Calamansi Muffins

Filipino food blogs don't seem to get enough of calamansi muffins because I keep reading about them. I tried to bake following the recipes available on several websites but I was not happy with the cakes. The dry-ish muffins lacked flavor and they were too sweet for my taste. I also didn't like that it's almost like chiffon cake. There's nothing wrong with soft fluffy cakes but I prefer moist and dense muffins. 

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Calamansi Macarons

It's been a long while since I made macarons. They are time consuming to make and the process gives real meaning to "labor intensive". Even writing down the recipe is a chore. Hahaha. But the end result is very rewarding, specially this batch flavored with Philippine limes, calamansi. The recipe is adapted from Piere Hermé's Lemon Macarons from his book MACARONS. They are sweet and tart and utterly delicious. I urge you to try making them at least once. You won't be disappointed.

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Light Leche Flan and Calamansi Sherbet

I've been making and eating ice cream at an alarming frequency since the day I bought a used Italian ice cream maker with compressor a month ago. So today I made calamansi (Philippine lime) sherbet. It's a tad "healthier" because it doesn't have too much heavy cream. I really love the tart and slightly sweet sherbet which is the perfect pair with the equally healthier leche flan (caramel custard) that has just one egg yolk.

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Calamansi Curd

great on buttery biscuits

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Maple Sugar Iced Tea

It's still early spring but we are having a summer-like weather. Today the temperature will go as high as 80 degrees. I'm just starting my vegetable garden and staying outside clearing the yard of winter debris in this hot weather makes me exhausted and I get dehydrated quickly. But it's the perfect time to make gallons of sweet iced tea. Not just any iced tea but similar to the one served in restaurants in the Philippines, I think in the late 70s or maybe early 80s, called Butterfly iced tea. The iced tea was so popular the people who owned the restaurant and the drink started selling concentrate in gallon jugs at the supermarkets. But the drink disappeared just like that, never to be heard of again, it's a mystery. I read that somebody interviewed the owners who for some reason would not even talk about the ice tea and its demise. Odd.

Anyway, I have been making an iced tea drink that tastes similar to the Butterfly iced tea. The not-so-secret ingredient is maple extract. The flavor becomes unique when combined with the juice of the Philippine lime, calamansi, although lemon juice is equally wonderful with the maple flavor. Maple sugar is sold at most grocery stores but it is super expensive and maple flavoring is available at King Arthur Flour online and catalog.

A year ago I discovered an unopened jar of maple syrup that has expired. I don't really understand why it has an expiration date, it's sugar syrup, why should it go bad. Instead of throwing it away I boiled the syrup down, dried the crystals, broke them into large chunks, and that's what I use together with raw sugar to sweeten the iced tea. Yum. I could finish a gallon of this stuff in a day.:-)

Maple Sugar Iced Tea
makes approximately 4 cups
3 English breakfast tea bags
2 cups boiling water
maple sugar or syrup, to taste
raw sugar (demerara), to taste
juice of 1 lemon, strained
1 cup ice cold water
1½ cups ice

• Brew tea in boiling water. Discard bags. Add maple syrup or sugar and raw sugar until dissolved. Add the juice, water, and ice. Enjoy.

It's Easy Being Square

glazed fudge brownies

There are so many choices of baking pans with all sorts of shapes and designs in the baking aisles at chain stores and discount kitchen shops. Last year I got a coated metal with 2-inch squares and a silicone with 1-inch squares. I use them for single serve brownies and cakes. Baking the brownies in these pans eliminates the step of cutting it into squares. They are easier to store and serve, and I like it for portion control. Isn't that cool? The flexible silicone is more versatile as it can be used for the cutest mini-cakes and to freeze embedded liquids to decorate drinks, or for freezing lemon juice or stock.

glazed fudge brownies, calamansi cupcake squares

Strawberry Blondies

Hip To Be Square is this week's Lasang Pinoy Sundays, a weekly food photography meme, hosted by SpiCes.

Mangoes In Syrup And Calamansi Cream

mangoes and calamansi, sweet and tart and yummy

1-inch calamansi, uniquely Filipino

I am taking advantage of this year's unusual long mango season. In the past years (at least in the Washington, D.C. area) the Philippine-like variety of mangoes grown in Mexico were only available for a month just before the start of summer. This year they have been in stores for 2 months now and they're getting cheaper too. Although we prefer eating mangoes fresh without any added stuff, sauces, or flavoring, I once made them into a pie. The pie was just okay, nothing to rave about.

Last week I bought so much mangoes and they all ripened at the same time. I also have calamansi fruits *woohoo!* from my tree and combined the two to try if they will make a good fruit dessert without the extra carbs from a pie crust. Well, I love it! This is a very refreshing mango dessert and the subtle citrus flavor from the calamansi juice and rind is wonderful. Calamansi fruits are not available everywhere in the US, lime or key lime is an excellent substitute. The following recipe for each whole mango is just a guide, feel free to adjust the sugar to suit your taste. I also recommend using mango juice from the Philippines because it tastes better than the ones from the Latin countries which I find flowery. Use whatever mango juice is available in your area or your preference.

Mangoes In Syrup And Lime Cream
mango cheeks, peeled and cut into 3 or 4 pieces
¼ cup mango juice (not puree)
1 tablespoon raw or brown sugar
1 teaspoon calamansi or lime juice
2 tablespoons slightly sweetened whipped cream
1 teaspoon calamansi or lime juice
zest of half a calamansi or a few grates of lime zest

• In a small skillet, heat the mango juice, sugar, and calamansi juice until sugar is dissolved. Add the mango slices and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes. Spoon mangoes and the syrup into a dessert dish.
• Mix cream and calamansi juice. Spoon on top of the mangoes. Using a microplane zester, grate the calamansi rind over the cream. Serve while still warm.