The Ultimate Pop-Tart

I had a college roommate who lived on an unvarying diet of Pop-Tarts, cigarettes, Diet Coke, and beer. Occasionally - OK, rather more often than occasionally - I joined her in consumption of the latter three. But I never really got the Pop-Tarts.

Until now. You see, in the Philippine piaya I've found the ultimate Pop-Tart. And it's a beautiful thing.

Piaya are flat, round biscuits filled with muscovado sugar. Their unsweetened wheat flour dough is rolled super thin and the whole is griddled. I can't be sure, but the flakiness of piaya dough suggests the presence of lard. What really makes piaya irresistible, though, is the filling. Philippine muscovado sugar is fragrant and incredibly complex in flavor - I've tasted in it vague hints of vanilla, raisin, chocolate, and smoke.

There's nothing like a piaya hot off the griddle, but this specialty of Negros is hard to find in Manila. And it's pretty much impossible to get your hands on outside of the Philippines.

Imagine my delight, then, when I opened a FedEx box last week to find a veritable bounty of piaya. Back in July Dave and I lunched (deliciously) with Manila chef Myrna Segismundo and her friend, pastry chef Jill Sandique. I guess Jill registered my piaya ravings (I'll rave about them to whomever might care to listen), because a month or so after I sent her a couple of kilos of small-batch gula Melaka she reciprocated by asking a friend in Negros to send a load of piaya my way. Jill's note advised storing my piaya in the freezer and re-heating them in the toaster. Not comparable, of course, to fresh-off-the-griddle, but still mighty fine.

I'm rationing my piaya, limiting myself to only one or two a week. (Dave's been allowed a couple.) They have to last ... till our next trip to the Land of the Ultimate Pop-Tart.

Comments

[luke]

Found this, i'd definitely substitute the vegetable shortening for lard, but probably wouldn't tell my friend that! Muscovado sugar is good for you, loads of iron, i think?

Piaya

1/2 kg flour
1/2 c vegetable shortening
1/2 kg muscovado (raw sugar)
sesame seeds

1) Prepare the dough by mixing the flour and vegetable oil.
2) Cut it into pieces of approximately 10 grams each.
3) Press pieces with a wooden rod.
4) Roll the dough to prepare it for filling.
5) Put 10 grams of muscovado in a piece of dough.
6) Form the filled dough into a ball.
7) Top each piece with sesame seeds.

[Ari]

Hmm... I couldn't have a good look, but from your description, it sounds really tasty!

[Nate 2.0]

Sounds kinda like a "hneoh pneah" from Ghee Hiang in Penang...

Great.

You've given me another itch that I can't scratch. :-(

[Robyn]

Luke - thanks for that, but (1) I'm probably too lazy to attempt it at home - not much of a baker, me, (2) I can't get good muscovado sugar here in Malaysia, (3) I still have piaya in the fridge!
Hopefully an enterprising reader will take up the challenge and report back.

Ari - very simple, but extremely tasty.

Nate - sorry about that! ;-)

[Martina Maxwell]

i have found an even better innovation from the piaya. i went to the land of piayas a while back, and visited the showroom of negros products. there i found a crisp and thin piaya - what a delicate piece of crisp. brand was casa carmela. and what's more, this brand also had bite-size piaya crisps called piayitos. i consummed a whole box by myself in my hotel room!

[renato]

You never mentioned how you encountered your first piaya...were you actually able to visit Negros or did you find it in Manila (Salcedo market maybe)? Didn't realize it was a Negros specialty, but not surprised since that area is sugar central for the country.
So if you combined piaya with tsokolate-eh for breakfast -- wouldn't that be an awesome version of "Pop-Tarts and hot coco" ? Thanks for making me hungry again. :)

[joey]

So happy to hear about your love for piyaya! I love it too :) One of my favorite native snacks...although to be honest I love a LOT of our native snacks ;) Enjoy it! Thanks for a great post..."Land of the Ultimate Pop-Tart" -- I love it!

[anonymous paul]

hot off the griddle's best, i agree. warm, chewy, gooey and flakes all over your shirt. and yes, its made with lard; won't taste as good without it.

[tutubi]

pop tart for piaya? hmmm

it's easy to find in manila if you know where to look. lot's of them in SM malls scattered in the city

but the best is to enjoy it where it's originally made :)

[Robyn]

Martina - that sounds great! I'll keep an eye out for it next time we're in the PHI.

Renato - yes, it was at Salcedo in February. And I've been dreaming of them since. ;-) Tsokolate and piaya might just be too delicious a combination to handle all at once. I like a little ensaimada with my PHI drinking chocolate...

joey - yr welcome, glad you enjoyed the post. It's true, the PHI certainly does not lack for tasty snack foods.

paul - I know you are a kindred piaya fan. I don't know how you can live in Manila and NOT be at the piaya stand in Salcedo every single Saturday!

tutubi - like many things, lots of versions but which are the best? Nothing beats freshly made, hot off the griddle. Apparently we need to make a trip to Negros!

[Mila]

Piayas are lovely, chewy, biscuity, and the muscovado filling goes well with strong coffee, dark tea, or chocolate (tsokolate eh or ah as suggested above). As a kid we had them regularly since my mom's from a suburb of Negros, but it wasn't till I had fresh piaya that I was bowled over!
The crispy piayas mentioned above is also a perfect cookie like innovation. The only kind I'm not into is the piaya with ube filling. But for an afternoon treat or morning repast, a piaya is a good thing (if you do go to Manila and are in the Salcedo market, there's a lady from Negros who makes them fresh).

[juls]

hi! great job on the piaya entry.

if you do plan to visit Bacolod/Negros island, ask your local host to find for you Bailon's Piaya. It's the best type - thin, crisp, hardened muscovado at the innerfold of the piaya... and once you microwave it, it melts into a chewy mess...

Bacolod is a Foodie's paradise for Philippine regional cuisine. inasal, dulce gatas, barquillos, barquiron, napoleones, etc.

[juls]

hope this post will show you the original and probably the best piaya in bacolod: Bailon's piaya:

http://kiteflying.blogspot.com/2007/08/piaya.html

[pilinut]

I've loved the stuff as long as I can remember, and I think the best are the very, very thin, brittle-crisp ones. In Manila, there is a branch of the Bailon clan that has been providing me with my piyaya fix for the past couple of decades. Not even the Salcedo Market piyaya comes close, in my opinion.

As a tiny token of my gratitude for the pleasure your blog has given me, here is their phone number and address:

+63-2-8436673
1115 Rodriguez Ave., Bangkal, Makati

(I hope the information is current, as I haven't ordered piyaya from them since almost a year ago, though I have every intention of scarfing up a couple of dozen on my next trip back. BTW, the lumpia ubod and empanada are pretty good, too.)

[steven]

hi guys,

you can visit their website at www.casacarmelakitchen.com.