Lingering on the fringes of the Asian continent, equivalently influenced by its local neighbors, international shipping routes and years spent under Spanish and American hegemony, the Philippines long ago blossomed into something of a culinary funhouse, accommodating an outsized hodgepodge of ingredients, flavors and hues. The dazzling results can be seen in exciting dishes like afritada, embutido, bibingka and halo halo (the pictures say it all, sort of), their sing-song names and vibrant colors seemingly sprung from some magical fantasyland. The Ensaymada seems positioned to work in a similar vein: a hybrid pastry which combines French and Spanish baking styles with the island’s characteristic love of cheese, which has taken other recognizable foods in strange, unsettling directions. But this sweet brioche bun, at least in the packaged version purchased at Woodside's Phil-Am Mart, is actually pretty delicate. Invented in Mallorca, with a Catalan name, the Ensaymada (originally the 'Ensaimada'), propagated throughout the Spanish colonies, gaining a grated cheese and sugar topping in its Flipino version, with the original lard swapped out for butter. For the dessert-inclined, Phil-Am also offered a sweeter-looking version topped with bright-purple ube frosting, and the version at nearby bakery chain Red Ribbon looked even more intense, buried under an entire snow-drift of grated cheese. Also purchased at Phil-Am mart were some pre-packaged pinasugbo, which were much less appetizing, assaultively sweet and tooth-crackingly hard. As with most packaged ethnic sweets, you'd probably be better off trying to make these yourself.
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