Snack · 25 min · brazilian

Pacoca (Peanut Candy)

Brazilian flavors, weeknight effort. Peanuts meets sugar in a 25-minute snack worth keeping in rotation. It is weeknight cooking that still hits your targets — 13 grams of protein per serving. Simple enough for a Tuesday, good enough to serve to guests — that is the whole idea.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 2 cups Peanuts
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Cornmeal

Steps

1. Toast the peanuts in a dry skillet until deeply golden and fragrant — this toasting is where all the flavor comes from, so do not rush it.
2. Grind the warm peanuts with the sugar, salt, and cornmeal in a food processor. Pulse to a coarse, sandy meal; over-processing turns it to peanut butter.
3. The mixture should just hold together when squeezed. If it crumbles apart, pulse a few more times — the peanut oils need to release slightly.
4. Pack the mixture firmly into a small lined pan or press into cork shapes with a mold. Compression is what makes paçoca hold.
5. Chill 30 minutes to set, then cut into squares or unmold.
6. Serve at room temperature. Paçoca should be crumbly, salty-sweet, and intensely peanutty — Festa Junina’s most addictive candy.

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