Beijinho

Beijinho is a white bite-sized sweet served at birthdays and other celebrations in Brazil. Coconut covers the surface of a small ball, and a single dark brown clove is placed on top. Its name means “little kiss” in Portuguese. In the typical present-day method, sweetened condensed milk, butter, and coconut are cooked down, cooled, and then rolled into balls. Reducing the moisture before cooling allows the bite-sized balls to hold their shape.

Until the reduced mixture pulls away from the bottom of the pan

Sweetened condensed milk and butter are warmed in a pan, coconut is added, and the mixture is stirred constantly as the moisture is reduced. Some versions add a little milk. To prevent scorching, the mixture is kept moving while the bottom and sides of the pan are scraped. When the pan is tilted and the mixture comes away from the bottom in one mass, that is the sign that it is firm enough to roll.

The hot mixture is transferred to a plate or shallow container and cooled thoroughly. Although it is soft just after the heat is turned off, it becomes firm enough to handle by hand as it cools. With lightly buttered hands, it is rolled into small balls, which are then rolled in dried coconut to cover the surface. The dry coconut on the outside is applied to this cooled milk mixture.

There are also differences in when the coconut is added. Besides cooking it together with the condensed milk, there is also a method in which the condensed milk and butter are reduced first and removed from the heat, and the coconut is mixed in afterward. Even with the same combination of ingredients, everything is not necessarily cooked together from the start.

Coconut mixed into the mixture and the decoration on the surface

Fine coconut is scattered through the inside of the mixture, and dry fibers cling to the outside. In one bite, the coconut particles on the outside are followed by the dense texture of the reduced milk mixture. Versions coated in sugar crystals have a different texture on the outside. The clove forms a single dark brown point on the white ball and also serves as a mark that identifies beijinho.

In Brazil, some versions add citrus juice or zest, or egg yolks. Beijinho is not always a white coconut sweet; some versions take on the tartness of fruit or the color of egg yolk.

A 1949 recipe and regional names

The combination of “little kiss” and coconut existed even before methods using condensed milk became common. Helena Sangirardi’s “Beijinhos de coco,” published in the magazine O Cruzeiro on February 12, 1949, uses sugar, milk, egg yolks, coconut, vanilla, and cloves. This, too, was a recipe (ingredient proportions and method) for children’s celebrations, in which the mixture was cooked down, rolled, coated in sugar, and placed in paper cups.

After the war, the spread of condensed milk changed the ingredients of Brazilian home sweets, but it is not known when sweetened condensed milk came to be used as it is today, or whether there was a single inventor. The milk may have been replaced by sweetened condensed milk while the name and the round shape eaten at celebrations were carried on.

In the south, there is also the name “branquinho,” which expresses whiteness. However, because it is also used for white condensed-milk sweets that contain no coconut, the contents are not consistent even under the same name.

From celebratory bite-sized sweet to cake filling

Each one is placed in a small paper cup and arranged on the celebration table. Alongside a large cake that is cut into slices, it is prepared as a small sweet that can be picked up by hand; it is one of Brazil’s birthday sweets.

Beijinho is closely related in method to brigadeiro, which is also made by cooking down condensed milk and rolling it. Whereas the typical brigadeiro contains chocolate, beijinho centers on the whiteness and aroma of coconut. Both are cooked until the mixture pulls away from the bottom of the pan, then cooled before being shaped.

Sometimes the mixture is not rolled but put into small cups and eaten with a spoon, or used as a filling for cakes and tarts. Rolling it into balls requires a firmness that holds its shape, but when it is sandwiched between cake layers, it is finished to a consistency that spreads smoothly. Even with the same milk and coconut mixture, the degree of reduction changes depending on how it is served.

Glossary