Flavors of Christmas

For a lot of people, Christmas is the only time they allow themselves to relax, indulge and enjoy. They take some time off from their strict diet and fitness regimen to be an ordinary person who, well, succumbs to cravings and the temptations of holiday food.

After all, this is that time of the year when chefs, cooks and home bakers, among others, go all out to offer their specialty cakes, bakes, platters. Everything is special and worth breaking one’s diet for — for a taste of Christmas flavors that shall only return 12 months later.

ICE CREAM!

Count on master ice cream maker Ian Carandang to always come up with a good Christmas Collection of ice cream and ice cream cakes every year. This year, Sebastian’s Ice Cream offers three special limited-edition Christmas flavors — three ice creams, three Crinkle Chilly Burgers and two ice cream cakes.

The three Christmas ice cream flavors are Bibingka (roasted banana leaf ice cream with bibingka and salted egg chunks, topped with grated coconut); Puto Bumbong (muscovado kakanin ice cream topped with grated coconut and muscovado sugar); and Leche Flan Royale (leche flan ice cream with a rich leche flan ripple). These are available at P165 to P175 per big scoop or P495 to P525 per pint.

As for the Crinkle Chilly Burgers, which are two moist, soft crinkle cookies sandwiching a thick layer of ice cream, Sebastian’s offers three Christmas flavors — Matcha Strawberry Crinkle (matcha crinkles made with real matcha powder and filled with Baguio strawberry ice cream), Ube Macapuno Crinkle (ube crinkles made with ube flour, filled with macapuno ice cream) and Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle (chocolate crinkles filled with cool peppermint ice cream) — at P165 per piece.

Finally, for Sebastian’s famous ice cream cakes, the brand has brought back its Bibingka Ice Cream Cake (baked bibingka rice cake topped with salted duck eggs and layered with Roasted Banana Leaf Ice Cream and Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream with salted duck egg chunks). The brand has at the same time created a brand new Ube Leche Flan Torte (composed of layers of Ube Cake, Ube Ice Cream, and Leche Flan, with the ube cake made with real ube flour and ube halaya). A slice is available at P185 per slice, while a whole cake can be bought for P1,950.

The Christmas Collection is available at the Sebastian’s flagship store at The Podium and online at sebastiansicecream.com.

BURNT BASQUE CHEESECAKE

For those based in Pampanga, Bakers Champ by Wolen features the culinary genius of Chef Wolen Juan Superal with a variety of croissants, marshmallow doughnuts, cronuts (cross breeds of croissant and donuts), and his Bakers Champ x Callebaut Chocolate x Prime Pacific Foods collab fruit-shaped desserts this Christmas, but what really takes the cake is his Burnt Basque Cheesecakes — cheesecakes baked the Basque way, which is in a very hot oven to create a dark, burnt-like exterior that, when sliced, reveals a soft and creamy interior. Such cheesecakes originate from San Sebastian, Spain, and have become a big trend in recent years.

Bakers Champ’s version is a must-try. More so its Uji Matcha Burnt Cheesecake variant, which is made with authentic matcha and delivers a delightfully creamy and delicious, almost divine feel on the palate.

Its Puto Bumbong croissant has also made a comeback this Christmas season. Beautifully wrapped in purple and natural stripes, the croissant is filled with thin cylinders of puto bumbong, niyog (coconut) and muscovado pastry cream.

Now also at SM City Clark (Clark TGech Hub 8), where it opened in time for Christmas, Bakers Champ can be found at S8 Mall (Del Pilar, San Fernando, Pampanga) and SM City Pampanga (Mexico).

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS BREADS

tinapayan’s Panettone.Over in Iloilo, iconic Tinapayan Bakeshop at Iloilo Supermart, carries on its holiday tradition of making traditional Christmas breads available to the public. For one, there is the Panettone, which it has been making for 25 years now. The Panettone is a type of Italian sweet bread similar to fruitcake that traces its roots to Milan, Italy. It is technically a round bread made of leavened wheat flour with eggs, butter and sugar, but dried fruits added into it makes it look and feel like a festive cake.

Other traditions include fruitcake, pound cakes, Spritz cookies, Yule Logs, and the star-shaped Pandoro. The Pandoro is also an Italian sweet bread originating from Verona, Veneto. Its history takes you back to 30 October, 1894, when Domenico Melegatti got a patent for its procedure and put up a company. Traditionally, the bread has an eight-point shape that, when cut horizontally, makes slices of star-shaped goodness.

Tinapayan at Iloilo Supermart recently celebrated its 50th year of baking with love. Through the years, it became Iloilo’s homegrown favorite.