BIBINGKA

My co-worker Joey has a major sweet tooth. We often score cookies from the kitchen and sneak in bites of chocolate during the work day. The other day she made a Filipino dessert, Bibingka and brought a piece in for me. Creamy coconutty and not too sweet, with a toothy bite, it was delish and I of course asked her to please jot down the recipe so I could share it here!!


Herrrrrrrre's Joey:

Bibingka (bingka, for short) is a really popular dessert in the Philippines. There are generally two kinds, one made with rice (or rice flour) and one made with cassava (also known as yuca). There are lots of variations and personal spins on both. Like apple pie, there are so many ways to make it. I'm sure there are different versions of it in other countries in the Pacific too. This is the recipe for the Filipino cassava bibingka.
I couldn't believe how easy it was to make.

My mom always used the frozen cassava, being a working mom it was just more convenient. It can be found any Philippine-American grocery and at some larger Asian grocery stores. One day I want to grate my own cassava but for now I don't trust myself to cook it properly since it can be toxic if not cooked long enough. All I have to say about macapuno is for the longest time I thought I hated coconut and then I had this. I can eat this stuff right out of the jar.

Here is my mom's recipe:

2 - one-pound packages of frozen grated cassava, defrost overnight in the fridge and leave out until room temperature before preparing
1 jar of coconut sport string (macapuno), drained
1 can of coconut milk
1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk
4 tbsp butter, cut in small pieces, plus some for greasing the baking dish

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, mix the room temperature cassava with the butter, then combine the coconut sport string, coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk. Place in middle rack until lightly golden, approximately 1 hr, 30 min. depending on your oven. (My old oven at my last place took 2 hours but my fancy stove now took only 1 hr, 25 min.)

Tastes best warm or room temperature, refrigerate leftovers, reheat in microwave. Enjoy!