Roscas (Filipino cuisine)

Roscas
Two pieces of the Leyte "roscas" joined together for presentation.
Alternative namesRosca de biscocho
TypeCookie, pastry, biscuit
Coursesnack, dessert
Place of originPhilippines
Region or stateLeyte and Samar
Main ingredientslard, anise, flour, sugar, butter, and egg yolks
Variationswith tuba palm wine as liqueur ingredient

In Philippine cuisine, roscas or biscochos de roscas refer to a type of pastry cookies from the province of Leyte, mainly from the towns of Barugo and Carigara, made from lard, anise, flour, sugar, butter and eggs.[1][2][3] These roscas are initially shaped as crescents or penannular rings (hence the name—roscas is Spanish for "rings"). Each of the roscas is then cut in half before baking, resulting in two separate elbow-shaped cookies.[4]

While some claim that these pasalubong pastry cookies trace their history to the Spanish era,[5] others have indicated that roscas-making in Leyte was started in the town of Barugo by a returning migrant only in the late 1960s; the migrant's success was purportedly replicated in the nearby town of Carigara and the far town of Calbayog in Samar province. What original recipe the roscas derive from remains unspecified in that account, however.[6]

  1. ^ ""Roscas" makers in Barugo reels on drop of sales | Leyte Samar Daily News". www.leytesamardailynews.com. August 21, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  2. ^ "6 Native Delicacies You Should Taste When in Leyte | Trip the Islands | Travel the Best of the Philippines". triptheislands.com. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  3. ^ "Biscocho". About Filipino Food. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  4. ^ de Veyra, Jojo Soria (February 13, 2017). "Travel and Pop Semiotics: The Romance in Leyte's Broken Rings". diskurso. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  5. ^ "Rice cakes, roscas, and more eats at the Samar Food Fest". GMA News Online. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  6. ^ Convergence for Enterprise Development, GREAT Women Project (January 2013). "Kneading Success for Barugo Roscas-Making" (PDF). Philippine Commission on Women Digital Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.