Like ‘chocolate truffles but creamier’: New shop on KC’s Plaza sells Brazilian sweets
When the Antunes family immigrated to the Kansas City area from their native Brazil in the 1990s, the Country Club Plaza was one of their frequent stops.
“Our first apartment was on Holly Street … and I would walk on the Plaza,” said Jessica Harris. “I didn’t speak English and wanted to go to the Gap. My sister taught me to say, ‘Thank you, I’m just looking’ if anyone approached me.”
Now Harris and her mother, Regina Antunes, have their own shop in the iconic district.
They opened Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro in the former Barton Perreira spot at 421 Nichols Road earlier this month.
“We’ve come full circle,” Harris said. “We live in Kansas but are making the drive because the Plaza is so special to us. It is part of our history in a way.”
Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro sells traditional Brazilian handmade confections called brigadeiros (which she pronounces “bree-gah-DAY-ros).
Harris and Antunes use condensed milk, premium chocolate and butter as a base for such flavors as milk chocolate, creme brulee, banana with dark chocolate, lemon, raspberry limeade, Brazilian coffee, and crunchy strawberry. They also will have seasonal flavors.
The treats retail for $2.20. The shop also sells cakes and tarts.
“I have photos of my first birthday party, my mother holding me, my grandmother next to us, and brigadeiros spread out on the table around the birthday cake,” Harris said. “So it has been part of my life since I was born.”
The mother/daughter team founded the company in 2015 as a home-based business in Olathe, selling the desserts online. As the business grew, they rented a commercial kitchen. Two years ago, Harris built a licensed commercial kitchen in the basement of her home.
They signed a Plaza lease to run through February but hope to make it permanent, depending on how sales go.
Harris said people like the brigadeiro origins story, how it was said to have been created to promote a presidential candidate — a brigadier.
“They’re similar to chocolate truffles but creamier,” she said. “People are surprised when they take a bite. They like the texture. It kind of melts in your mouth.”