10+ Best Filipino Desserts You Must Try in the Philippines
Filipino desserts draw inspiration from Malay, Chinese and Spanish desserts, using glutinous rice, coconut and condensed milk as key ingredients for creamy and sweet delicacies. The Philippines offers a variety of unique and delicious desserts, influenced by different cultures and Filipino taste.
Bibingka is a Filipino baked rice cake that is customarily prepared in a clay oven lined with banana leaves and served for breakfast or as a mid-afternoon snack, particularly during the Holiday season. It is often enjoyed during the Christmas season in the Philippines, especially after attending the dawn mass called Misa de Gallo.
Biko is a smooth and sticky rice cake that is cooked with coconut milk and brown sugar. This traditional Filipino dessert has a sweet and nutty flavor that is enhanced by latik, a coconut topping that can be either crunchy or syrupy. It is a festive kakanin dessert that is served on special occasions, such as birthdays, fiestas, and Christmas.
Buko Pandan is a creamy and refreshing Filipino dessert made with young coconut strips, pandan-flavored cream, and green jelly cubes. The jelly cubes are cooked with coconut juice and pandan extract or leaves for extra flavor and color. This is one of the popular traditional Filipino desserts during holidays and celebrations, and best enjoyed cold or frozen.
Ensaymada is a Filipino pastry that traces its origins to the Spanish ensaïmada, a bread made with pork fat. However, this traditional Filipino dessert uses butter instead, and adds custard filling, cheese, and sugar toppings. It is a soft, fluffy, and creamy dessert that can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere.
Considered as the unofficial national dessert of the Philippines, Halo-Halo consists of shaved ice, condensed milk or ice cream, and various fruits, nuts, and sweets. Some of the common ingredients are saba bananas, sugar palm fruit, jackfruit, sweet potatoes, red mung beans, agar gelatin, pinipig rice, tapioca pearls, sweet corn, purple yam jam, and leche flan.
Leche Flan is a creamy and decadent dessert that is made with eggs and milk and topped with soft caramel. It has a smooth and silky texture and a rich and sweet flavor. Inspired by the Spanish creme caramel, Leche Flan is a popular Filipino dessert where it is often served during celebrations and holidays.
Puto is a steamed rice cake that is a staple in Filipino cuisine. This traditional Filipino dessert is made from fermented rice dough and coconut milk, and has a soft and fluffy texture. It can be enjoyed plain or with various toppings, such as cheese, salted egg, ube, or other ingredients.
Sapin-Sapin is a Filipino dessert that consists of layers of steamed rice cake with different flavors and colors. The name means 'layers' in Filipino, and the dessert is usually made with three layers: white, yellow, and purple. The white layer is plain or flavored with coconut milk, the yellow layer is flavored with jackfruit, and the purple layer is flavored with ube or purple yam.
Ube ice cream is a smooth and creamy Filipino dessert that features the distinctive flavor and color of ube, a purple yam from the Philippines. This unique Filipino ice cream has a subtle sweetness that resembles vanilla, pistachio, or white chocolate. The purple color is natural and comes from the anthocyanins in the ube, which are antioxidants that may have health benefits.
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