Maja Blanca with Cream Style Corn

Maja Blanca

Maja blanca is a Filipino dessert primarily made of coconut milk and corn thickened with cornstarch. It’s sweet with a delicate corn flavor. The texture is soft and silky, slightly firmer than your regular pudding–basically like a thick gelatin.

This is actually one of my husband’s favorite Filipino desserts. He loves it so much that he prefers it to be his “birthday cake” rather than an actual flour cake.

Why you’ll love this recipe

Here’s why you’ll love my maja blanca recipe:

• The pudding is not too sweet. It uses condensed milk as the primary sweetener balanced with a pinch of salt. Additional sugar is completely optional.
• It’s packed with coconut milk and corn flavor.
• It’s soft, tender, light, and not dense but best of all it doesn’t fall apart or break when slicing.

Ingredients

And here’s what you need to make this Filipino corn pudding:

• Coconut Milk – For the best flavor, use the purest you can find. At most, it should only have water as an added ingredient.
• Canned Creamed Corn – the secret to making the best maja blanca!
• Fresh milk – I prefer this over evaporated milk. The flavor is not too overpowering and preserves the corn and coconut milk flavor.
• Sweet Corn kernels – add a nice texture to the pudding. It’s totally optional.
• Condensed Milk – the primary sweetener of this pudding.
• Salt – balances the sweetness or as I call it in Filipino “pangtanggal umay”.

Cornstarch Mixture

• Cornstarch – is also known as cornflour in the United Kingdom. Please do not confuse it with cornflour in the U.S. which is made with maize kernels.
• Fresh Milk or water – use interchangeably. I prefer fresh milk for a creamier flavor.

How to Make the Best Maja Blanca

Here’s how to make it!

Why did my maja blanca not set?

Making maja blanca is incredibly easy but a few minor mistakes can lead to undesirable results.

Here are some tips to make sure that your maja blanca is fully set, yet still tender and light.

• Use medium heat – do not use high heat as this will rapidly boil the milk and cause curdling.
• Quickly stir the cornstarch slurry before adding it to the simmering liquid.
• Simmer the milk – make sure the liquid ingredients are hot enough and SIMMERING before adding the cornstarch slurry. This activates the cornstarch and thickens the entire mixture quickly! It’s like magic! Adding the cornstarch to a cold mixture is what causes maja not to set.
• For a silky and smoother texture – slowly and gradually pour the cornstarch slurry while continuously and gently stirring the milk mixture. Don’t pour it in one go or the milk will form into lumps.

Serve with Toppings

Once the pudding is set, sprinkle with any of these toppings:

1. Dry latik – or coconut curds. You can get the recipe here.
2. Toasted coconut flakes – toast desiccated coconut in a pan over low heat until it turns brown. Add sugar to taste just before it finishes cooking.
3. Grated Cheese – Use processed cheddar cheese or mild cheddar cheese.

Shelf-life and Storage

Keep refrigerated until it’s ready to serve. It should last for 3 to 4 days.

Note that the texture of maja blanca will be firmer when it’s cold and fresh out of the refrigerator. “Dechill” for 20 minutes at room temperature if you prefer a softer texture.

Watch How to Make it

More desserts you might like…

• Tres Leches Cake
• Creamy Whole Eggs Leche Flan
• Easy Chocolate Cake
• Sweet Fruit Salad
• Buko Pandan
• Turon with Langka
• Palitaw