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This recipe is like a bridge between mine and Doug’s cultures. In my Filipino culture, I’ll see maja blanca served at family gatherings and holidays. In Doug’s Hawaii culture, haupia is served as a little treat after a hearty plate lunch. Haupia is basically maja blanca without the corn.
The first time I had haupia was at Helena’s Hawaiian Food, the first time I landed in Oahu to meet all of Doug’s family. When I had the slice of haupia, I was so happy to learn that they ate maja blanca too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I’ve made this several times for family gatherings, and everyone loves the silky texture of my maja blanca. I also made it not too sweet, but if you like it sweeter, feel free to add a few tablespoons of additional sugar (make sure to taste with each additional tablespoon of sugar before adding more).
What is Maja Blanca?
If you love coconut desserts, TRY THIS. Maja blanca is a jelly-like coconut firm pudding that is sliced in blocks and enjoyed for dessert. My recipe is less firm and more silky, which makes it more refreshing to eat.
Maja blanca is supposed to be “white”, aka no corn. Maja mais meant that there was corn in it. But growing up everyone would call this recipe maja blanca, even if there was corn in it. I guess it became the standard name!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Maja blanca has a very simple ingredients list: full-fat coconut milk, granulated sugar, kosher salt, cornstarch and corn!
You can use canned corn but this time I made it with fresh corn off the cob and because the corn was so sweet, my maja blanca turned out AMAZING!
Lastly, latik (coconut curds) is a very common topping to finish off the treat. You can follow my guide on how to make latik at home.
Coconut Milk vs Coconut Cream vs Coconut Beverage
This recipe uses coconut milk.
It can be a challenge to navigate the different coconut based ingredients. Both coconut milk and coconut cream are (ideally) simply just coconut and water. Coconut milk is thinner with higher water content than the thick coconut cream. Coconut cream has a higher fat content and is usually used when you need a thicker consistency.
Both coconut milk and coconut cream are commonly found in a can or carton. If you were really pressed, you could make coconut milk by simply adding water to coconut cream.
Coconut beverage is sometimes labeled as coconut milk but in the context of plant-based milk alternatives like soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, etc. I’m sure there are recipes out there that call for this but I’ve never made anything that calls for it so when I see “coconut milk” I assume it is the canned product.
How to Make Maja Blanca Step by Step
For full list of ingredients and detailed steps, check out the bottom of this page.
Maja Blanca is ridiculously easy to make. You stir everything in one pot, and allow it to set in the fridge.
First, mix a small amount of coconut milk with cornstarch. Then add sugar, salt, and the rest of the coconut milk.
Cook the mixture down until it thickens up, about 10 – 15 minutes.
Add your corn. If using fresh corn, shave the cob. Otherwise just pour in a can of corn
Pour into a baking dish and chill in the fridge for a while, 1 – 2 hours
After chilling, slice and top with latik. Serve and enjoy!
Tips for Perfect Maja Blanca
Room Temperature Coconut Milk
Make sure your coconut milk is NOT hot when you mix it with cornstarch. Cornstarch does not mix well with hot liquids.
Understand Your Coconut Milk
Coconut milk varies between brands. Some are sweeter like Kara brand and others have different fat and water content.
Use Sweet Corn
Canned corn is probably the most common to use but I’ve used fresh sweet corn straight off the cob and it was soooo good!
Tools
Ozeri Food Scale
Especially with baking, a food scale is extremely helpful as it measures weight, not volume, which is more accurate. You should use weight measurements if a recipe provides them.
Diamond Kosher Salt
When you need salt, this is the one.
Coconut Milk
I try to use coconut with the least amount of ingredients (preservatives). Pro tip: Trader Joe’s coconut milk is very clean!
Make sure you are buying coconut milk and not coconut cream! They are different forms of the same thing though. Coconut milk is just coconut cream with more water content.
FAQs
Maja blanca is the pudding with no corn. Maja mais is maja blanca with corn
If your maja blanca is soft or gooey, the cornstarch did not do its job. It could be that the ingredients ratio was off or maybe the mixture wasn’t cooked long enough. Also make sure you used the correct full fat coconut milk ingredient.
You can use coconut cream but remember it is concentrated coconut milk. You may have to add water or maybe it ends up being a texture you prefer!
Maja blanca will last around 4 days in the fridge. It should be served cold.
As mentioned above, technically maja blanca contains no corn. Maja mais is the version with corn but again, maja blanca has become the catch all term. All this to say: YES! you can make maja blanca without corn.
Recipe
Maja Blanca
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- In a large pot, combine cornstarch and about 1/4 can of coconut milk. Stir until the cornstarch is dissolved.
- Add the sugar, salt, and the rest of the coconut milk. Mix until fully combined.
- Place the pot over medium heat, and stir the mixture constantly until the texture becomes thick and gloopy, about 10-15 minutes. Do not leave unattended, which may burn or curdle the mixture.
- Turn off the heat, and mix in the corn kernels until evenly dispersed throughout the coconut pudding mixture.
- Pour the mixture into a 10”x8” baking dish, and smooth out the top with a rubber spatula.
- Allow to fully cool, then cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge until firm, which will take about 1-2 hours.
- Slice the maja blanca into squares, and enjoy!
More Recipes You’ll Love
This recipe continues my series of kakanin, Filipino rice based desserts. You can find the others on my website:
- Learn how to make latik (coconut curds) using a can of coconut cream.
- Puto is a soft and fluffy rice cake topped with something salty. In my case, American yellow cheese.
- Cassava Cake is a bouncier flan that uses cassava as a base. It is topped with custard.
- My siblings fight over kutsinta, a sugar and glutinous rice mixture that is steamed.
- Palitaw is probably the most basic and easiest kakanin you can make.
- Biko is caramelized sticky rice on a bed of banana leaves that is my favorite of all kakanin
- Sapin-sapin is the iconic tri-colored rice cake that blends ube, jackfruit, and coconut flavors
- Pichi-pichi is cassava based sweet bites covered in shredded coconut
- Suman is glutinous rice and brown sugar steamed in banana leaves
- Feeling nutty? Try peanut-filled masi