Food Friday: Cookies and Candies

paciencia (patience), very crunchy 1-inch macaron-like cookies but without nuts

Filipino candies

Paciencia cookies, which are of Spanish origin, look like the French macarons complete with tiny feet but they are made with just flour, egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract. The ones from La Pacita bakery have egg yolks, though, but I like that they are very very crunchy and addicting...you can't stop eating once you start popping one in your mouth. And I just had to grab a packet of Mangorind, combination mango and tamarind, when I saw it at the store. They are sweet and tart and I love its chewy texture similar to fruit leather or pate de fruits. The packet of hard mints with soft chocolate centers was a gift from an online Filipino grocery store. The candies taste a lot better than the ubiquitous Halls mentholyptus (menthol + eucalyptus) candies and perfect as after-dinner mints. I keep several pieces in my handbag so I have something to "eat" when I get hungry while shopping.

Crispy Flaked Chicken and Pork Adobo

I first read about crispy adobo flakes from the Filipino cookbook MEMORIES OF PHILIPPINE KITCHENS by Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan. As much as I wanted to try it at the time I was deterred by deep frying. That was 4½ years ago. Last week, I discovered the flaked adobo doesn't have to be deep fried. A tablespoon or two of olive oil and a cast iron pan do the job well. I was reheating some left over pork and adobo in a cast iron pot and left it for a few minutes on medium heat. The meat on the bottom of the pot became crunchy. I turned off the heat, let the meat cool down a bit, then I flaked them, returned some to the pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and pan fried, while stirring every 2 minutes until dark brown and crispy. There, crunchy flavorful adobo flakes without the inconvenience of deep frying.

Crispy Flaked Pork and Chicken Adobo
1 pound boneless chicken pieces
1 pound skinless pork belly, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 cup coconut or apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 whole garlic bulb, skinned and smashed
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
extra virgin olive oil for frying

• Place all ingredients, except olive oil for frying, in a medium nonstick pan and cook until dry, stirring once or twice. [Do not add water.] Remove bay leaf and discard. Let cool and flake meat. Fry small batches in a cast iron skillet on medium heat until golden to dark brown and crunchy. Serve as appetizer, on pandesal, or with rice.

Daring Bakers: Maple Mousse In An Edible Container

maple mousse in candied bacon topped with chocolate meringue

maple mousse in lemon rind confit topped with ginger-flavored meringue

chocolate boat, split tiny banana, semi-frozen maple mousse,
sweet cream, cherry

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!


The edible containers theme continues with this month's Daring Bakers. Thanks Evelyne for allowing us to choose our containers for the light, airy, and delicious maple mousse.

Maple Syrup Mousse
1 cup pure maple syrup
4 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
1 ½ cups whipping cream (35% fat content)

• Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup while whisking to temper the yolks. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed. Measure ¼ cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl on top of a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatin has completely dissolved. Whisk the gelatin mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white. Whip the remaining cream. Stir ¼ of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

One of Evelyne's suggestions for containers is crispy bacon cups. I made them sweet and extra crunchy by dipping them in raw sugar before baking. I have candied bacon before and loved them as a snack but never tried it with ice cream or mousse. The crunchy bacon combined with maple mousse and chocolate meringue is heavenly.

Candied Bacon Cups
strips of bacon
golden raw or light brown sugar

• Snip bacon strips on both sides and dip in sugar. Form into coils and place in muffin cups. Bake in a 400°F oven until edges and bottom are dark brown. Leave for a minute in cups to cool and set slightly. Transfer on a plate with paper towel to remove excess grease. Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling with mousse.

I had a few lemon rind confit in the refrigerator and thought the tangy, slightly bitter, and sweet rinds would be perfect containers for the mousse. I added a pinch of ground ginger to half of the meringue recipe and the ginger flavor is just about right, not too weak nor strong. I love this combination too.

Lemon Rind Confit
14 ounces sugar
6 ounces glucose
12 ounces water
4 lemons, cut in half crosswise
water

• Heat sugar, glucose, and water until sugar dissolves. Let cool.
  
• Juice lemons, keep juice for another use. Scrape and clean the insides of the lemon rinds leaving the white pith on. Boil water and add rinds; boil for half a minute then drain. Boil and drain 4 more times with fresh water each time.
  
• Bring the syrup to a boil in a pot. Add the blanched rinds and let simmer for 1 hour, making sure the syrup does not boil and completely covers the rinds. Turn heat off and let rinds cool in the syrup. Transfer to a container, cover tightly and refrigerate until needed.
  
• Trim the bottom if using as a container for mousse or ice cream.
  

Cebu Torta

I'm so glad Kat and Lala, our Kulinarya Cooking Club hosts chose Decadence for April 2011 because I've been itching to make Cebu Torta for a few years now but never had the courage to make them...they're too darn rich for my own good. Reading the amount of egg yolks alone is enough to give me heart palpitations. Cebu torta as described on many websites sounds like the love child of this extra-rich Filipino ensaimada and leche flan...let's see...

large number of egg yolks ✓
loads of lard or butter ✓
tons of sugar ✓
sweetened condensed milk ✓

I made a very small batch following the traditional recipe, replacing tuba (coconut toddy) with sweet wine and a pinch of yeast; the torta was a bit acidic and not very good but still edible. It's probably my fault for adding yeast and letting it ferment longer than necessary. I baked a second torta adapting Market Manila's recipe which uses baking powder as leavening. I used buco juice in place of water and baked one half of the dough in large muffin pans at 350°F which produced dense cakes with a slight bump at the center. The other half of the dough was baked in small shallow tartlet molds in a hotter oven. They came out less dense, not fluffy, just a tad airier than the large ones. I love them both. These cakes are super rich, sweet, moist, and may be addicting (not good). Torta spells D-E-C-A-D-E-N-T and should be consumed only once a year, the best time perhaps is on Easter Sunday when we are allowed to indulge after weeks of temporarily giving up rich food for Lent.

Torta
adapted from Market Manila's Torta recipe

1 cup buco juice or water
1 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
12 egg yolks
8 ounces sweetened condensed milk
4 ounces whole milk
3 tablespoons olive oil
ensaimada molds, extra-large muffin pan, or tartlet molds
cupcake liners

• In a small pan, heat juice and sugar until sugar dissolves; leave to cool to room temperature.
• Line molds with paper liners, set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350°F or 400°F.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter on medium-high until light and creamy. Add the egg yolks and beat until well-mixed. Add cooled syrup, both milk, and oil and beat well. Add flour mixture; beat on low until well incorporated. Fill molds 2/3 full and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F until tops are golden, or 12 minutes at 400°F until tops are golden brown.

a slight bump at the center if baked at 350°F

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Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney (Kath, Trisha, and Trissa), who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colorful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

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But wait! There's more decadent Filipino fare to read here.