Happy Holidays and a big thank you to Kulinarya Cooking Club for taking me in. For the month of December, KCC presents Homemade Food Gifts.
I was stumped. I could think of many different things yet could not start to make something. I’m not a baker, so pastries did not come to mind on the get go. I was thinking atchara (pickles) and burong hipon (fermented shrimps). Well, maybe that’s what I wanted to receive instead. As some of you may already know, French macarons are about the only things I know how to make.
Let’s go back with the Ghost of Christmas past to Manila.
Twenty-four years ago, my Tita Chat taught me how to make Lenguas De Gato with Pat Limjuco Dayrit‘s book Favorite Filipino Recipes as reference. Well, what can you expect from someone who hasn’t used a pastry bag before? Of course the lenguas came out as big as bakyas (wooden clogs) and not in pairs either!
The lenguas came out more uniform in size today, though still bigger than most lenguas de gato you can buy in stores. Well, California Mountain Lions are bigger cats (smile).
Thank you Lala, for putting in a request to consider my blog be included on the KCC roster.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup egg whites
- 1 1/3 cake flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
- Preheat oven at 375F.
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Add egg whites gradually.
- Fold in flour with salt.
- Add vanilla and fold mixture until smooth.
- The entire batter fits in a 12″ pastry bag. I used Ateco #806 plain tip. Perhaps a smaller tip will deliver smaller lenguas (domestic cat size).
- Pipe on Silpat, about 3″ long, spaced 1.5″ apart. Bake for 8 minutes.
- I used two (2) sheets, and made about* four (4) dozens.
Notes
- *I didn’t really count, but I will next time. Promise.
- Lenguas De Gato, Moonglow Gardens
Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colourful cuisine.
Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.
Moonglow Gardens 
hahahahaa omg i was picturing cow tongue and couldn’t be convinced otherwise until i saw the ingredient list. as much as ppl love lengua, i can only handle it once a year or so.
so glad u made these, lol! “domestic cat size” LMAO!
awesome post. and btw i’ve nicknamed u @NinangNawawala until ur comedic return.
I remember my Lola Imay laughing. Of course lenguas are stored in short jars, but she had yaya (LOL) find an empty Nescafe garapon kasi nga, singlaki ng bakya. Or maybe Sky-Flakes tin dahil malaki pa sa OTAP.
Ninang, Mia: Missing in action.
As big as a bakya? Oh my! Lenguas are a holiday treat for me growing up. A very good friend of mine sends out plastic jars of lenguas every Christmas time. I could eat the entire jar all by myself. Thank you for sharing the recipe, Annapet!
Jun, thanks for stopping by. Hindi bola but I thought of you kanina while making these – – – na you can make them BETTER!
Somehow this page loaded halfway down for me so all I saw was “lengua”… I was thinking “how do you send someone lengua without it going bad in the mail…” hahahaha. I’ve never tried the Filipino version of lengua de gato, but I have a biscuit book with almost the same recipe in French (langues de chat). Butter and sugar, yes please!
Hi, Sefie! Yes, French in origin. Ms.Pat Limjuco Dayrit studied in Le Cordon Bleu NYC and might have learned it from there.
My daughters love lenguas de gato! They could finish two jars from Baguio to Manila. I’m tempted to bake a batch but I’m no good with the piping bag.
Connie, thanks for stopping by! The batter is not runny at all, so it’s pretty easy to control. I don’t know why I didn’t make these again sooner.
i remember lenguas de gato as pasalubong from baguio. now these could be mailed not like the macarons? haha.. looking at it brings back memories from back home. but annapet, we miss you na.. why are you MIA?
I better get cracking then. The eggs, I mean. Malou, my destiny is to make cookies using egg whites, LOL. Piled like soldiers.
she’s MIA kasi kailangan niyang mag-rehab. nag-flash kasi siya ng Britney niya, so emotionally distressing.
LOL on the bakya.
Now we know where someone (I mean you) works. Anak ng camoteng kahoy, after I approved your comment, my blog experienced Internal Server Error! Akala ko censorship!
I have been wanting to make that but never had the chance. I can’t wait to try it.
Joy, salamat for stopping by. Let me know when you try, and please share how to make it better.
this looks great. I haven’t had this in years. Thanks for sharing the recipe, I’m going to make it now.
I want to make more just to practice but I ran out of eggs, que horror!
Thanks for a wonderful KCC theme! The lenguas are absolutely marvelous but yes I agree, some atchara for Christmas isn’t a bad idea too!
Thanks, Trisha. I should probably make an atchara post. I did make some. Squirrels won big time this year though. I’m lucky they don’t touch the peppers.
Bakya sized lenguas. LOL. It’s easy to finish a whole bag of these cookies, it might be a better idea to make them bigger than a cat’s tongue.:)
LOL, Oggi. Lengua Estofado, ha-ha!
Atchara! Atchara! Atchara! I flunked Atchara making=) I will patiently wait for your Atchara post…Ur Lenguas de gato look good, big but it looks crispy and light, I’ve made mine “kitten” tongue sizes to convince myself that if I make them smaller I can eat a lot of them..LOL! Happy New Year!!!