Palitaw Friday

Once again, here's another Filipino dessert that I always gobble up to especially during weekends. I learned to cook this from my aunt way back in my elementary days.

Palitaw is a small, flat, sweet rice cake made from malagkit (sticky rice). It is rolled into balls, flatten using the palm of your hands and dropped into boiling water. An indication that they're done is when you see them floating. When served, the flat sweet rice cake are dipped in grated coconut, and presented with a separate dip made of sugar and toasted sesame seeds.



1 cup Glutinous rice flour ( Malagkit Rice )
1/2 cup of water
1/2 kilo Sugar
Fresh grated coconut
Toasted sesame seeds

Preparation:
Make dough by mixing flour and water, roll up into balls and then flatten with the palm of your hand.
Drop the balls into a saucepan full of boiling water. When the cakes are ready, they will rise to the surface. Remove the balls and let cool.
Roll the balls into mixed powdered sugar, coconut flakes, and sesame seeds.

Serve Cold.

Holiday Candy Recipes

Here's a quick simple holiday sweets recipe that you can try at home:

Pastillas de Mani
Ingredients:
1 can condensed milk
1 cup ground nut (peanut, cashew, or mix nuts)
1 tbsp corn syrup
2 tsp. flavoring (choco powder..)
Procedure:
Mix all ingredients and cook over medium heat until paste like consistency.
Transfer into buttered board and roll out 1/2 inch thick.
Cut into pieces and wrap in wax paper.

Yema Balls
Yummy yema is a sweet concoction made with milk and egg yolks. It is cooked until thick, then rolled in sugar before wrapping in colored cellophanes.
Ingredients:
1 14 oz. can Condensed Milk
4 Egg yolks, Large
few drops of lemon extract (you can use vanilla extract)
1/2 cup Sugar, for rolling
Procedure:
Beat the egg yolks with the condensed milk and lemon extract to mix thoroughly.
Cook over low heat for 30 - 35 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly.
Let cool before forming. You can use melon baller or small ice cream scooper to form yema into balls.
Roll in sugar and wrap in colored cellophane.
Note: try to use a non-stick Teflon pan so the mix doesn't stick to the pan.

NO COOK Pastillas- The Easiest!
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups whole milk powder
2-3 tsp. chocolate powder
1/2 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup chopped nuts ( cashew, pili, peanuts, almond etc)
Procedure:
Combine milk and chocolate powder in a bowl.
Pour condensed milk into mixture, mix well;
Sprinkle sugar on board and spread out the mixture with rolling pin to desired thickness.
Cut into pieces and wrap in colored cellophane.