Lemon cheese bars
A more indulgent version of traditional lemon bars (or squares), a pastry that consists of lemon curd baked over a shortbread crust. Mascarpone is added to the curd in this recipe to make the lemon bars creamy and richer.
Sweets
Food for the gods
Food for the gods is best described as butterscotch (or blondies) squares or bars baked with Medjool dates and walnuts. The pastry hails from the Philippines where it traditionally makes an appearance during the Christmas season.
Cheesecake brownies
Two of my favorite desserts, combined. Sweet-salty cheesecake swirled between layers of fudge-y brownie baked with dark chocolate. You really don’t need a special occasion to enjoy them.
Banana bread with chocolate chips and nuts
Got overripe bananas? Mash them and bake them into this banana bread (it’s really a cake) that’s ultra moist and chock-full of chocolate chips and nuts.
Cookies and cream polvoron
To the basic polvoron ingredients (toasted flour, sugar, milk and butter), crushed Oreo cookies and cocoa powder are added for a modern take on an old favorite.
Almond and pecan polvoron
Ground pecans and store-bought almond flour are substituted for wheat flour to make these polvoron gluten-free.
Chinese egg cakes
Sponge-y and light with a whiff of lemon, these small cakes are lovely with tea. They are so easy to make because there is no need to separate the egg yolks from the whites.
Pandan crepes with coconut and palm sugar filling
A Southeast Asian street food, it's dudur gulong in Indonesia, kuih dadar in Singapore, and kuih gulung in Malaysia and Brunei. The crepes are made with coconut milk and fresh pandan extract; the filling is a mixture of melted palm sugar and freshly grated coconut.