++ ADVENT SERIES – DELICACIES ++
In this post, we take a look at the delicacies that make our Christmas celebrations more delicious and sweeter!
“Plätzchen” are very important in the German Christmas tradition. There are countless recipes one can follow. But of course the best ones are usually those handed down by great grandmothers to younger generations. Baking cookies with the family is a common activity during the Christmas season, which fills the house with Christmas scents and warmth from the oven. It is an activity surely enjoyed by every family member (except the ones cleaning up, LOL). The baked cookies are often given as gifts to friends to spread the Christmas feeling – which is also a good excuse for you not to eat them all by yourself and gain 5 kilos!
At this time of posting, Filipinos have begun their series of “Simbang Gabi.” It is also during this period that you’ll find street vendors near the churches baking fresh “bibingka” and “puto bumbong” – two of the most iconic Filipino Christmas delicacies. Because of the abundance of rice in the country, parishioners during the Spanish era offered rice to their parishes which are in turn prepared by the priests and clergy as “bibingka” and “puto bumbong” to be shared with everyone. Preparing the bibingka is time-consuming but interesting as it is primarily sandwiched in between two pre-heated coals. The Puto Bumbong on the other hand is baked by steaming the glutinous rice in a bamboo tube until the rice (usually purple in color) rises from the tube. The best part is the signal when the dessert is cooked – the bamboo tube whistles!
