Puto is a delicacy and a favorite amongst Filipinos. It is a soft and fluffy rice cake, and is usually eaten as a midday snack (aka ‘meryenda’). It can be eaten on its own or as a side for savory dishes, such as pancit or dinuguan. These have the perfect amount of sweetness, so you can eat a bunch and not get sugar wasted!
Puto is definitely a childhood favorite of mine. I have memories of my mother buying these for my brother and I after school. I would constantly munch on them because they are just so good and addicting. Since moving to the states, I have less access to Filipino food. So, as per usual, I had to learn how to make it!
Luckily enough, my husband has experience making these (He is half Filipino). All we had to do was tweak the recipe to make it perfect! My husband and I made two versions, a plain one and my favorite, ube (purple yam). He prefers the plain one, but I just love the ube version. Ube makes it just tastes so much better!
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📖 Recipe
Puto (Filipino Steamed Rice Cake)
Equipment
- Food scale highly recommended
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Silicone cupcake liners
- Bamboo steamer steaming pot
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
Puto
- 125 grams All-purpose flour (spooned, leveled, and sifted)
- 1 tablespoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 100 grams Granulated sugar
- 240 grams Non-dairy milk (I used soy)
- 1 tablespoon Vegan butter
- 1-2 teaspoon Ube extract or pandan extract (optional flavors)
Instructions
- Prepare a pot by filling it with water and bringing it up to a boil. Lower the heat and bring it down to a simmer, and place the bamboo steamer over it.
- While you wait for the water to boil, combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Then in another bowl, combine the melted vegan butter, granulated sugar, and soy milk. This is also the time to add your flavors! Whisk until the sugar has dissolved.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients together, mix well until the batter is no longer clumpy. Pour the batter into the silicone molds only about ¾ full and place in the bamboo steamer.
- Place the cupcake molds into the steamer and steam for 15-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Carefully remove the puto from the steamer basket and allow it to cool completely. Then gently remove them from the molds, and enjoy!
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly. I test my recipes, 100% in grams. A common reason baked goods fail is incorrectly measured flour. I always recommend using a scale for accuracy when baking. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessens room for error.
- If you measure by cups, avoid scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour. This tends to pack the flour into the cup, resulting in too much flour and a very dense or gummy finished product. Instead, aerate your flour (fluff it with a fork or spoon) and then spoon it into your measuring cups, leveling it with your finger or the back of a butter knife. Keep in mind though, that this method is not guaranteed to be accurate.
Josiah says
Absolutely amazing, light and fluffy. Brings back memories of the Philippines!