Maja Blanca Recipe (Filipino Coconut Pudding)

This Easy Cheesy and Creamy Maja Blanca Recipe is seriously delicious, and it only needs 4 steps to make!  This ‘Cheesy Creamy Maja Blanca’ or ‘Filipino Coconut Corn Pudding’, is made with a mixture of coconut milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk, corn starch, sugar with a cheese or latik topping. It is usually served during fiestas and family functions especially during Christmas.

Watch this Cheesy Maja Blanca Recipe here:

My mother used to make Maja Blanca during special occasions. I remember sneaking in the kitchen when no one was around and grab a spoonful of the dish my mother kept in the fridge. She used to top it with grated cheese. She then tells us to wait for a few hours before digging it. I don’t think the word “wait” is included in a child’s vocabulary. At least, it wasn’t included in mine and my siblings.

How to make this Maja Blanca recipe?

This creamy and light dessert has Spanish influences, evolving from the traditional custard and flan, this dessert has a denser, sturdier texture. The name ‘Maja’ came from the Spanish term for ‘refined’ or ‘elegant’ which might describe this delicate creamy looking dessert at first sight. The original maja blanca recipe is distinctly made of fresh coconut milk, agar or gulaman, some have used cornstarch as a substitute, thickened then poured over a pan lined with banana leaves or greased with coconut oil, cooled until firm enough then topped with ‘latik’ or toasted coconut cream curds. The sweetness comes from the natural coconut milk’s sweetness and the latik topping.

The more modern maja blanca recipe ingredients include coconut milk or cream, more modern substitutes also include different milk types like whole milk, evaporated milk, almond milk, and many others, adding fresh or canned and strained corn kernels, or even canned creamed corn with sweetened condensed milk, give it a good mix before tasting and adding a bit more sugar to suit your taste. Mix in the diluted cornstarch, agar-agar, or gelatin (gulaman powder) to help thicken the dessert. This recipe might differ depending on the region, what’s available at the moment, or sometimes it’s what’s popular at the moment like adding ube, different fruits like jackfruits and mangoes, flavorings like buko pandan, glutinous rice  flour instead of cornstarch, adding, chocolates, and more. 

After this has cooled at room temperature or is still slightly warm. End it was a nicely colorful maja blanca garnish of shredded cheese or a sweet aromatic and slightly crunchy latik. You can even top it off with the same fruits you’ve added into the mix if you’d like. Great as a snack to brighten your afternoons, to enjoy at parties, bring at fiestas, or to enjoy as a midnight snack.

Questions : 

• Maja Blanca Calories

For 1 slice or 100 grams there may be around 229 calories. 

• No cornstarch?

Try replacing maja blanca with flour, rice flour, potato starch, a teaspoon of agar-agar or gulaman powder. When using agar-agar or gulaman to make a ‘maja blanca with gelatin’ recipe try adding a teaspoon at a time to avoid making it too thick or dense.

• How much cornstarch to use?
  • Maja blanca recipe 400g cornstarch, double the recipe above.
  • Maja blanca recipe for 1/2 kilo cornstarch, uses half of the ingredients from the recipe above, but this might take around 6 – 8 minutes of simmering ( while stirring this often ) to help thicken the dessert.
  • Maja blanca recipe for 200 grams cornstarch, use the same recipe as the one above.

• Is this a vegan maja blanca recipe?

This healthy maja blanca recipe is vegan, but only if you do not add sugar into the mix.

• How to make a maja blanca recipe without coconut milk?

To make a maja blanca without gata recipe, just use other forms of milk like whole milk, evaporated milk, almond milk, oat milk, cashew milk or any type of milk that suits your diet. If you only have milk powder, make sure to mix it as per directions then pour it into the mix.

• Types of maja blanca

While this yummy cheesy corn maja blanca recipe still encompasses the modern and traditional way to make “corn pudding Filipino style”. There are still a lot of variations that can be seen at side stalls, cafes, hotels, and even from online sellers.

1. It might be seasonal like adding mangoes as a topping to make a “Maja Blanca with Mango recipe” or if you want a bright  yellow maja blanca recipe, add some mango flavoring to the mix for the ultimate “mango maja blanca”.
2. Some add peanuts in the batter and as a topping for “maja blanca peanut”.
3. Kids might prefer a “chocolate maja blanca recipe” by mixing chocolate powder onto the mix, and dusting more chocolate powder or chocolate pieces to decorate the top.
4. Lastly, to make a beautifully violet and eye-catching Filipino pudding, try adding ube jam or halaya into the batter for a “Ube Maja Blanca recipe”.

HOW TO COOK LATIK

Cooking latik is very simple. You will just need around 1 cup coconut cream or pure coconut milk. Cook in low heat until it starts to curdle and the oil begins to separate. Cook it more until the curds turn light brown. Separate the oil from the curds by straining. The brown curds are the latik. Top it over the cooled creamy maja blanca and it’s ready to be enjoyed!

Try our other Yummy Creamy Maja Blanca Recipes

• Ube Maja with Latik
• Fruity Maja Blanca
• Maja Blanca without Coconut Milk
• Ube Maja Blanca
• Maja Blanca with Budbod

Simple Maja Blanca recipe Tagalog :

Mga Sankap:

• 200 gramo ng cornstarch
• 370 ml evaporated milk
• 3 tasa gata ng niyog
• 1 late cream style corn
• 300 ml condensed milk
• Asukal
• 2 tasa ng tubig ( at 1 tasa pa para sa cornstarch )
• Keso o latik pang dekorasyon

Paano Lutuin :

1. Pagluto na, ilipat ito sa trey o malalim na piggan at itabi para lumamig. I-Dekorasyon ang ibabaw ng keso o latik.
2. Sa palayok; haluin ang lahat ng sangkap maliban sa cornstarch. Magreserba ng 1 tasa ng tubig. Haluin hanggang matunaw ang asukal. Tikman at lagyan ng konting asukal kung kinakailangan. Buksan ang kalan sa katamtamang init.
3. Sa ibang mangkok. Tunawin ang cornstarch sa inireserba na tubig.haluin ng mabuti at itabi.
4. Pagkumulo na ang nasa palayok, ihalo dito ang ginawang cornstarch na tubig. Kailangang tuloy tuloy ang paghalo ng 5 minuto para hindi masunog ang ilalim.