Dioscorea alata – also called ube, ubi, purple yam, or greater yam, among many other names – is a species of yam. The tubers are usually a vivid violet-purple to bright lavender in color, but some range in color from cream to plain white. It is sometimes confused with taro and the Okinawa sweet potato beniimo (紅芋), however D. alata is also grown in Okinawa. With its origins in the Asian and Oceanian tropics, D. alata has been known to humans since ancient times.
Cheesecake is a dessert made with a soft fresh cheese, eggs, and sugar. It may have a crust or base made from crushed cookies, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake. Cheesecake may be baked or unbaked, and is usually served chilled.
Halo-halo, also spelled haluhalo, Tagalog for "mixed", is a popular cold dessert in the Philippines made up of crushed ice, evaporated milk or coconut milk, and various ingredients including side dishes such as ube jam, sweetened kidney beans or garbanzo beans, coconut strips, sago, gulaman (agar), pinipig, boiled taro or soft yams in cubes, flan, slices or portions of fruit preserves and other root crop preserves. The dessert is topped with a scoop of ube ice cream. It is usually prepared in a tall clear glass and served with a long spoon. Halo-halo is considered to be the unofficial national dessert of the Philippines.
Pandesal, also written as pan de sal, is a staple bread roll in the Philippines commonly eaten for breakfast. It is made of flour, yeast, sugar, oil, and salt.
Champorado or tsampurado is a sweet chocolate rice porridge in Philippine cuisine.
Kalamay is a sticky sweet delicacy that is popular in many regions of the Philippines. It is made of coconut milk, brown sugar, and ground glutinous rice. It can also be flavored with margarine, peanut butter, or vanilla. Kalamay can be eaten alone, but is usually used as a sweetener for a number of Filipino desserts and beverages. It is related to the Chamorro dessert called kalamai.
Puto is a Filipino steamed rice cake, traditionally made from slightly fermented rice dough (galapong). It is eaten as is or as an accompaniment to a number of savoury dishes. Puto is also an umbrella term for various kinds of indigenous steamed cakes, including those made without rice. It is a sub-type of kakanin.
Mamón are traditional Filipino chiffon or sponge cakes, typically baked in distinctive cupcake-like molds. In the Visayas regions, mamón are also known as torta mamón or torta. Variants of mamón include the larger loaf-like version called taisan, the rolled version called pianono, and ladyfingers known as broas. Mamón also has two very different variants that use mostly the same ingredients, the cookie-like mamón tostado and the steamed puto mamón.
A polvorón is a type of heavy, soft, and very crumbly Spanish shortbread made of flour, sugar, milk, and nuts. They are mostly produced in Andalusia, where there are about 70 factories that are part of a syndicate that produces polvorones and mantecados. Under the name mantecados, these sweets are a traditional preparation of other areas of the Iberian Peninsula and other Spanish-speaking countries as well.
Binignit is a Visayan dessert soup from the central Philippines. The dish is traditionally made with glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk with various slices of sabá bananas, taro, ube, and sweet potato, among other ingredients. It is comparable to various dessert guinataán dishes found in other regions such as bilo-bilo. Among the Visayan people, the dish is traditionally served during Good Friday of Holy Week.
Brazo de Mercedes is a traditional Filipino meringue roll with a custard filling typically dusted with powdered sugar. It is a type of pianono.
Puto seco, also known as puto masa, are Filipino cookies made from ground glutinous rice, cornstarch, sugar, salt, butter, and eggs. They are characteristically white and often shaped into thick disks. They have a dry, powdery texture.
Ube halaya or halayang ube is a Philippine dessert made from boiled and mashed purple yam. Ube halaya is the main base in ube/purple yam flavored-pastries and ube ice cream. It can also be incorporated in other desserts such as halo-halo. It is also commonly anglicized as ube jam, or called by its original native name, nilupak na ube.
Ube cake is a traditional Filipino chiffon cake or sponge cake made with ube halaya. It is distinctively vividly purple in color, like most dishes made with ube in the Philippines.
Buko salad, usually anglicized as young coconut salad, is a Filipino fruit salad dessert made from strips of fresh young coconut (buko) with sweetened milk or cream and various other ingredients. It is one of the most popular and ubiquitous Filipino desserts served during celebrations and fiestas.
Iskrambol, also known as ice scramble, is a Filipino frozen dessert made from shaved ice with banana extract and evaporated milk with sugar It is then topped with a variety of ingredients including powdered milk, marshmallows, strawberry syrup, chocolate syrup, pinipig, tapioca pearls, and sprinkles, among others. The regular banana extract flavored dessert is characteristically dyed pink while other flavors may be dyed accordingly.
Nilupak is a class of traditional Filipino delicacies made from mashed or pounded starchy foods mixed with coconut milk and sugar. They are molded into various shapes and traditionally served on banana leaves with toppings of grated young coconut (buko), various nuts, cheese, butter, or margarine. It is also known as nilusak, linusak, niyubak, linupak, or lubi-lubi, among many other names, in the various languages of the Philippines. It is also known as minukmok in Quezon.
Ube ice cream is a Filipino ice cream flavor prepared using ube as the main ingredient. This ice cream is often used in the making of the dessert halo-halo.
Ube cheesecake, also known as purple yam cheesecake, is a Filipino cheesecake made with a base of crushed graham crackers and an upper layer of cream cheese and ube halaya. It can be prepared baked or simply refrigerated. Like other ube desserts in the Philippines, it is characteristically purple in color.
