On a recent trip to Pampanga, a province north of Manila, we were able to grab a surprise.
It was almost like a field trip, having an accidental run in with students from my Alma Mater of UP, Diliman. Their class being a highly opposite spectrum of all the classes I took in college, I was quite unfamiliar with both the teachers and even the subject itself. Something to do with art history or something. But when the food is the topic, it all comes together.
We were looking for the famed San Nicolas Cookies of Pampanga. There was one cookie, that’s more famed than the others, because they have the historical molds of the yesteryears. And!!! They actually gave the recipe, which I wasn’t able to take down because I was rushing a bit. Ms. Lilliane Borromeo, the owner and “teacher” of the famed cookies, also gives a bit of a history about each ingredient and procedure. How it was back in the day, when they used pork lard, and tested oven heat by putting their hand in the hot air. Labor of love, for the cooked hand 🙂
Each box was priced at P180 with each pack priced at P13 for three pieces. Technically, these are what you call arrow root cookies. But the arrow root, a kinda obscure plant not that heavily invested in anymore, is hardly available. So it has been replaced by cornstarch.
Uraro, as the arrow root cookies is called, is usually a bit heavy. These San Nicolas cookies in fact, are heaven. 🙂 They are light, crunchy, and easily breakable. Argh. I broke three of those I bought in singles. They’re boxed for a reason.
The molds are made out of wood, etched in hard wood, I would believe. And there are different designs. I like the San Nicolas the best, more than the Birhen de los Remedios. San Nicolas by the way is the patron saint of the province.
This famed cookie is available inParian,Mexico, Pampanga 🙂
Domestic Urbanite 