Chocolate Candies, Filipino Style

fondant with chopped candied langka (jackfruit)

mango paste

yema (egg yolk candy)

pinipig (pounded young glutinous rice) crunch bars

enrobed in bittersweet chocolate

A Filipino blog talking about a store (in the Philippines) selling chocolate candies with Filipino flavors and fillings piqued my interest and I immediately borrowed the idea. I was not expecting that dark chocolate and sweet jackfruit will go nicely together but surprisingly they do. It's the same with yema and my favorite, mango paste, which I made by boiling mango puree until very thick, the same process in making fruit leather. They are all delicious as chocolate candy fillings with their familiar Filipino flavors. I have a small bag of puffed pinipig which I will be using later for Guinomis and made bittersweet chocolate Pinipig Crunch, an homage to a childhood favorite, Nestle Crunch. Yummy yum yum!

Guinatan Halo-halo

warm anise flavored coconut milk sweet 'soup' with jackfruit, assorted root vegetables, glutinous rice balls and bananas; weird ingredients to non-Filipinos but so delicious, and uniquely ours

I was cleaning my overstuffed freezer and found frozen ube, saba bananas and jackfruit. I went out and bought 2 small taro and a small sweet potato, made a few bilo-bilo and voila! Guinatan halo-halo.

Guinatan Halo-halo
1 can coconut milk
4 - 5 pieces ripe jackfruit, cut into strips
1 small sweet potato, diced
2 small taro, diced
1 small ube (purple yam), boiled whole and diced (optional)
5 small ripe saba, sliced
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon anise, optional
pinch of salt
½ cup glutinous rice powder
water

• Prepare the glutinous rice balls by mixing water, 1 tablespoon at a time, with the rice flour to make a very stiff dough (galapong); form into ½-inch balls, set aside.
• In a saucepan, heat the coconut milk and a canful of water, add the taro and sweet potato, cook for 2 minutes. Add the rice balls, saba bananas, jackfruit, anise, sugar and salt. Simmer until cooked. I add the pre-cooked ube in individual soup bowls just before eating because it colors the guinatan a purplish hue. Serve with a drizzle of thick coconut milk, if desired.

Nonstop Ice Cream Machine

My Cuisinart ice cream maker has been churning nonstop for oh about 3 months now, it must be exhausted. Which means we have been eating ice cream nonstop since. I didn't eat this much ice cream in my life until now. Most ice cream here are overly sweet for me including Ben & Jerry's and several brands have thickening agents. Even Breyers that used to advertise using just milk, sugar and natural flavors and fruits now uses that gum thickening whatever. By making my own ice cream I am able to reduce the fat by half and sugar by 60%. I don't use those horrible tasting sugar substitutes, I just reduce the sugar. It's also great to be able to prepare Pinoy sorbetes. The very first one I made was macapuno, then, let's see, I have made ube, queso (grated cheddar cheese), halo-halo, coffee (topped with mangosteen preserves), mango using Philippine mango puree, sweet corn with coconut milk, and today langka. Please, somebody stop me, this is so addicting! Or, maybe not. Can someone suggest other Pinoy flavors that I may have missed?