One of the many many sweets and snacks that Filipinos inherited (and made a better version of) from the Spanish is polvorones. The Spanish polvorones are baked after shaping by hand, they're not quite cookies nor shortbread, somewhere in between. The candy-like Filipino polvoron is never baked but the flour is also toasted before mixing with sugar, powdered milk and butter, then shaped using either a round or oval mold that are made in the Philippines and nowhere else (they can be purchased from Filipino groceries or eBay). I grew up eating plain polvorones and sometimes the ones with crushed peanuts or toasted sesame seeds but recently various flavors and add-ins have been popping up in the Filipino grocery: the ubiquitous buco-pandan, ube, langka, crispy rice or pinipig, crushed oreo cookies, and the latest, graham crackers. Well, why not join the crowd and here is my contribution: raw cacao nibs. They are so addicting! What's not to love: sugar, butter, milk, and raw crunchy bitter chocolate. Mmmmmm.
Peruvian raw organic cacao nibs
The package says they are nutritious and I think these are highly recommended by vegans who advocate eating raw food. I bought the cacao nibs to add to candies, baked goods, and to eat with cereals but I also love munching on them like peanuts. They are a teeny bit bitter, they are pure chocolate after all, but I love extremely dark chocolate anyway. Cacao nibs, a guilt-free and healthy super yummy snack.
Polvorones
4 cups flour
3/4 cup powdered milk
1½ cups super-fine sugar
1 cup very soft butter
- Toast flour in a skillet or in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes until light brown.
- Into a bowl, sift toasted flour, milk, and sugar. Add the butter and mix thoroughly.
- Fill mold and press lightly, unmold onto individual pieces of rectangular or square (depending on the mold) multi-colored or white tissue paper, twist ends of paper.
- Tip: To prevent crumbling, refrigerate unwrapped molded polvoron for a few minutes or until set.
" with cacao nibs, graham crackers, buco-pandan, and toasted sesame seeds
Is there something you can't cook? It seems you know everything.
ReplyDeleteyou know when i was a kid to help my parents earn a living I used to sell pulboron in the street of sampaloc , shouting P-U-L-B-U-R-O-N, a really tiring job!!..i never knew how to make them it was our neighbor supplying me..imagine im selling them but i dont know how they taste.one day she made me taste one (the one i didnt succeed in selling) and it tasted soo heavenly...thanks for this post it zap me back in time. by the way you dont happen to have a recipe for yema?
ReplyDeletesidney, I have always been intimidated by French cuisine. I have never made any French entree or dessert, except for brioche which is bread so it doesn't count.:)
ReplyDeletedhanggit, now it's your turn to make me reminisce. I peddled bananacues once with my older sister to help out a neighbor, (my Ninang). We were sort of lured just like the kids whitewashing the fence in TOM SAWYER. We took turns shouting banana and Q? with a questioning lilt. My father went ballistic when he heard about it because I was just 6 and my sister 8 years old at the time.:D
I made yema once, I'll look for the recipe and will let you know.
I love polveron with pinipig, but your addition with the cacao nibs looks great! My grandmother makes polveron from time to time and then she wraps them in paper.
ReplyDeleteI used to make polvoron when I was small and its so easy but I was not creative then so its usually just flour and sugar toasted together. My siblings and I couldnt wait to make them into molds so we would just eat it in its powdery form - still tastes good =)
ReplyDeletemarvin, pinipig is a classic add-on and I love it. I'm also loving the graham crackers and the raw cacao. I used white tissues and cellophane which I find too thick. I think clear and colored Saran is better for wrapping polvoron.
ReplyDeleteraissa, I did that too as a child. I put some in a cup and ate the sweet powder with a teaspoon while watching my mother wrap them.:)
wow what a coincidence you had your adventures too with bananacues..good thing i didnt had to peddle them or else i ended up eating them..coz they are my fave :-)
ReplyDeletedhanggit, we got a skewer each of bananacue as payment, heheh, and they were yummy!:D
ReplyDelete