

 Pre-heat the oven to 150C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Put all the ingredients in a bow and mix them all together using your hands. Well, you can start by using a wooden spoon but eventually you will have to put your hands on the dough. When the mixture becomes a uniform ball start preparing the cookies. Use a tea spoon measure for each cookie. I find that the smaller they are the sweeter it is as they tend to grow a bit once in the oven.Put the baking tray in the oven an wait until the cookies are golden.Don't let them burn.

 

 

The cookies below are still Brasil nut ones but I have added a special touch. I have added guava paste to them - that's what the red blob is. Guava paste will be covered in a future article but I can just say that we love it as a nation. We eat it with cheese, in sandwiches (I know that I did), in cakes. So why not on Brasil nut cookies?

 

 

 

 

Brigadeiro

I have been having a tough time choosing the topic for my posting number 2. It is not that we as a nation do not have a varied enough confectionery list to choose from. On the contrary, the list is long.

In the end I have decided to go for the nation‘s favourite, Brigadeiro. Would you need an English translation? Brigadier should be close enough. All I know about the origin of the sweet is that it was named after an Air Force commander, Brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes. This dates back to the forties. Whoever he was he made the country a great service by giving us this wonderful, naughty confection.

It falls in the category of ‘docinhos’ which are little sweets that can be found all over the country. I think that its great secret is the chocolate element and the beautiful, gooey texture given by the condensed milk. Condensed milk takes a central place in the nation’s confectioner culture. Nestlé arrived in Brazil over one hundred years ago, back in 1890 and condensed milk has has become a very Brazilian ingredient.

Where you can get hold of brigadeiros? Just about anywhere. It holds a special place in children’s birthday parties and everyone’s kitchen. Suffice to say that it is a favourite of children and grown-ups alike. Anyone – and I really mean anyone, can prepare it. Even my dad. I dare you to get it wrong.

Ingredients:

30 brigadeiros or more depending on how small or big you roll them up.

1 can of condensed milk

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

3 tablespoons of chocolate powder

Chocolate strands, enough to coat them

 
Take a medium non-stick (preferably) saucepan and throw the condensed milk in it, together with the butter and chocolate powder. Keep the heat as medium and keep stirring non-stop until you can see the bottom of the pan – approximately 10 min. You will notice the mixture becoming thicker and thicker until it looks as if you are lifting it with the spoon. I am talking really thick and big patches of the pan becoming visible.

 

Pour the thick sauce on a plate and spread it with the spoon. Leave it to cool.

 

 

On a separate plate pour the chocolate strands.

When the mixture has cooled off coat your hands with vegetable oil, take a teaspoon and start getting small amounts of chocolate and rolling it into a ball. Roll it over the chocolate strands and place it in a paper case.

 

Throughout my adolescence it was comfort ‘food’. My friends and I would make some and eat nearly the whole thing with a spoon once it had cooled off. There was no need to roll it up. You would arrange to watch a video with friends and some brigadeiro would materialize instead of popcorn.