Pacencia, A Classic Filipino Cookie

Hello! It's time to feature another favorite Filipino snack! The Pacencia!

Pacencia or meringue cookies are small drop cookies made from egg whites, flour, and limes. They are circular in shape and usually eaten during Christmas. You can eat some any time of the year however. This snack is most likely influenced by Spanish due to its name. Pacencia is a Spanish word for Patience.

I think there are two kinds of pacencia cookies in the market. This one on the photo are the ones I usually see on the market today.

Before, there's a version with a thin layer of white meringue on top called white pacencia. The latter tastes more delicious in my opinion. But the recent pacencia cookies sold at the groceries in our area are also good. The pacencia cookie is sweet and light in the mouth that is why it is addictive eating it. 😆

I don't exactly know why this cookie is called pacencia. When I was little I thought eating some will give you more patience. Hahaha. But I read some blogs and they think it was called such because baking it was quite a challenge. They say one should master baking meringue cookies to come up with perfect pacencia cookies.

It's been years since I have eaten white pacencia cookies. Hopefully I can find this kind of cookies someday. 😄 Here's a photo to show the difference between a white pacencia and a regular pacencia cookie.