Buko Pandan Dessert
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Buko Pandan Dessert is a rich, creamy and refreshing dessert made with pandan jelly, coconut strips and chewy tapioca pearls!
My girls have grown to love Filipino desserts such as Buko Pandan and Coffee Jelly. They are truly, truly delighted each time I make coffee jelly so it is also natural that they are drawn to this Buko Pandan Dessert.
Very similar to coffee jelly, Buko Pandan dessert is a cream based treat but with pandan as the main flavor. I often get reminded of Filipino potlucks and gathering when I make this. It is so simple yet we have grown to love it because of the creamy, jelly, and sweet elements all in one luscious dessert.
Buko Pandan Dessert
- Made of pandan flavored cream that is sweetened with condensed milk. The cream nestles a mixture of pandan jelly, tapioca pearls and young coconut strips.
- The process involves mixing all components together ( like a Filipino Fruit salad), and then it’s done. However, the jelly component needs a brief cooking, incorporating gelatin into a pandan flavored liquid.
Ingredients Highlight
- Pandan Leaves. This is boiled with water to infuse the gelatin with a deeper pandan flavor. However, if you cannot find it, simply omit and just use pandan flavoring.
- Pandan Flavoring. I strongly recommend finding a brand that is green in color. Some pandan flavoring are clear (colorless), but using green flavoring will give you a more authentic looking buko pandan dessert. Here is the one I use. (affiliate link) It is so thick, like it is almost a paste. A few drops will give good color saturation and flavor. If you are using other brands, please adjust amount accordingly or follow label recommendations.
- Unflavored Gelatin. The instruction in the recipe for making the pandan jelly is for when you use Knox or Dr. Oetker Unflavored Gelatin powder. If you are using different brands, please refer to the package instructions. I believe with some brands, you can put the powder directly to the liquid in the recipe. Also, note the amount amount of liquid we need for the pandan jelly. There will be about 3 cups of liquid to set here, so I would use the amount of gelatin needed to set that much liquid plus more for a more stable (not jiggly ) pandan jelly.
Cooked Tapioca Pearls
I have so much to say about this so it needs its own section, For ease, use cooked tapioca pearls that come in jars. They are found in Asian groceries. However, I cannot find them here so I resorted to Amazon and what I got is better! I got these easy to cook tapioca pearls and they are indeed so easy to cook. I had the experience of cooking the traditional tapioca pearls and I was not very happy with how long and involved the boiling process was, and then I still ended up with some tough pearls mixed in with the tender ones. But these? So easy! A quick 15 minutes and you have chewy, tender, boba-quality tapioca pearls. Plus it’s a lot. You can make pearls for other desserts too. Here is the link (affiliate link).
Tip: Do not add the tapioca pearls into the mixture if you do not plan on serving the dessert right away. keep them in a jar with sugar syrup or maple syrup/ honey. Add them upon serving in individual containers.
Buko Pandan: Process Overview
- Cook the Pandan Jelly. Boil water and pandan leaves (if using) and simmer for 20 minutes. Add pandan flavoring, and sugar. Stir in the dissolved gelatin into the pot and constantly stir as it simmers for another minute or so. Pour into shallow dishes and allow to set, then cut into mini cubes.
- Make The Creamy Pandan Liquid Base. Combine condensed milk, cream and pandan flavoring in your large serving bowl. Scrape and pour the cubed pandan jelly into the bowl.
- Add the Rest of the Ingredients. Add the coconut strips to the bowl. Stir gently. taste and adjust to your preference.
- Chill and then Serve. Scoop some tapioca pearls to each serving.
More Filipino Desserts
Buko Pandan Dessert
Buko Pandan Dessert is a rich, creamy and refreshing dessert made with pandan jelly, coconut strips and chewy tapioca pearls!
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Servings: 6
Calories: 527kcal
Ingredients
For the Pandan Jelly
- 3 cups water plus an extra 300 ml for dissolving
- 1 small bunch pandan leaves thawed, if frozen washed thoroughly) see note 1
- 2-3 drops pandan flavoring (green colored, preferred) see note 2
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (Knox or Dr. Oetker) each envelope has 7 grams of powder for a total of 21 grams of unflavored gelatin powder. See note 3
For the Pandan Creamy Liquid
- ½-¾ cup condensed milk
- ¾- 1½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup shredded coconut strips See note 4
- 1 cup cooked tapioca pearls or cook them yourself See note 5
- 1-2 drops pandan flavoring
Instructions
Make the Pandan Jelly
- Boil 3 cups of water in a large pot. Add the thawed and washed pandan leaves. Let this simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove the Pandan leaves. Strain the liquid if necessary then pout liquid back to the pot. Add 2-3 drops of pandan extract (the amount maybe different for a different brand so read your label). Add sugar and simmer over low heat.
- Meanwhile sprinkle the powder gelatin over 150 ml of cold water. Stir the powder in. Then, pour 150 ml of boiling water on top of the dissolved gelatin and stir to completely dissolve the powder.
- Allow to simmer for about a minute. Pour into 2 wide and shallow containers. Allow to cool. Then, refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until set. Once set, use a knife to slice through the jelly horizontally and vertically in the container to make small jelly cubes.
Put Everything Together
- Pick a large serving bowl from which you will serve the buko pandan dessert. Gently scrape and pour the cubed pandan jelly into the bowl. Add the cream and condensed milk, gently stir.
- Add the coconut strips (see note 4).
- Stir everything and adjust to your own taste. You can add more condensed milk to sweeten, more pandan extract for more flavor or more cream to add more liquid.
- Chill in the fridge for atleast 1 hour, then serve. Scoop some cooked tapioca pearls into each serving.
Notes
- Pandan Leaves. This is mostly found frozen in the Asian grocery. If you cannot find it, you can simply omit it and use straight pandan flavoring/ extract.
- Pandan Extract. There are lots of brands for pandan extract. McCormick has one that is clear (colorless). For a more aesthetic buko pandan dessert, I prefer the ones that are green in color. Here is the brand I use (affiliate link).
- Unflavored Gelatin. If you are using brand other than the ones I mentioned, please follow the package directions and amount suitable for using them in a recipe. The instructions I used here is for Knox/ Dr. Oetker brand.
- Coconut Strips. I used the frozen variety. The package instructions say to heat the coconut to 74 degrees Celsius so I boil it in water briefly. This results in a more tender chew which I like. Please follow the package directions for the coconut brand you choose. If you can get it fresh where you are, lucky you!
- Cooked Tapioca Pearls. There are Filipino brands in jars that are cooked already. All you have to do is drain and add it to the mix. However, I cannot find those so I bought one off of Amazon and it is so great! Quick cooking and yields such a tender, chewy tapioca pearls! I am beyond happy 🙂 Here is the brand (affiliate link). Note: if you are using this, do not add it to the pandan dessert right away. It will harden as they sit in the liquid. Instead, store the cooked tapioca pearls in sugar syrup or maple/ honey in a jar. Scoop into the individual pandan desserts upon serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 527kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 70mg | Potassium: 221mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 1150IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 133mg | Iron: 1mg
Both creamy and refreshing, we love this for a special dessert.