Filipino Dessert - Traditional Recipes That Make You Want To Eat

A little corner of paradise nestled in the South of China, the Philippines has several surprises to offer: a tropical climate, abundant vegetation, picturesque landscapes and, above all, the most exotic gastronomy! At its heart are elements of Chinese, American, Spanish and Malaysian cuisine. Usually based on foods, such as potatoes, chicken, beef, rice and noodles, it indulges in little extravagances in terms of cakes. No more monotony, give your plates a boost with the Filipino dessert and all its exotic and colorful variations!

Traditional Filipino dessert - 6 easy and exotic recipes to break the monotony

How about taking your homemade pastries on the road? Full of exotic flavors, elaborate and at the same time easy to make, the Filipino dessert will make your taste buds mouth watering. Ube halaya, maja blanca, buko pandan, putong bigas, babinkga… revisit pastry standards with a touch of the exotic! Thanks to our selection of desserts, the change of scenery will begin with your plates! So travel with our 6 recipes!

Ube Halaya - the traditional recipe

We will start our exotic journey with one of the most iconic traditional Filipino dessert. Called 'ube jam', ube hayala is made from boiled and mashed purple yam (where its characteristic color comes from), which is then mixed with condensed milk, butter and milk. coconut before being refrigerated. Depending on your mood, this dessert can be garnished with condensed milk, toasted coconut flakes or latik, made from cream of coconut milk simmered until you get residue!

Ingredients for 4 persons:

• 500 g grated purple yam
• 400 ml unsweetened condensed milk
• 350 ml sweetened condensed milk
• 100 g butter
• 400 ml coconut cream (for the latik)

Preparation:

Bring the yam, unsweetened condensed milk, sweetened condensed milk and butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the mixture has boiled, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 40-50 min or until a thick paste forms, stirring frequently. In the meantime, oil or butter the edges of your molds. Distribute the preparation and let cool for half an hour in the fridge. At the end of this time, unmold the halayang ube in your plates and lightly garnish the top of each portion with coconut oil and latik. Your Filipino dessert should be served at room temperature.

Regarding the preparation of the latter, put the coconut cream in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for about an hour, stirring quite frequently. Reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 min or until residue is obtained. Continue cooking for 1 hour, stirring carefully to avoid burning latik. And as soon as it turns brown, remove from the heat. Drain it from the remaining coconut oil and pour it over the ube halaya.

Colorful and frozen halo halo Filipino dessert

A true delicacy in itself, this next traditional Filipino dessert is guaranteed to delight those of you always looking for surprising flavors! From the images we found on Pinterest, we can see that the recipe can be personalized as desired. Several are indeed the ingredients and colors that can be put there. In short, we use everything that is sweet and is in the pantry!

If you want to prepare yourself halo-halo, bring mung beans, white beans, coconut jelly, jackfruit (fresh or canned) or another exotic fruit, tapioca pearls, crushed ice., condensed milk, multi-colored jellies, corn kernels, crunchy cereals and yam-based ice cream. And in order to give your recipe even more flavor, do not hesitate to add other fresh and sweet ingredients, according to your own desires. No ingredient measurement is required! Give free rein to your imagination!

Creamy Maja Blanca or Filipino Pudding

Maja Blanca is a delicious Filipino pudding usually prepared for special occasions. It is made with coconut milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk and sweet corn kernels. And while these seem like a weird ingredient to add to a dessert, they make the dessert even tastier. To concoct it yourself, it is essential to start with the preparation of latik. Then cook the pudding, mixing and boiling the basic ingredients, before leaving the dish to rest in the refrigerator. The complete step-by-step recipe, you can see in the video above!

Tip: Once the pudding has cooled, take it out of the fridge and using a pastry brush, lightly coat it with a layer of coconut oil before sprinkling with golden brown latik. You can also garnish with a few kernels of sweet corn and serve your dessert in cocktail glasses.

Buko pandan

Another must-have dessert that you must absolutely taste during your visit to the Philippines will undoubtedly be the Buko Pandan! Made with agar-agar, coconut twine, tapioca pearls, evaporated milk and condensed milk, this delight is a real refreshing treat that will save your life on hot summer days. Find out how to prepare it at home in the video above!

But just before consulting it, here are a few tips to remember:

• instead of agar-agar, you can use green gelatin
• if you are going to use fresh coconut meat, drain it well (coconut juice is not very suitable for Buko Pandan)
• your tapioca pearls are ready when they become translucent
• for an even creamier Filipino dessert, use fresh cream

Putong Bigas: mini steamed rice cakes

Putong Bigas, or simply Puto, are mini rice cakes prepared by steam. Usually made with fermented rice paste, these round pancakes accompany most Asian dishes with delicacy. A Filipino dessert that can be personalized at will, Puto goes well with several ingredients. You can, for example, combine it with cheese, chocolate, vanilla or purple yam. Easy and super soft, these small bites will be unanimous on your table. How to make them at home? The ingredients and step-by-step instructions on the preparation can be found in the small video below!

Asian Bibingka Sticky Rice Cake

Ingredients:

• 100 g of jasmine rice
• 100 g sticky rice
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 1 C. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp. of honey
• 30 g of melted butter

Preparation:

Start by soaking the two types of rice together. Leave them on overnight. In the morning, drain them, keeping a little of the soaking water, and mix them with a hand blender. The goal is to get a kind of smooth paste. If necessary, throw in a little water. Cover and let ferment at room temperature for 24 hours. Empty the water that has risen to the surface.

Then mix the honey with the coconut milk and the egg yolks. Whip the egg whites until stiff. Mix the fermented rice dough with the honey-milk-egg mixture then with the egg whites. Pour into a pre-buttered mold and bake at 180 ° C for 40-50 minutes. Let cool and lightly butter the surface of your cake. Sprinkle with a little sugar and coconut flakes and pass under the grill for a few minutes. Serve at room temperature.