In a small pot, put the condensed milk, the cocoa powder (if you want, you can sift it) and the butter.

Cook it over slow heat always mixing with a wooden spoon or spatula, until it sticks out of the pot bottom. This is important: when you tilt the pot a little bit, you'll notice that the brigadeiro “slides”, sticking out of the bottom.

Turn the heat off and pour it over a platter lightly greased with butter.

Let it cool down. Then, grease your hands with butter and mold the brigadeiro in little balls, taking small portions of the chocolate mix with the help of a small spoon. Cover it with chocolate sprinkles and then put it in little paper molds or on a platter lined with wax paper.

Put all ingredients in a blender (put the hot water first, carefully) and blend it for at least 2 minutes, being careful not to burn yourself.

You can add a teaspoon of vanilla extract if you want.

Store it in a container with a lid and leave it in the fridge until it thickens a little bit.

It can be used to prepare all recipes that call for condensed milk, including “pudim” (a type of flan).

Follow the same instructions above, but use soy milk instead of cow milk, and use a vegan margarine instead of butter.

If you want to prepare a “coconut brigadeiro”, which we call “beijinho”, use dried coconut flakes instead of chocolate/cocoa powder. Instead of covering the little balls in chocolate sprinkles, use coconut flakes (dried).

If you want to prepare “cashew bigadeiro” (cajuzinho), use peanut or cashwew powder instead of chocolate. Use it also to cover the little balls (you can also mold the candy as little “cajus”, a typical Brazilian fruit).

There are many other variations using the same base, for example, “surpresa de uva” (grape surprise), or a strawberry variation (use strawberry Nesquik instead of chocolate and red granulated sugar instead of traditional sugar).