Well I thought that was going to be easier than it was, but it turns out that you need a whole lot of elbow grease to get it done. But it should be worth it.

I grew up on pastillas. Well, at least whenever we could afford them or a relative came home from the Philippines. It is my favorite filipino candy and I would always try and buy some when we’d go to Goldilocks Bakery in Panorama City. However, the last time I bought them they were over $6 for a wee bag. I had complained about it on twitter (follow me @theMEESH) and my good friend Chel told me it wasn’t too difficult to make.

I put it in the pot and started to stir.

And stir some more.

And stirred even more. My arm hurts.

Seriously, I should have picked a different late night recipe. I don’t even eat these as much as I used to. After stirring… and letting it cool while watching Supernatural, I worked it onto my table.

And work it was.

Now I’m supposed to roll this out, but well see… the thing is, I don’t own a rolling pin. Sure I could go buy one at Wal-Mart, I go there often enough… but I can’t bring myself to buy one. So I used this:

Best $3 rolling pin ever! And came with free water. It’s the glass one, BTW.

Rolled and cut into nice and uneven pieces. I really didn’t feel like putting much effort into it after the arm workout.

And then after all that… I spent a half an hour wrapping these little suckers. NOM NOM NOM. I’ll probably never want a pastilla for the next 6 months.

From Filipino Cuisine by Gerry G. Gelle:

Ingredients:
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
2 cups powdered milk
1 tbs lemon zest
Powdered Sugar

Directions:

• In a heavy saucepan, combine condensed milk, powdered milk and lemon zest. Cook, stirring over low heat until mixture forms a ball (about 20-25 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool
• Dust a board or flat surface with powdered sugar. Turn the milk mixture onto the surface and flatten with a rolling pin dusted with powdered sugar, until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into bars about 2 1/2 inches long by 1/2 inch wide.
• Separate the bars and allow to fully harden (30-40 minutes). Lightly dust them with more powdered sugar. Wrap individually in waxed papaer. Store in an airtight container.
• Makes about 36 bars