It’s the time of the year when one needs to plan for the holidays. As early as September, I already know what to bake for Christmas. A childhood memory that never fails to remind me of the Christmas season is Fruitcake. I used to bake a lot of fruitcake in the past but the girls never really got around to acquiring a taste for it. They preferred the Gingerbread Man Cookies because of the story behind it after I bake the first batch. That’s my then 16 year old daughter, Lauren when she helped me with my fruitcakes a few years ago. Fruitcake flavor is best when it has been aged for a few months in a cool place (preferably the refrigerator in the Philippines).

For those of you who want to bake Fruitcakes for the Holidays, here is a recipe which I call Golden Fruitcake. I’ve modified this based from my mom’s original fruitcake recipe. My Golden Fruitcake does not have a strong taste of brandy nor is it too sweet. Anyway, there’s a lot of preparation so make sure you run down the list carefully.

Here is my Golden Fruitcake recipe

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Posted: September 9th, 2009 under Baking Recipes, Cakes, Pastries & Desserts, Christmas.
Comments: 5

New Year’s Eve noche buena must have a fruit salad on the dinner table. The most popular fruit salad is the Buko salad. The popularity of fruits during New Year’s Eve celebration is part of the tradition to bring in good luck, fortune and prosperity. Today, I will hie off to the grocery to buy ingredients for my fruit salad. Here is my recipe.

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Posted: December 28th, 2008 under Christmas, Filipino Food, Noche Buena, Recipes, desserts.
Comments: 4

Baking sugar cookies are not my cup of tea. It’s labor intensive. I’d rather bake bar cookies because they are so much easier. You dump all the dry, wet, mix and voila, one gets a yummy cooky. Not with sugar cookies. Whenever I bake sugar cookies, my kids know it’s a labor of love. It’s the love that makes me continue on with this tradition even if they are now adult children. Let me share with you the Christmas Sugar cookies that have been a continuing Christmas tradition for the past twenty years in my family. You can even prepare sugar cookies weeks ahead before you give them to your friends and relatives. Just store them in a cool, dry container.

If you are located in Manila, Philippines, you don’t have to go far to Divisoria to buy your ingredients. You can purchase at Chocolate Lover.

NOTE: The Christmas Sugar Cookie recipe can be used only for your personal use and cannot be posted in your website, blog or any other site, form or means without my WRITTEN permission

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Posted: November 13th, 2008 under Baking Recipes, Cakes, Pastries & Desserts, Christmas.
Comments: 2

If you’re inviting over a large number of family members and friends for Christmas dinner and have no time to prepare all that food for them, consider ordering an entire lechon paella. Lechon paella is a succulent, roasted, boneless young pig stuffed with hot, seafood paella, make the whole fare a meal in itself. The whole lechon can feed a group of about twenty people with healthy appetites and you might even have some left over for paksiw.

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Posted: December 27th, 2007 under Christmas, Noche Buena.
Comments: 2

You suddenly find that your holiday dishes are not enough for your guests. What do you do? Cooking can be stressful especially if one is faced with a lot of visitors. The thing to do is to order your Holiday dishes from reliable restaurants. Here are a few ideas of traditional Noche Buena dishes from Mario’s Restaurant:

• Embutido at 975 pesos
• Chicken Relleno at 1,100 pesos
• Chicken Galantina at 1,275 pesos
• Pastel de Lengua at 1,800 pesos
• Cochinillo at 1,250 pesos a kilo
• Paella Valenciana at 1,500 pesos

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Posted: December 20th, 2007 under Christmas, Filipino Restaurants, Noche Buena.
Comments: 2

Puto Bumbong from Via Mare

This is the almost perfect puto bumbong you can ever eat in an urban center. And you can order two pieces at 67 pesos at any Via Mare Restaurant. After a stressful shopping spree at Landmark Makati, I chose to rest at the Via Mare on the second floor right beside the ladies bag section. I was thrilled that they offered Puto Bumbong. I forgot how puto bumbong tasted like after my horrifying experience with the Puto bumbong vendor at the church grounds. Before I talk about Puto bumbong of Via Mare, allow me to share how some commercial puto bumbong vendors “cheat” us out of the real puto bumbong experience. Here is the puto bumbong which I bought for 20 pesos from the vendor after the misa de gallo.

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Posted: December 19th, 2007 under Christmas, Noche Buena, Restaurant and Eating Places, kakanin, suman, native rice cakes.
Comments: 2

The Gingerbread House is an impressive centerpiece in the noche buena table. The attractive candy colors will surely delight anyone of all ages and serve as a conversation piece. This particular Gingerbread house is made by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Christmas Tradition. The Gingerbread house is made with chocolate and royal icing. My friend, Reggie sells it at her online shopping site at Regalo Service for $87.00 (approx. PHP 3,741.00)

Place your Gingerbread House orders here.

Now if you want to make your own Gingerbread House, I found this Gingerbread House dough recipe and the steps in assembling the house.

Posted: December 19th, 2007 under Christmas, Supplies & Equipment.
Comments: none

It’s December 16 and the first day of the Misa de Gallo. For nine consecutive early mornings before Christmas Day, Catholic Churches throughout the Philippines ring their bells around 3 am to invite the faithful to worship and announce the start of this holiday custom. After the mass, the parishoners including myself headed off to the Puto Bumbong stand where it was sold for 20 pesos per pack.

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Posted: December 16th, 2007 under Christmas, Filipino Delicacies, Recipes, kakanin.
Comments: 1