Typical Brazilian Sweets and Desserts
Brazilian cuisine is very diverse. It has African, European and even Amerindian influences. Each region has its own dishes and with the country’s mix of native and immigrant population it has created a typical cuisine marked by these differences.
Sweets and Desserts
Brazilians have a sweet tooth and candy can be found with every meal. Brazilian desserts use a lot of nuts, milk derivatives and also local fruits like açaí, cupuaçu, mango, papaya, cashew, guava, orange, passion fruit and pineapple.
Food and desserts are prepared differently in each region and even have different names but still contain the same ingredients. It can be typical from a certain state or a religious holiday, but certainly they are delicious.
Here are a few of them:
Açaí na tigela
This is a thick cream from the açaí fruit. It can also be blended with strawberries or bananas and topped with granola, condensed milk or even powder milk.
Arroz Doce
A simple rice pudding, spiced with cinnamon.
Brigadeiro
The most typical sweet from Brazil. It looks like a chocolate truffle and has a caramel texture. It is a thick mix of condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder mixed together over a low heat. Once cooled, it is rolled into small balls and covered with chocolate sprinkles.
Beijinho
Similar to the brigadeiro, these sweets are made of condensed milk mixed with butter and coconut, it is then rolled into little balls and finally covered with grated coconut.
Bolo de rolo
This is a thin sponge cake rolled in to a log with a filling of guava, marmalade or doce de leite.
Cajuzinho
This is the same recipe as the brigadeiro, but the chocolate is substituted with crushed peanut.
Canjica
Also called Mugunzá in the North of Brazil, this dish is a porridge made with whole white maize kernels (canjica) and cooked with milk, sugar and cinnamon until tender. In the North of Brazil it is made with coconut milk.
Cocada
Made with eggs and shredded coconut, cocadas come in a variety of textures and colors but the traditional variation is a hard, sweet, golden brown candy. They are oven baked but served at room temperature to provide a chewy and soft texture. They are often garnished with almonds.
Creme de Papaya
This dessert is papaya fruit blended with vanilla ice-cream and can also be topped off with blackcurrant Cremè Cassis.
Goiabada
Goiabada is a marmalade made from guava fruit, water and sugar. It is usually molded into a brick shape after cooked.
Romeu & Julieta
Just as with Shakespeare's characters names, Romeo and Juliet, it is one of the simplest duos: Goiabada and cheese. The most commonly used cheese for this recipe is white cheese, but it can be made with other kinds like catupiry and requeijão that are softer and creamier. One layer of guava goes with one layer of cheese always in proportion.
Manjar Branco
A white coconut pudding topped with caramel and dried plums.
Maria-mole
This dessert literally means "soft Mary". It is similar to marshmallow but even softer. Maria-mole is made of egg whites, sugar, gelatin and coconut.
Paçoca
A typical dessert commonly made during Festa Junina, it is made out of ground peanuts, cassava flour, sugar and salt. It is like a powder and can often turn into a mess. But it is still one of the most beloved sweets in Brazil.
Pamonha
This is a corn and milk paste wrapped in a corn husk and boiled. In some areas of Brazil you can find it prepared with coconut milk. It is similar to humitas from Chile.
Pé-de-moleque
Square shaped sweet made with peanuts and sugar caramel.
Quindim
Made chiefly from sugar, egg yolks and ground coconut, it is a custard that can be presented as an upturned cup with the glistening surface and intensely yellow color or in a large donut mould that is called "quindão" and served in slices.
Sweet Pizza
Besides the usual fillings, in Brazil you can find chocolate, banana and other sweet ingredients on top of your pizza.
Torta Holandesa
Translated as a Dutch pie, it was actually created in the state of São Paulo after the good times a cook called Sílvia Leite, had in Europe. The pie consists of layer of wafers, covered with a cold white cream and topped with dark chocolate ganache.
Mousse de Maracujá
This mousse made from passion fruit is one of the simplest desserts because it has only 3 ingredients and no baking is necessary. Basically all you need to do is blend passion fruit juice, condensed milk and heavy cream and let it cool in the fridge for a few hours.
Compota
Compotas are handmade canned fruits or even vegetables. With larger chunks than found in jam, the fruits are peeled and canned with either water or the fruit’s juice and sugar. The most common fruits preserved like this are guava, banana, pumpkin and fig.
Pudim de leite condensado
The most typical pudim is made of condensed milk, milk and eggs.
In general, Brazilian desserts are extremely sweet and are often too sweet for foreigners who are not used to that much sugar. Some examples of more lightweight desserts are ice Popsicles made with the most diverse fruits and water or milk.