Bibingka

As much as I claim to be a baking "experimenter," I don't always necessarily bake outside my comfort zone. You can tell from my previous blog posts that I love to make pies, muffins, cookies...pies, muffins and cookies...and, okay, the occasional something new--donuts, truffles and baklava were all new to me, for example. And out of all three of those, my baklava was probably the most successful. A good sign--that means I can (sometimes) bake international food. The treat that originated with the Assyrians and is now served at many a Greek restaurant, is one of my favorite dessert indulgences. I've learned that it's truly worth it to try something new.

But this post isn't about baklava.

Rather, one of my friends from the Philippines invited me over for lunch and confessed that while she loved to cook, she hated to bake. "Perfect," I thought. "I can do something about this." While I knew I wasn't the best cook, I could most definitely bake something for her in thanks for the delicious meal.

And so, after some searching, I stumbled across a recipe for a dessert called "bibingka" using one of my library's new databases called A to Z the World (I can't link to the exact page since it's a paid for subscription only accessible to employees and students of the college). The article said Bibingka is traditionally baked in a clay oven (which I don't have) and is a kind of pudding or cake (which sounded delicious). The recipe called for coconut milk (non dairy!) and rice flour (which my mom just happened to recently buy for a different recipe). It sounded easy enough, and I could only hope it was authentic--I wanted the dessert to be a surprise, so I wasn't about to ask.

"Okay," I thought. "Let's do it."

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons melted butter
3 eggs
1 cup reduced fat coconut milk (I found it canned)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups brown rice flour (this is what my mom bought, available at whole food stores--the original recipe just called for regular rice flour)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
Grated coconut for topping

Directions:


1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the sugar and melted butter. Add the eggs and stir. Add the milk and vanilla and stir again.

2.) Fold in the flour and baking powder. Mix just to combine.

3.) Pour the batter into a 9x9-inch brownie pan greased with nonstick cooking spray (the original recipe was doubled and called for a 9x13-inch buttered pan, but I didn't have that handy). Bake about 30 minutes (for the full version) until the cake is set (I baked it for about 22-25 minutes until the cake was just slightly browned on the top and set around the edges. A toothpick inserted in the center came out clean).

4.) Allow the cake to cool before removing it from the pan. Top with grated coconut and serve warm.

The results even got my mom addicted, and she can be a little hesitant to eat food outside her own comfort zone. So regardless whether or not the treat was perfectly authentic, I can attest to the fact that it was perfectly tasty! When I brought it over to my friend she was so pleased! And her own mom snagged the first bite before she even had time to try it. I call that high praise indeed.