What is a brigadeiro — and what is a Large Brigadeiro?

What a brigadeiro is

The brigadeiro is the best-known sweet at a Brazilian party. It takes three things: cocoa, butter and condensed milk. They go into a pan on the stove and cook, with stirring, until the mixture thickens and pulls away from the bottom. Once it cools, it's rolled into small balls.

It's a tray sweet and a birthday-party sweet, and each ball is already one portion. In Brazil it's as ordinary as a cupcake is here.

What the Large Brigadeiro is

The Large Brigadeiro is the same brigadeiro, made large. Same cocoa, butter and condensed milk base, the same stovetop method, and chocolate sprinkles on top. The one difference is size: instead of a one-bite ball, it's made in a large size.

• The ingredients: cocoa, butter and condensed milk, with chocolate sprinkles.
• The method: in a pan, on the stove, until it thickens.
• What changes in the Large Brigadeiro: the size.

A brigadeiro is not a truffle

People who've never had one usually picture a chocolate truffle. They're different sweets: a truffle starts from melted chocolate and cream. A brigadeiro starts from cooked condensed milk, and that's where the taste comes from — closer to dulce de leche with cocoa than to a chocolate bonbon.

How to say it

Roughly "bree-gah-DAY-roo". On the Portuguese menu the same item reads Brigadeiro Grande, which is simply Portuguese for large brigadeiro — same sweet, name written in the language you're reading.

Where to order one in Orlando

At Sweets by Paris, the Large Brigadeiro is $5. It's made to order with at least 24 hours' notice, for pickup in Ocoee, FL 34761 or delivery up to 25 driving miles from there.