In Brazil, Carnival is celebrated with huge parades filled with costumes and Samba! They basically party non-stop for six days, which leads up to Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of lent. Nothing like a huge party before giving up something for 40 days. Some Brazilian recipes are Quindim (coconut flan), Brigadeiros (chocolate truffles), Queijadinhas and a variety of cakes called bolos. Some bolo flavours are cornmeal and passion fruit. On the savory side, you could try Coxinhas or Pao de Queijo. A few other Brazilian flavors are dulce de leche, tropical fruits or Brazil Nuts. Their local alcohol is cachaça which can be used to make Caipirinhas which are freakin' delicious.
New Orleans has also been partying pretty hard this season. They celebrate Carnival with parades, masquerade balls and king cake parties. The traditional colors of the New Orleans Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold. Those colors show up everywhere and will probably show up on your baking for this one! The main baked dish of Mardi Gras is a King Cake. A small plastic baby is hidden somewhere inside the cake and the person who finds it is in charge of getting the next king cake or throwing the next king cake party! A few other classic Louisiana recipes are Banana's Foster, Beignets, Bread Pudding and Pecan Pie.
My first time working with yeast, believe it or not! This was a blast to make, especially the part where I used my bedroom as an incubator to let dough rise since it's the only room in my apartment with a heater.
I'm a huge king cake far and usually order from a bakery in New Orleans every year, so it was pretty awesome to make my own this time around. The only downside was it's impossible to find tiny plastic babies in the Northeast!
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