I was so excited when I received my Secret Recipe Club assignment this month. I’m always excited, but this month? Super excited! I saw the blog name, did a quick “whoo hoo” and immediately clicked on the link to head over to From Brazil To You to start reading. You see, I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Brazil: the food, the people, the culture and all of the amazing memories I have from being an exchange student there when I was in high school.
I loved looking around Denise’s blog! Denise was born and raised in Brazil so her recipes are true, trustworthy, Brazilian recipes. Believe me when I say I have bookmarked this blog and will come back to it over and over again to make these recipes. I can’t wait!
It was so hard to narrow down my recipe for today’s reveal. I really wanted to make Feijoada (Black Bean Stew). I can’t tell you how delicious this dish is! This is Brazil’s national dish and it was one of my favorites when I was living with my host family. But life has been crazy for my kids and I this month and I knew I wouldn’t have the time or energy to put into this.
Denise’s Glazed Guarana Cake blew my mind also. Guarana was my favorite beverage when I was in Brazil. It’s like nothing you can get here, but that was the problem. I found out where to get it online but it was going to take 30 days to get to me. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I ordered it. Duh. I’m totally going to make this cake when it comes.
Then I saw the post for Brigadeirao, a Brazilian Chocolate Fudge Flan. I love Brigadeiro and have made it a ton over the years. (You can read my post here about the fudge and my time in Brazil.) Denise took the delicious, creamy traditional Brazilian fudge recipe and turned it into a family sized flan. Oh my heck!
I’ve never made flan before so at first I was a little intimidated. The whole cooking it in a water bath thing and all. But it was fairly easy.
See? Water bath.
Sadly, I think my pan needs to be retired. Or I didn’t use enough butter/oil to grease my pan. This is what happened when I flipped it over. Crud. My heart sank. Total user error.
But…. we still ate it. Oh yes we did. We just ate it with a fork right from the plate. And it was delicious. It was rich and chocolaty and oh so smooth.
Traditionally you would sprinkle this with chocolate sprinkles. I thought since it was close to St. Patrick’s Day, we would use green sprinkles. Not the look I was going for, but now I know for future reference – stick with the chocolate sprinkles.
I’m so glad I found Denise’s blog! I can’t wait to try out her other recipes, close my eyes when I eat them and picture myself sitting at the table in my host family’s house and remembering all the amazing times I had while there.
Ingredients
- 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 cup plus 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. AP flour
- 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. melted butter
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla
- dash of salt
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 vanilla pod
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease an 8 inch ring pan.
- Mix together the sweetened condensed milk, milk, cocoa powder, sugar, flour, melted butter, eggs, vanilla and salt until well blended.
- Pour into prepared ring pan.
- Place the ring pan in a hot water bath and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool on a rack for about 30 minutes and then place in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
- Meanwhile, make the vanilla sauce. In a small saucepan, add the whipping cream and sugar. Slice the vanilla bean down the center and scrape with a teaspoon. Mix with the cream and sugar and simmer. Pour into a cup and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for 4 - 24 hours.
- Carefully remove the flan from the pan.
- Drizzle with the vanilla sauce and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles.
- Enjoy!
- Carefully remove from the ring pan.
I’m linking to the parties found HERE.
Oh, Erin! I am so sorry your flan broke when unmolded. Definitely, the pan has to be very well greased and the unmolding process has to be gentle. Running carefully a pairing knife around the edges to loose the flan before inverting onto a plate, it also helps a lot. But I am glad that you enjoyed eating it. I cannot make this often because both my waist and hips would expand a lot . 🙂 Like you, I love brigadeiro and everything else made from it!
Thank you for loving Brasil, its food, and people. It is great to know that you have fond memories of my home country. Thank you also for visiting FBTY. Wishing you an awesome week!!!
Who cares how it looks because I’m sure it was divine tasting! (I had a recent similar “flop” with a frittata!) And I agree, Denise has an amazing blog 🙂
It sounds amazing! Bookmarked indeed!
This looks amazing! I’ve never made a flan before, but I will now 🙂
Who cares it broken Erin, still look amazing and sounds is absolutely delicious!
xx
Was a pleasure made your recipe!
Ihave made Brigadeiraos for decades, this technique is really intriguing. lots of chocolately goodness there.
Yay!!!! Thanks for the blog advice too! As soon as I saw the word brigadeirao I was like….say WHAT?!?!? I have been going to Brazil the last three (now working on 4) summers and this is the dessert I eagerly anticipate each time….along with the sweet soda…I think it taste like a cross between a dr pepper and grape juice….Ahhh…Brazil! Where did you live?