Update: Use the banyo maria or Baño Maria (or bake steaming) to prevent over-drying of your fruit cake. 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...

One of mom’s specialties in her Sally’s Bake Shop was Special Mamon or what Americans commonly call as Yellow Sponge Cake. Customers raved about the creamy and soft texture of mom’s Special Mamon. My sister shared this Mamon recipe which is reminescent of Goldilock’s special mamon recipe. According to my sister, this is Minna Picache...

What do we do with leftovers from Christmas dinner? Most especially scrap ham. My favorite is Majestic Ham. The solution….Pochero or cocido. I prefer to call it Pochero as it is a very common dish in my hometown Cebu. Pochero (Spanish spelling , Puchero) with its bounty of meats, sausages and vegetables is known as the “real national dish of Spain....

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 cookie. 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...