Paciencia

Tiny dropped cookies baked dry in a cool oven until they lift off the paper on their own.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg.

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 120 g caster sugar
• 90 g cornflour
• 30 g plain flour
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 teaspoon lemon zest

Method

1. BAKED UNTIL THEY LIFT OFF THE PAPER ON THEIR OWN, which is the only reliable test. Prised off while they still stick, the bases tear and stay behind. If they resist, they need another five minutes.
2. A COOL OVEN, 140C. These are tiny -- 2 cm across -- and at a normal baking temperature the outside browns in four minutes while the middle is still wet, which is how you get a cookie that is tan and chewy instead of white and crisp.
3. Whisk the whites with the salt to soft peaks, then add the sugar a spoonful at a time until stiff and glossy, 4 minutes in all.
4. Sift the cornflour and plain flour together and fold them in, in two goes. Cornflour is most of the flour here and that is what gives the short, dissolving snap.
5. Zest in. The mixture should hold a soft peak and just drop off a teaspoon.
6. Drop level teaspoons onto lined trays, 3 cm apart. They spread a little. A piping bag with a 1 cm nozzle makes them far more even if you have one.
7. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. They should stay white or barely cream. A gold edge means the oven is too hot.
8. Switch the oven off and leave them inside with the door ajar until completely cold.
9. Airtight at once. They go soft within two hours in a Manila kitchen and within a day anywhere.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes