It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

December feels… and suddenly, the atmosphere turns festive and everything begins to look a lot like Christmas, indeed! Even pastries give you that Christmassy look, feel — and taste! — that comes with the season, and the longer you stare at them, the more the holiday vibe sinks in.

It is happening not only in the metro, which is where all the Christmas action takes place, but also in the provinces. Over at Bakers Champ at s8 Mall, Del Pilar, in San Fernando, Pampanga, it comes in the form of croissants created by its youthful and talented chef and owner Chef Wolen Juan Superal specifically for this Christmas.

The Christmas collection comes in three variants, which, despite their modern interpretation, reminds you of traditional Christmas symbols — Puto Bumbong Croissant, Bibingka Croissant and Strawberry Parol — all executed using laminated dough.

Puto Bumbong Croissant, beautifully wrapped in purple and natural stripes, is a croissant filled with, yes, thin cylinders of puto bumbong, niyog (coconut) and muscovado pastry cream, and is baked on a fitted piece of banana leaf. Thus, it gives off that smoky grilled aroma of the banana leaf so reminiscent of freshly cooked puto bumbong enjoyed with bibingka and tsokolate-eh in the wee hours of the morning after attending Simbang Gabi.

Bakers Champ’s Bibingka Croissant is the perfect match for the Puto Bumbong Croissant. It, too, does not come in the classic croissant crab-like shape but instead takes on a round shape with a cylindrical outline, much like a mini stuffed crust pizza. Bibingka Croissant is filled with moist bibingka and salted egg custard topped with a slice of salted egg, and baked on banana leaf. Now this aroma imitates that of OG bibingka grilling away with top and bottom heat in a traditional bibingka cooker.

The third variant in the Paskong Pinoy celebration is the Strawberry Parol. It literally takes on the star shape, even as the croissant is filled with vanilla cream, topped with fresh strawberries and chopped pistachio, and finished with a dusting of vanilla sugar. Now, this is my personal favorite among the three, but the two others are equally good, and all three complement each other very well.

Also available at Bakers Champ this holiday season is a Christmas Box of six creative and delicious croissants — Uji Matcha Croissant (a croissant filled with uji matcha cream and coated with uji matcha chocolate); Caradamia Croissant (filled with chewy caramel bars, roasted macadamia, caramelized white chocolate, and topped with salted caramel sauce); Twice Baked Almond Croissant (filled with almond cream, topped with more almond cream and sliced almonds); Nutella Croissant (filled with Nutella and Nutella cream); Biscoff Croissant (filled with Biscoff spread and Biscoff cream); and Malteser Croissant (filled with Maltesers cream).

The last three variants are candy-flavored croissants which Chef Wolen had been wanting to create since 2021, even before Bakers Champ came to be. The Uji Matcha Croissant and the Twice Baked Almond Croissant stays true to the classic croissant shape, while Caradamia Croissant is round with a “braided” body.

Bakers Champ opened its doors to the bread- and pastry-loving public on 11 November 2023. Originally from Cavite, Chef Wolen ventured to Pampanga to answer the need of the people there for good pastries.

“Before Bakers Champ, pastry lovers from Pampanga had to drive to Manila to get great pastries. We made it accessible for them. I’m originally based in Cavite but I moved to Pampanga for the business. I wanted to venture outside my comfort zone. I can confidently say that I’m a local of Pampanga now,” says Chef Wolen, whose Paskong Pinoy croissants are available for the whole month of December.

The second store of Bakers Champ just opened at SM Pampanga last Sunday, 1 December.