Brigadeiro is a basic yet very popular Brasilian candy. It is comparable to chocolate truffles. It was created in the 1940s and still popular today. This recipe is a twist on the original Brigadeiro.  Instead of chocolate flavor it is made with lemon.  The citrus contrasts the sweetness of this candy in a very delicious way. Hope you try it out!

Lemon Truffles

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 T butter

100 grams white chocolate (cut)

1 egg yolk

1 T powder milk

2 T lemon zest

10 ml lemon juice (fresh and strained)

In  a sauce pan mix all ingredients and cook it, mixing the entire time, on medium heat until it thickens and starts to bubble in the bottom of the pan. Take it off the heat and put into a plate. Let it cool, wrap it and refrigerate for 24 hrs.

Next day you can roll it any size you would like. It makes about 50-60 small brigadeiro balls (about 1 teaspoon size).  A trick I have been using is to use a little bit of cold water to wet my hands prior to rolling the candy.  It is quite sticky and if you don’t use some thing like butter or water, you are not going to be able to roll them properly.  I prefer the water method to the butter because the water doesn’t add any more flavor to the candy where the butter may add a little bit.  You don’t want you hands totally wet, just a little. You will see what I mean once you start rolling it and you will find what works best for you.

Here is a picture of my set up. My candy plate, my bowl of cold water, my crust (chocolate shavings) and the final plate.

I like to rolls these lemon truffles into white chocolate shavings.  I use a microplane and shave the chocolate very fine, almost like a powder.

This gives a delicate crust to the candy.  You could also use milk chocolate, or crush some lemon drops (hard candy) to put on the outside.

Enjoy!