Bibingka Muffins

Bibingka, a Philippine rice cake, baked with slices of native white cheese and salted duck eggs is an all-time Filipino favorite merienda (snack) specially the ones from Ferino's and Via Mare restaurants. I remember them so soft, fluffy, and buttery and topped with more butter, a sprinkling of sugar, and freshly grated coconut. These 8-inch cakes are baked on top of small clay ovens filled with live coals and the top of the clay oven is covered with an iron sheet filled with more live coals. It takes just a few minutes to bake them. The cakes can be baked in regular ovens but I find the toaster oven on a very high heat does an excellent job similar to the clay ovens.

A package of store-bought bibingka mix has been waiting for a few weeks now for my attention. I have always made bibingka from scratch with rice flour but sometimes I get lazy and want to have them right away. The thing is, there's really not much difference with the flavor and the amount of time I spent mixing because the packaged bibingka has only baking powder and salt added to the rice flour and maybe preservatives or anti-caking agents and nothing else. I baked half of the mix in muffin cups and the rest in small molds, all lined with cut banana leaves. I didn't have salted duck eggs and topped the muffins with small pieces of kesong puti (farmer's white cheese) which you can substitute with Indian paneer or well-drained and salted cottage cheese. You can also use mild white cheddar cheese or better yet, make some kesong puti. Heck, you can even top the bibingka with chocolate chips, Nutella, or salted caramel and they will still be soft and fluffy and will taste heavenly.

Bibingka
banana leaves, optional
1½ cups rice flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
¾ cup powdered sugar
4 eggs, beaten until thick and lemon-colored
1½ cups coconut milk
6 tablespoons melted butter
kesong puti (farmer's white cheese), sliced into 1 inch x ¼-inch thick pieces
grated or scraped fresh coconut
butter and sugar, optional

• Preheat toaster oven to 425°F.
  
• Line muffin cups with banana leaves. In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients, except cheese, grated coconut, and optional butter and sugar, until well incorporated. Batter should be runny; add more milk to adjust consistency. Fill the cups half-full. Top with 2 pieces of cheese and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
  
• Spread some butter and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Top with grated coconut.

soft, fluffy, and buttery

Food Friday: Eggnog

It's been very cold the past few days [25°F at night and doesn't get much higher during the day]. What could be better to warm up than a cup of eggnog? Soup,of course, but it doesn't have bourbon, rum, and brandy.^__^

Eggnog
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
3 cups half and half
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 tablespoon rum
1 tablespoon brandy
2 egg whites (powdered)
½ tablespoon sugar

• In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks and the 3 tablespoons sugar until thick.
  
• In a small pan, heat the half and half and nutmeg to just boiling. Temper the egg yolks: with the beater on medium-low speed, slowly pour about a cup of the hot half and half mixture until thoroughly mixed. Pour the tempered yolks back into the pan, stir to mix. Cook on medium-low heat until mixture reaches 160°F. Stir in the bourbon, rum, and brandy.
  
• Transfer into a measuring cup, cover with plastic, and chill for at least 6 hours or overnight. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks, add the half tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff. Whisk the egg whites into the chilled mixture. Serve each glass with freshly grated nutmeg.

Christmas Fruit Breads: Panettone and Stollen

One of the breads in The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge that I didn't rate favorably was Panettone. It's only fair to give it another try, this time I followed the recipe from Artisan Breads Every Day also by Peter Reinhart. The cake/bread has sourdough starter which gives it a better texture and flavor, IMHO and I love it. This formula can also be used to make stollen and brioche but strangely, I didn't like the flavor of the stollen using this recipe. So I baked a batch of the BBA recipe which I knew a year ago was a keeper. The bread, or cake did not disappoint. It is delicious!

Panettone
adapted from Artisan Breads Every Day by Peter Reinhart

sourdough starter
1½ ounces mother starter, room temperature
6 ounces bread flour
3 ounces water, room temperature

dough
all of the starter
1 tablespoon honey
2 ounces lukewarm water
1 teaspoon instant yeast
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brandy, rum, or orange juice
7½ ounces bread flour
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons sugar
6 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups candied fruit (citron, orange peels, lemon peels, golden raisins, cranberries)

• Make the starter: Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. With paddle attachment, mix on lowest speed for 1 minute, increase to medium and mix for 30 seconds. The starter should be dough-like, sticky but not tacky. Adjust with flour or water as needed. Transfer into the work surface and knead by hand for 30 seconds. Place on a lightly oiled container, cover with plastic wrap, and leave at room temperature for 8 hours. It will double in size.
• Make the dough: Cut the starter into 10 pieces and put in the bowl of a standing mixer. In a small bowl, stir the honey into the warm water until dissolved then whisk in the instant yeast. Let the mixture sit for 1 minute then add it to the starter. Stir to soften the starter. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and brandy then add to the starter mixture and stir until evenly incorporated. Add the flour and salt. With the paddle attachment, mix on lowest speed for 2 minutes. The dough will be coarse, wet, and sticky but will hold together. Continue mixing on lowest speed, gradually adding the sugar. Increase the speed to medium-low and mix for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl when needed. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low, adding butter 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting until each addition is well incorporated before adding the next piece. Mix until the dough is shiny, soft, and very supple, this should take about 5 minutes. Mix on medium for 5 minutes more until you are able to pull out long, taffy-like strands of dough.
  

the dough should be shiny almost silky, soft, and taffy-like

• Shape the panettone: Add the fruits, mixing on lowest speed for 1 minute finishing by hand on the work surface. You may use dried fruits instead of candied citrus; or more, less, or none at all. Weigh out the desired size, form into balls, and place in oiled molds: 24 ounces for a full size panettone mold; for very small molds, about 3½ to 4 ounces. Each mold should be 1/3 full. Place the filled molds on a cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Place the sheet inside a food-grade plastic bag and let rise for 12 hours at room temperature.

• Bake the panettone: Preheat the oven to 350°F, 325°F for large size. Bake small ones for 30 minutes and large ones for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden brown all over. Internal temperature should read 185°F. Cool the large panettone upside down on a rack.

Here is a preview of the marzipan-filled stollen. I'll publish the recipe in a separate post soon.:-)

Chicken Relleno

One of the must-have dishes for Noche Buena, the feast served at Christmas midnight in the Philippines is Chicken Relleno, a whole boneless chicken stuffed with ground pork and seasonings and baked until golden brown. The dish is usually cooked-to-order from stores or the household cooks prepare them. Whether it's homemade or store-bought the Chicken Relleno is always at the center of the Filipino Christmas dinner table celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Chicken Relleno
adapted from FLAVORS OF THE PHILIPPINES
by Glenda Rosales-Barretto

chicken
2½ pounds whole chicken
2 teaspoons sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon soft butter for brushing

stuffing
4 pieces Vienna sausage, chopped
2 pieces Spanish chorizo, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound ground pork
¼ cup roasted red bell pepper, diced
¼ cup sliced stuffed olives
3 tablespoons raisins
3 tablespoons grated Edam cheese
2 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 hard boiled eggs

• Debone the chicken then season inside and out with salt and pepper.
• In a large bowl, mix all the stuffing ingredients except hard boiled eggs. Fry a teaspoon of the filling and adjust seasoning if needed. Stuff the chicken with the mixture and arrange the hard boiled eggs by pushing the meat filling along the sides of the cavity. Sew the opening securely with kitchen thread.
• Brush the chicken all over with the soft butter. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 1½ hours or until the skin is golden brown.

Read more international Christmas recipes here or click on the banner above starting December 1, 2010. Enjoy.