Cocada

🥥 Spoon-shaped coconut sweets cooked with sugar and a little condensed milk; makes twelve small pieces.

Ingredients

• 250 g fresh finely grated unsweetened coconut
• 100 g sugar
• 100 g sweetened condensed milk
• 100 ml unsweetened coconut milk
• 50 ml water
• 10 g butter, plus a little for the tray

Preparation

Prepare a tray with lightly buttered baking paper and two spoons. Check fresh coconut is sound and free of shell fragments.

Combine sugar, water, coconut milk, condensed milk and butter in a heavy saucepan. Heat gently, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Add coconut. Cook over medium-low heat for about 20–30 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping the base and corners.

Reduce heat as it thickens. It is ready when it gathers, briefly exposes the base under the spatula and a sample holds its shape on a cold plate after a minute.

Remove from heat and use two spoons to place about twelve small mounds on the tray. Do not touch hot sugar with fingers.

Cool and firm for about 45 minutes until pieces lift. If still soft, serve in little cups rather than adding raw sugar.

Serve twelve small pieces, one per serving. Refrigerate after cooling if not serving immediately.