Ensaymada is a soft and fluffy bun made by baking a rolled butter coated dough made with all purpose flour, egg yolks, butter, sugar, salt, shortening, evaporated milk, yeast and is frosted with mixture made with butter and powdered sugar and cheese. This sweet and savoury take on a piece of bun just gives you the right balance and enough sugar rush to get ready to start the day, or give you that afternoon sweet but filling pick me up that’ll give you enough energy to finish the day off. Follow our Ensaymada recipe to make this scrumptious dish in your home.

Why do people love this sweet, creamy, and cheesy treat?

The localized brioche bread can be found anywhere from groceries, bakeries, to small panaderias, home bakeries, ensaymada are a popular pastry eaten by many. Its become so beloved that there are already ensaymada specially shops, with other toppings like salted eggs, chocolate, using shredded ‘queso de bola’ cheese instead of the usual cheese, and some even making different flavored ensaymada, from chocolate, to coffee, ube, mango, and many more. There are so many flavories and varieties to choose from this sweet delicacy that you wont ever get tired of it!

A short history on how Ensaymada came to be

Ensaymadas started out as ‘ensaïmadas’ a Spanish Mallorcan pastry. As noted in History books, Spain had colonized the Philippines for 300 years. The Ensaimada from Spain was commonly eaten in Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America with one of the first written evidences to reference this dating back to the 17^thcentury. During that time, breads were commonly made using wheat flour which were a bit drier, though these goods were still produced and eaten especially in festivals and celebrations. The ‘Ensaïmada de Mallorca’ was made with water, flour, eggs, sugar, and pork lard, these were difficult back then to reproduce so they found a way to use the scale to create an exact formula and give the exact proportions, the establishment of the scale paved its way to the rise of the popularity of this traditional product.

There are numerous bread variants of the ensaymada. In the Balearic Islands there are the Cabell d’angel, which literally translates to angel hair made with stringy orang stands from pumpkin cooked with sugar to make the sweet filling rolled in the dough. The Llisa, a plain bread with no extra ingredient. The Tallades, which has a bittersweet taste, is eaten before Lent typical of Carnival days when meat and lard are not supposed to be eaten. In Puerto Rico, which was colonized by the Spanish in 1898 calls the ensaïmada ‘pan de mallorica’ and are eaten as an afternoon or breakfast snack.

While the Philippines had other colonizers like Spain, America and Japan, within those years there were many cultures, food, religion and many more that influenced how and why the Philippines has become what it is today. The Spanish cuisine especially was readapted and recreated to suit Filipino tastes. Many Filipinos have a penchant for sweets, and this sweet buttery bread that resembles a palm-sized cupcake like butter bread, coated frosting, and sprinkled with cheese. Are one of the most popular Spanish-Filipino bread hybrids eaten by many today. Even OFW’s try to find this sweet treat overseas or try to make it themselves no matter the cost for a little taste of home.

Have a go at this easy peasy, just need a bit of patience to rise, ensaymada recipe and your sure to be amazed on how delicious, straightforward and uncomplicated this recipe is.

Ensaymada

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Course: Snacks, DessertCuisine: Filipino

Makes

pieces

Chewy dense but fluffy balls of deliciousness.

Ingredients

dough
½ cup warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup shortening
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
3 egg yolks
extra butter for greasing and filling
frosting
½ cup butter
½ cup powdered sugar
cheese for toppings

Directions

In a bowl, mix together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Set this aside for 10 minutes.
In another bowl, mix together evaporated milk, shortening, salt, and sugar. Whisk in 2 cups all purpose flour and the yeast mixture. Mix in the last 2 cups of all purpose flour and egg yolks.
Once it forms a soft dough, place this on a floured surface. And start kneading till you get a smooth dough. Adding only ½ to 1 cup of flour for kneading. The ensaymada dough should stay a bit moist. Use a scraper to make it easier to knead.
The dough is ready once you can see through a thin layer when stretched. Place in an oil greased bowl and cover for 1-2 hours or till it doubles in size.
While rising, grease the ensaymada molds with butter. After the dough has risen slice these to 10 equal pieces.
Roll one of the sliced dough into a ball then roll this into a log. Use a rolling pin to flatten the log and brush this with butter. Roll the log upwards, before rolling it into a swirl.
Place the formed buns into the molds and cover these for 30-45 minutes to rise. After butter the top before baking these in a 160°C or 320°F preheated oven for 18-25 minutes. Set aside to cool.
To make the frosting; mix together the butter and powdered sugar till fluffy. Refrigerate to let it thicken and cool.
Once the ensaymada has cooled down spread the butter frosting and top with as much cheese as you like.

Recipe Video

Ensaymada recipe (tagalog)

Sahog

Masa

½ tasa maligamgam na tubig
1 kutsarang lebadura
1 kutsarang sugar
1 tasa evaporated milk
1/3 tasa shortening
½ kutsaritang asin
1 tasa puting asukal
4 tasa harina
3 dilaw ng itlog
mantikilya pang palaman at grasa

Frosting

½ tasa mantikilya
½ tasa powdered sugar
keso pang sahog sa ibabaw

Paano lutuin

Haluin ang maligamgam na tubig, lebadura, at asukal sa maliit na mangkok. Itabi ito ng 10 minuto.
Sa ibang mangkok, haluin ang evaporated milk, shortening, asin, at asukal. Idagdag at batihin ang 2 tasa ng harina at hinalong lebadura dito. Pagkatapos haluin ang natitirang 2 tasa ng harina at mga dilaw ng itlog.
Pagnakabuo ng malambot na masa, ilugar ito sa makinis na ibabaw na winisikan ng harina. Imasahe ang masa hangang makinis ang itsura nito. Pwede lamang gumamit ng ½ o 1 tasa ng harina pang masa dahil kalangan manatiling madikitdikit ang masa. Gumamit ng scraper para mapadali ang pagmasa.
Handa na ang masa kung kaya mong ma ‘see through’ pag nabanat. Ilagay ito sa malaking mangkok na grinasa ng mantika. Takpan ito ng 1-2 na oras o hangang dumoble ng laki.
Habang hinihintay lumaki ang masa, igrasa ang mga ensaymada na molde ng mantikilya. Pagdumoble na ang laki nito hatiin ito ng 10 na piraso.
Irolyo ang isang bola ng masa ng pahaba. Gumamit ng rolling pin para patagin ito, magpahid ng mantikilya at irolyo ng pahaba bago irolyo ng parang pag-inog.
Ilugar ang mga rinolyong masa sa molde at takpan ang mga ito ng 30 o 45 na minute. Ipahid ng mantikilya bago lutuin sa oben na may init ng 160°C o 320°F ng 18-25 na minute. Itabi para palamigin.
Para gawin ang frosting; haluin ang mantikilya at powdered sugar hangang magingfluffy. Palamigin sa ref para kumapal.
Pagmalamig lamig na ang ensaymada, ipahid ang frosting at lagyan ng keso pang dekorasyon.