In need of a well-deserved pick-me-up? Try making these Filipino recipes for sweet treats to help you cool down this summer.
Halo-halo is a shaved ice dessert with milk & sugar that is especially popular during the warm, dry season. With a catchy name that literally means “mix-mix,” it is characterized by colorful ice creams and various add-ons, such as beans, fruits, leche flan, corn flakes, and popped rice. Pilipinas Recipes shows you how to make your own halo-halo from scratch.
Aside from the ever-famous lumpia, fruit salad is another staple at Pinoy gatherings. A Filipino-style fruit salad is fairly simple to make as it only has three main ingredients: canned fruit cocktail, condensed milk, and all-purpose cream/table cream. This recipe from Love, Filipino Food includes shredded coconut and suggests an alternative for all-purpose cream if not available.
Mango float is another very popular dessert, which is an icebox cake with layers of mangoes, all-purpose cream, and graham crackers. If you decide to make one, I recommend using Philippine or carabao mangoes as they’re really sweet! Salu Salo’s recipe uses whipping cream in place of all-purpose cream and includes ideas on how to decorate the top layer of the cake, such as designing the mango slices into a rose pattern.
By now, you may have noticed that most Pinoy desserts are very heavy on fruits, milk, and cream. If you’re lactose intolerant, vegan or prefer non-dairy options, I found a couple of recipes that you can use. Avocado with condensed milk is a nostalgic favorite for many (myself included, as it was introduced to me by my grandma), and Sweet Simple Vegan’s recipe uses homemade vegan condensed milk as an alternative.
Floured Frame also has a vegan recipe for mais con yelo, which is a shaved ice dessert with corn and milk. Vegan sweetened condensed milk and non-dairy evaporated milk are used here, and you can even top off your mais con yelo with vegan vanilla ice cream.
Turon is kind of like a sweeter version of lumpia, and is basically a caramelized fried spring roll filled with ripe saba bananas. Jackfruit is also another common turon variant aside from bananas. To try your hand at turon, check out Panlasang Pinoy’s recipe, which also includes a video for you to follow along.
If you’re feeling experimental and want to make other turon flavors, try these savory & sweet takes by “Lumpia Queen” Abi Marquez, which include peach mango pie, apple pie, and ube cheese fillings.
Lastly, for some refreshments, have some sago’t gulaman, a drink made up of sago pearls, gelatin, and “arnibal” (simple syrup), then stirred with water. It is often quite sweet, but you can easily adjust this by adding more ice and/or water as needed. Kawaling Pinoy’s recipe offers two ways to make the arnibal using either dark brown sugar or “panutsa” (jaggery). Some recipes also add tapioca pearls or use them in place of sago.
Craving for more? Check out my previous post on pastel sweet treats for summer, which includes recipes for Filipino-style ice candy and ice scramble.
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