Lexis English Byron Bay – Delicious Brazilian Desserts – 18 October 2022

On Tuesday our Homestay Coordinator Nicole made some delicious Brazilian desserts with the students.

All the students love the cooking classes and many signed up this week.

The Brazilian cuisine is very versatile and luckily Nicole had help from a few Brazilian students. Everyone was very excited to talk about their home country desserts and a lot of students from other countries have never heard of them before.

We did two different types of desserts: Tapioca and Brigadeiro.

Tapioca

Tapioca is a staple food for millions of people in tropical countries. It provides only carbohydrate food value, and is low in protein, vitamins and minerals.
Tapioca is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant, a species native to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, but whose use is now spread throughout South America.

There is different ways of using Tapioca for different desserts. You can do Tapioca Pancakes or Tapioca Pudding.

Tapioca Pancakes

These Tapioca pancakes are a popular street food in Brazil and a famous Brazilian dessert. Made with tapioca flour, they are cooked to order and stuffed with a various sweet and savory fillings, such as cheese, coconut, or chocolate. These bites make a great breakfast, snack, or light meal because they can be stuffed with any and all the fillings that you can think of. With our simple recipe, you can make these crepes at home. The best part? They are naturally gluten-free and vegan.

Tapioca Pudding

Tapioca pudding is a sweet pudding made with tapioca and either milk or cream. Coconut milk is also used in cases in which the flavor is preferred or in areas in which it is a commonplace ingredient for cooking. It is made in many cultures with equally varying styles, and may be produced in a variety of ways. Our Brazilian students explained that this Tapioca pudding is commonly used as Baby food 😀 It was very delicious though.

This is the recipe we used:

• 1/2cup small pearl tapioca (do not use instant tapioca)
• 3cups whole milk (or skim milk with cream added)
• 1/4teaspoon salt
• 2large eggs
• 1/2cup sugar
• 1teaspoon vanilla extract
  

Cook the tapioca:

Combine tapioca, milk, and salt in 1 1/2 quart pan on medium-high heat. Stir while bringing to a bare simmer. Lower the heat and cook, uncovered, at the lowest possible heat, adding sugar gradually until the tapioca pearls have plumped up and thickened.

Depending on the type or brand of tapioca you are using (and if you’ve pre-soaked the tapioca as some brands call for), this could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes of cooking at a very low temperature.

Stir occasionally so the tapioca doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Temper the eggs with a little hot tapioca:

Beat eggs in a separate bowl. Whisk in some of the hot tapioca very slowly to equalize the temperature of the two (to avoid curdling)

Add the tempered eggs to the pudding, cool, then add the vanilla:

Slowly add the eggs to the tapioca in the pan. Increase the heat to medium and stir for several minutes until you get a thick pudding consistency. Do not let the mixture boil or the tapioca egg custard will curdle. Cool 15 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Serve either warm or chilled.

Brigadeiro

The brigadeiro is a traditional Brazilian dessert. The origin of the dessert is uncertain, but the most common theory is that it was created by a confectioner from Rio de Janeiro, Heloisa Nabuco de Oliveira, to promote the presidential candidacy of Eduardo Gomes.

This is the Recipe we used:

for 8 servings

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk (395 g)
• ¼ cup cocoa powder (30 g)
• 1 cup chocolate sprinkle (160 g), as needed

We doubled the recipe because we had a lot of students who all wanted to try them.

Preparation

1. In a pot over low heat, melt the butter, condensed milk, and cocoa powder, stirring continuously until you can see the bottom of the pot for 2-3 seconds when dragging a spatula through.
2. Pour onto a greased plate, then chill for 1 hour. (Nicole prepared the Brigadeiro and chilled it in the fridge for an hour, ready to use.)
3. Shape and roll the chilled mixture into balls.
4. Roll the balls in chocolate sprinkles.
5. Enjoy!

The students had a great time, and they were impressed with these yummy Brazilian desserts.

Learn English in Byron Bay. Lexis English students study General English, IELTS, FCE, CAE, and English plus Surfing in a friendly and professional school right in the heart of Byron Bay and only 15 minutes from the beach.