eason’s greetings to all of you. In a few days, it will be Christmas and there will be loads and loads of food in every part of your home. Filipinos have a tradition of giving food (especially sweets) during Christmas, and this tradition has been a part of every Filipino family, whether it be the everlasting walang kamatayang fruit cake, rum cake, the rich ensaymada, whipped cream cakes and more dessert. Every year, there is always somebody who comes up with a new, unique and different baked item.

Our Christmas article will center on how to keep those baked goods – how to best store them so that it can be eaten in another time.

Jun Jun: A Merry Christmas to you too, Melizza. Just like any bread it is better to keep your ensaymada in your freezer; make sure that it is properly placed inside a self sealing bag so that it will not absorb any of the smells of the other food in your freezer. It is also best to reheat your ensaymada in the toaster oven and not in the microwave. This is true for most breads which are rich, meaning it has a lot of fats and eggs in the mixture. Your ensaymada can stay in the freezer for three weeks to a month. I always do this since ensaymada is my favorite.

Adoree: Thanks for your question, Melizza. Your question will be very useful for a lot of us because we will be receiving lots of baked items and will prefer to keep some until the New Year. You can freeze the ensaymada and just pop it in the oven before serving.

Jun Jun: Please tell your family and friends to give you clothes instead or maybe make a family wish list, hehehe. As I mentioned in my introduction, it has been a practice in our society to give away food. So here is my rule; if it states in the box that it has to be refrigerated, please consume as soon as possible. There is an ingredient in the cake or dessert that will spoil soon – it may be cream, fruit filling, pastry cream or some other perishable item.

If it is a type of bread or pastry, you can freeze it but if you are intending to eat it in a few hours, please refrigerate. This season has been quite warm compared to the other Christmas holidays we’ve had so food spoils faster. Anything with fresh fruit, even though it was baked (for example, apple pie or a mango torte), must be refrigerated or chilled since this will spoil fast; and sometimes molds that you can’t see are already growing in it. Egg based custards--leche flan, crème caramel, crème brulee--must also be eaten soon since it spoils fast due to the big quantity of fat in their recipes.

Also, please tell your helpers to ask if the gift is food or not (sometimes we find this out the hard way). They put it under the Christmas tree and as we open our gifts we smell something spoiled. If you are not sure whether it will spoil or not, just refrigerate it. It will do you no harm if you are very careful.

Adoree: Most cakes and pastries can be stored in the chiller so that they will last a couple of days to a week. If you intend to consume it after more than a week, store it in the freezer.

Jun Jun: Well, first you have to make sure that the jar that you buy has a very tight lid; this is essential to make sure that no air or moisture get to the cookies to make it very hard later on. Next, your recipe as well as your baking time is quite important in fulfilling a moist texture for your cookies. Please make sure of this; test and test and try it in the jar that you want to put it in. I don’t think you have enough time to do it now. Before, I also put a small piece of bread inside the jar to absorb the additional moisture; it is something you can also do.

Adoree: Cookies, be they the chewy type or the crisp ones, ought to be stored in airtight containers. Like Jun Jun said, we do not want moisture to get into the cookies.

Jun Jun: Galing naman, Maia. I am just the right person to ask, I use to bake a lot of pound cakes to sell for Christmas, but what I used to do was bake it in advance, about a month before, and just keep it in the freezer. Then when someone wanted to buy it, I would thaw it in the refrigerator a day or two before. After which, I would wipe it dry and package it in plastic before I put it in a box since the loaf will still water since I froze it.

It’s a bit tedious but the returns were great since I had such a very good recipe; this one I am sharing with you. You may add flavoring to change the taste but some lemon zest and a sprinkle of orange rind make it too tempting to resist.

Adoree: Pound cakes can be frozen to extend their shelf life. This will allow you to make several batches in advance so you will not panic when orders pour in. Good luck in your business.

Christmas must always come so we can thank all of you for what you have continually shared with us. You are all names, letters and readers but you have made such a big difference in our lives. Appreciation is our gift to all of you for making us your bi-monthly column on baking inquiries. We have grown so much and have learned more due to all the questions you have shared. Let us continue this lasting friendship; may we hear from you more often.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Version Recipe

POUND CAKE

INGREDIENTS:
2 ¼ cups      all purpose flour
1 tsp         baking powder
½ tsp        baking soda
¼ tsp        salt
2/3 cup        unsalted butter
1 cup        sugar
3 pcs         eggs
½ cup           sour milk

PROCEDURE:
• To make sour milk:  to ½ cup fresh milk add a 1 tsp vinegar.  Let stand for 10 minutes before using. 
• Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease and line 3 pcs loaf pans ( 7 x 3 ).
• Sift all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside. 
• Cream butter and sugar until light.  Add in eggs one at a time.  Slowly, add in dry ingredients alternately with sour milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
• Stir well. 
• Pour into pans.  Bake for 40 – 55 minutes.  Cool in pans for an hour. 
• Then immediately wrap with foil and freeze.  This taste better when aged.