Based in Manila, Philippines, Dessert Comes First is a chronicle of the food-obsessed food writer, Lori Baltazar. This website is all about desserts, restaurants, coffee, and the pleasures of homebaking. Read more about me Cookies for Christmas
Tue, December13th of 2005
3:35 pm
These are two kinds of cookies that I eat during Christmas: uraro and San Nicolas. Both are specialties from Pampanga, and both are examples of arrowroot cookies.
Arrowroot is a starch powder obtained from the root of a (West Indian) plant. If I’m not mistaken, I think it may be the cassava plant. Similar to cornstarch or rice flour, it’s often used as a thickener for puddings and sauces. It also has a very low gluten content, so cookies made from it are delicate and powdery, much like shortbread. Because the powder is also called araruta, that may have been where the name uraro originated, thus uraro cookies. Its texture is a melting sort of crunchy, if you can imagine that, given its ingredients of arrowroot (cassava) flour, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, and milk. To put it more illustratively, uraro is a cross between polvoron and butter cookies.
I always thought that uraro cookies were distinctively Filipino, but apparently, they are made all over the world in countries that have a strong cassava culture: in the Philippines they are known as uraro, in Colombia as panderos and in the Dominican Republic as ojaldra.
San Nicolas/ St. Nicholas/saniculas/pan de San Nicolas
Where uraro is found, the San Nicolas cookie can never be too far behind. Also made from arrowroot flour, sugar, and eggs, some versions include anise, dayap (lime) and coconut milk. The cookies are made to celebrate the feast of San Nicolas, the patron saint of bakers. Its characteristic leaf shape is created by rolling the dough then pressing it into wooden molds carved with the saint’s likeness. The mold is a favorite among antique collectors because no two San Nicolas cookie molds are alike.
I’ve never been able to make out the impressions on these cookies, but it supposedly shows the saint wearing his Augustinian habit and holding a bird on a plate.
Legend has it that during one illness, San Nicolas was ordered by his superior to eat some meat in order to get well. Not being a meat eater, San Nicolas refused. He was then served a roast partridge better known in the Philippines as pugo (quail). So the roasted bird was brought to the saint who touched it and brought it back to life. Since then, the saint has been depicted in art and in these cookies named after him.
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Hi Lori!
My day isn’t complete without dropping by to read the latest thing on your blog.
Not only have your entries made me feel, smell and taste the food you feature, but your pictures are a visual delight as well!
I’m into baking and also into photography. Asking for your cheesecake recipe would be too much (but I definitely wouldn’t mind to receive it!), but would it be alright if I ask what camera you use?
Merry Christmas!
Vien
[Reply]
Comment by Vien — December 13, 2005 @ 3:59 pm
That’s interesting to know about the other names of uraro in different countries. I always think we have such unique desserts, but forget how much of our eating culture has links to Latin American cultures, much less Spanish and Asian.
Any suggestions for where to buy good uraro? I bought some recently in a market/bazaar and was disappointed. Not enough of the floury texture, and no flavor either.
Thank you!
[Reply]
Comment by Mila Tan — December 13, 2005 @ 4:09 pm
Arrowroot and cassava aren’t the same, Lori.
But if you do buy some arrowroot powder, you can substitute it for most kinds of starch–corn, potato etc.
[Reply]
Comment by Milady Insanity — December 13, 2005 @ 7:22 pm
Hi Lori! Love the San Nicolas story…you know, I have never had those cookies (uraro I have…yum!). Where’s a good place to get them? Thanks!
[Reply]
Comment by joey — December 13, 2005 @ 11:50 pm
Uraro yum! I’ve never heard of San Nicolas cookies either… hehe.
I buy my favorite uraro at Unimart (in greenhills). I can’t remember the brand at the moment, but it’s usually the only uraro available there — it’s wrapped in white japanese paper. Yum!
[Reply]
Comment by meekerz — December 14, 2005 @ 9:36 am
This post seems like a good place to ask you something I’ve been wondering about: do you know of any place in Manila where you can find alfajores, the Argentine/Chilean “cookies” filled with dulce de leche? Especially the kind that are less cookie-like and more flaky (I’m not a baker, so I’m bad at identifyinig ingredients)? I might just not have looked very hard…
Great photos here, by the way–they really make my mouth water!
