PaçocaPeanut Candy
Three-Ingredient Roasted Peanut Candy from the Colonial Trail.
Paçoca began as trail food on the colonial bandeirante expeditions — ground peanuts bound with sugar, pressed dense enough to survive a saddlebag. Today it is June-party candy and coffee-shop counter treat, still three ingredients deep.
Ingredients
- 500 g roasted unsalted peanuts
- 300 g granulated sugar
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
Method
- Pulse the peanutsPulse the warm-skinned peanuts in a food processor until they form a coarse meal with visible small bits — stop before it becomes butter.
- SweetenAdd the sugar and salt and pulse a few times to combine evenly.
- PressPress the mixture firmly into a pan, or pack it tightly into traditional paçoca molds or mini muffin cups, compacting hard so it holds.
- SetChill 20 minutes, then cut or turn out. It keeps a week airtight.
Questions
How long does Paçoca take?
about 15 minutes of prep — yielding 40 candies.
How do I keep paçoca from crumbling?
Press it hard — the peanuts' own oil binds the candy when compacted firmly in the mold or pan. Chill before cutting to let it set.
Salted or unsalted peanuts?
Unsalted roasted, with the pinch of salt added by you — control matters. Salted peanuts make a paçoca that tastes of the snack aisle.