Strawberry Time!

It’s strawberry time!

And it’s also winter break at my daughter’s preschool… For the first time in my life, I’m living the full time mom experience. You know, she’s almost two – talking, dancing, singing, running, crying, laughing, fighting, falling, all at once!

Strawberries are her absolute favorites. I’ve bought some to make this bonbons, but the little hurricane ate them all.

The reason I’m telling you all this is, in fact, to get some help! If you, more experienced mothers out there, happen to have any suggestions on how to entertain 20-month-old kids for a WHOLE MONTH, please drop me a line!

Now, back to business:

Strawberry Bonbons

These confections have a simple and delicious concept – strawberry covered in white brigadeiro covered again in chocolate. They demand a lot of work, but is totally worth it.

The strawberries must be washed and patted dry carefully – you don’t wanna poke them, or they will run juices and ruin the whole thing. Select the smaller, sweeter fruit for this recipe, and don’t let the little thieves still them. 🙂

Ingredients

• 20 strawberries (small to medium)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 400g milk chocolate, to cover
• 1/2 cup sugar

Prepare the strawberries

Wash carefully and pat dry the strawberries. Take the leaves out, but not the stems. If the stems are too long, trim them short. Leave it to air dry in a ventilated place.

Prepare the white brigadeiro

Butter a soup plate or platter. In a saucepan, mix the condensed milk and butter. Cook over medium flame, always stirring, till boil. Reduce heat. Stir constantly, scraping bottom and sides of the pan. When it thickens and pulls from bottom of the pan (about 105º/221F), it’s ready. It will firm a bit after cooled. Transfer to the buttered plate, let it cool completely. The cooled brigadeiro looks and feels like a soft fudge.

And here we go…

Place the sugar on a small bowl and set aside. Butter your hands a little and take small portions (about a teaspoon) of the brigadeiro dough and wrap each strawberry all the way through. Dip the base on sugar and reserve.

Line with parchment paper a tray big enough to hold all the strawberries. Melt and temper the chocolate.

Dip in the chocolate first the strawberries bottoms, one by one, and set on paper to harden. Then, dip the strawberries thoroughly very carefully,  lift it with a fork and let it drain a little to remove excess chocolate. Place them on the parchment paper and let the chocolate dry.

The bonbons are best eaten the same day they were made.

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