[Reply]
Comment by Athena — December 14, 2005 @ 12:48 pm
Vien-
Thanks for your kind words. I use a Canon Powershot G2.
Mila, Joey, Meekerz-
Uraro is quite widely available at supermarkets with a native delicacies section. The ones yo get there are decent, but I recommend going to Bulacan Sweets in Galleria, Landmark, or in Greenhills. As for the San Nicolas cookie, I’ve only seen them in Pampanga. If you really want some, I can procure some and give ‘em to you guys.
Athena-
I know those alfajores cookies you talk of. The best I’ve tried comes all the way from Baguio, made by the sisters of Good Shepherd. Barring that, I’ve seen alfajores at some bazaars and in some hotel delis.
[Reply]
Comment by Lori — December 14, 2005 @ 1:18 pm
Go to a Razon’s (Market Market, Jupiter St) and get their San Nicolas cookies, quite good.
I’ll try out the Bulacan sweets uraro. Thanks for the tip.
Mila
[Reply]
Comment by Mila Tan — December 14, 2005 @ 1:33 pm
There is also some lore regarding that San Nicolas cookies have curative effects. It was said that these blessed cookies are kept long in the cupboards and then fed anytime of the year to children who are sick. It seems to work too!
Some scholars say it could be attributed to the mold on the cookie. Just heard this story too.
[Reply]
Comment by riagirlski — December 14, 2005 @ 4:09 pm
hi lori…nice post as always…and great pics too…however, the arrowroot plant (Marantha arundinacea)is different from the cassava plant (Manihot esculenta)… and yes, those in pampanga are the best, combination of arrowroot flour, coconut milk, butter and sugar…have you ever heard of the galang-galang cookies (round cookies with holes in the center and tied with a string like a bracelet), they are popular in pampanga too…
[Reply]
Comment by kong willy — December 15, 2005 @ 1:01 pm
Hello All,
I can’t wait to go home. I’m here in Los Angeles and I’m always drooling whevenever I check the articles about dessert and food in the Philippines. I always get my favorite uraro sa Laguna. I’ve been working 15 years with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line as ship’s ambassador. I miss Filipino food though there are some hopia, turon and dinuguan in Los Angeles and San Diego. Merry Christmas and A Hapy New Year to All. I’ll be home in March sa Sta. Rosa, Laguna and can’t wait to eat kanduli, biya and tilapia
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Trackback by cialis lawyers — October 16, 2007 @ 10:03 am
Arrowroot is not cassava though both are used as in making starch/flour they are entirely different. Much more arrowroot in Pampanga have been a deminishing crop which results in the misconception.
[Reply]
Comment by Ian Ocampo Flora — December 30, 2007 @ 12:34 pm
i would like to know other name of arrowrot and if the plant also available in davao city or somewhere in mindanao region? thank you.
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Comment by mary grace camarillo — June 25, 2008 @ 10:21 am
I’d like to know where I can get the arrowroot flour? Also has anyone tried making uraro using just the tapioca starch? I have the molds handed to me by my mom but haven’t used it. Any recipes for this cookie?
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Comment by liz — September 4, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
Hi there,
I accidentally stumbled on your site while cruising and have added it to my faves.
It gives me a comforting whiff of life way back then.
Living in Canada, I’ve been having periodic longings for uraro (made in Bataan)that I used to have while still living in Philippines. That uraro had a nice creamy coconut taste (no coconut meat….).
Do you have any recipes that might resemble that? I have seen some Powdered coconut cream being sold here and I was wondering if I could add that to few uraro recipes I see online. All of them don’t have any liquid ingredient….all ingredients are dry except for the eggs. I thought the powdered form of coconut milk can be mixed to give that creamy flavor. I’ve never used powdered coconut milk/cream so I’m not too sure.
Anyone used the powdered form as is? I’d appreciate any input from you.
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Comment by marissa — February 7, 2009 @ 8:37 pm