Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Piloncillo, Mexican Brown Sugar



Piloncillo is a block or cone shaped piece of unrefined sugar used in Mexico. It has been around for hundreds of years and is found in many recipes. One of these recipes is Capirotada, a traditional bread pudding made around the hoidays. The piloncillo is used for making the syrup, panocha syrup, that is drizzled over the bread pudding. It is also used in preparing Cafe de Olla, Mexican coffee. In this recipe, the piloncillo is mixed in with dark roasted coffee, cinammon, and maybe some anise seeds.


Piloncillo has a very high molasses content, therefore the color varies from light to dark brown. To produce it, sugar cane is crushed and the liquid boiled and poured into molds. These molds are either block shape or cone shape. When it dries, the cones are packaged and sold as Piloncillo. These are hard molds of sugar. To use it, you must either chisel it or grate it. But the taste is divine.

I woke up with a craving for Piloncillo bread that I used to buy at the Bowie Bakery, El Paso's finest in Mexican pastries. But alas, I couldn't get down there. But I did have some piloncillo on hand and decided to incorporate it into some brown sugar pound cake. Well, I just made myself a cup of coffee and sliced off a big old chunk of my Piloncillo bread. Life is good.















Brown Sugar Pound Cake
(Inspired by Martha Stewart recipes)

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cone piloncillo, chopped


Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Prepare 2 (8 x 4 inch) loaf pans by greasing and flouring.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time until well combined. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to butter/sugar/eggs mixture. Combine well. Fold in piloncillo pieces. Pour into two prepared pans. Bake for about an hour. Cool 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool completely.

I drizzled mine with a little powdered sugar/ milk combination. But you can leave yours plain if you like. Now make yourself a cup of coffe and enjoy.


Please check out my new chocolate blog: Mexican Chocolate Lore and More. Let me know what you think about it and how I can make it even better for you. Muchas gracias mis amigos y amigas.

14 comments:

Tina Butler said...

Teresa where can you purchase the cone piloncillo? I am dying to make this recipe. It turned out beautiful. I bet it was so tasty.

Tina Butler said...

I will check out my local Mexican Grocery Market and see what i can find. Have you ever made homemade Conchas Teresa? Those are my favorite. I love going to the Mexican Bakery when i was young and loading up on those. They are still my favorite.

VG said...

Hi Teresa

Great recipe. There is a similar rich sugar in South East Asia (Malaysia etc) but it is made with palm sugar. I might try to use that in this recipe.

By the way, there is an award for you at my blog. Please collect.

Cheers, VG

Anonymous said...

Gosh, that must be sooooo good with the piloncillo! It looks marvelous! That's just the kind of treat that leaves me with a total lack of self control. :-)

Arlene Delloro said...

I'll have to check out our local Mexican market for piloncillo so I can make this cake. It looks lucious!

Sophie said...

I have only used piloncillo in capirotada, but it's a great idea to put it in a pound cake...it is such a delicious thing to bake with!

Megan said...

I've always seen the piloncillo but had no clue what it was. Now I'm dying to try this recipe! Thanks for bringing something new into my life! I'm trying this one. Now, I'm off to see your chocolate blog. I love me some good mexican chocolate!!!

Pam said...

The bread looks delicious! I love baking with brown sugar - it has such a wonderful flavor. Great recipe.

Thistlemoon said...

WOW! I love pound cake! I have never heard of this sugar before. It looks yummy!

Unknown said...

That looks really good. Then again just about everything you make looks good.

Adi said...

Hola cielo, como me gusta que nos enseñes productos típicos mexicanos, son deliciosos...
No creo que aquí en España pueda conseguir piloncillo, pero lo intentaré en tiendas gourmet.
Si no puedo conseguirlo, intentaré tu receta usando azúcar integral de caña sin prensar.
Gracias por la receta.

Anonymous said...

I love the flavor of unrefined brown sugar. It's just so much tastier than processed stuff. You've got great taste there Teresa!

Alicia Foodycat said...

The only thing I have to compare that to is gula melaka - unrefined palm sugar that you use in Asian food. It must add such a lovely rich flavour.

Deb in Hawaii said...

Your pound cake look wonderful! Interesting about the sugar--I have seen pictures of it but didn't know the story behind it.