Halo-halo is a popular Filipino dessert meaning “mix mix.” It’s a smorgasbord of various ingredients, flavours and textures that are layered together in a tall glass before being mixed together upon serving. The most important ingredient is the shaved ice, which helps make this dynamic dessert beat the tropical heat.
Why I love this recipe
Here in Canada, we, too, experience the joys of summer’s sweltering heat. This version of halo-halo takes some of the traditional ingredients of the tropical dessert while introducing a little Canadian flare. We mix fresh blueberries with maple syrup, and then layer in shaved ice with both coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk. And it wouldn’t be halo-halo without ube, an ice cream made from purple yams. Finally, we top our halo-halo with vanilla-macerated bananas, coconut jelly and maple leche flan.
ingredients
directions
Cook's Note:To make the Maple Leche Flan, follow this recipe.
In a small bowl, combine bananas, brown sugar and vanilla. Let stand until bananas are soft and syrupy, about 20 minutes.
In a second small bowl, combine blueberries with maple syrup.
In a third small bowl, combine coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk. Add shaved ice to a large bowl and blend half of milk mixture (about 1/2 cup) into ice.
In 4 large, tall glasses, layer, blueberry mixture, shaved ice mixture, macerated bananas and ube ice cream. Top each glass with cubes of jelly, flan and drizzle with remaining coconut milk mixture. Serve.