Polvoron is a nostalgic but still popular Filipino sweet treat mostly found in bakeries, groceries, some convenient stores or even drug stores. Wrapped in bright colored cellophane. These are often made of toasted flour, powdered milk, butter and sugar. You can even make them flavored by adding milo powder, chocolate bits or cocoa powder, crushed cookies, and even syrups. This indulgent easy to do melt in your mouth no bake delicacy is perfect for small businesses, a sweet everyday snack, as a party favor, or even as a gift during the holidays.

How it came to be?

“Polvoron” sometimes spelled as “Polboron” or “Pulburon” is a powdery non baked Filipino shortbread that’s was introduced during the Spanish colonization. The term “Polvo” meaning “Powder” in Spanish came from the main ingredient of the dish which are flour, milk, nuts like almonds, and sugar wich are baked opposed to the Filipino version that just needs to be chilled in the fridge for a bit. Before being adapted to Filipino tastes which uses flour toasted until lightly browned to make it edible, powdered milk, sugar, and melted butter or margarine, sometimes with the addition of other flavorings like cocoa powder, matcha, sprinkles for the color, nuts like cashews, pinipig ( crispy rice ), and any other ingredient of choice. Mixed until it looks like wet sand. Usually molded using a circular or oval shaped mold-press. Wrapped in colourful cellophane paper or papel de japón ( crepe paper ), sometimes sold in plastic jars wrapped or unwrapped. You can also find some shops selling the polvoron coated in chocolate, white chocolate, and other flavored chocolate. It’s not exactly a holiday specialty, though there are a larger amount of shops selling these during the holidays. It’s more often than not usually sold at grocery stores, convenience stores, and even drug stores like Mercury Drug.

How to Make Polvoron

Ingredients :

Basic Flavor

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup skimmed milk ( or powdered milk )
3/4 cup sugar ( adjust as needed )
3/4 cup melted butter ( or margarine )

To add the Cookies and Cream Flavor

1 cup crushed cookies and cream

To add the Milo Flavor

2 – 3 sachets of Milo

Steps :

Basic Flavor

1. In a pan at low heat, add the flour and toast until it turns light brown. This will take around 15 minutes. Keep stirring to cook evenly.

how to make filipino shortbread pulboron

2. Once browned, set aside to cool to room temperature. Then mix in skimmed milk and sugar. Pour in melted butter and mix until it looks like wet sand.

3. Using a polvoron molder, scoop and press hard with the bottom of the pan or a spatula. You’ll want to make sure the filling is compact to avoid this from crumbling later. Transfer to a plate.

4. Repeat until the polvoron mix is done. Refrigerate for at least an hour before wrapping.

To add the Cookies and Cream Flavor

5. Create the Basic mixture and mix in 1 cup of crushed cooked and cream. Mix well and mold as you would the basic mixture.

To add the Milo Flavor

6. Create the Basic mixture and mix 2 packets of Milo sachets. In this version, lessen the sugar added in the basic mix if you’d like it less sweet. Mix and mold.

To Wrap

7. Place the polvoron in the middle of a small square cellophane or parchment paper. Fold from one and to the other like a triangle, fold the middle to the end before twisting the sides.