Roscas (Filipino cuisine)

{{Short description|Type of pastry}}

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{{Distinguish|Rosca}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}

{{Use Philippine English|date=December 2022}}

{{Infobox food

| name = Roscas

| image =roscas_(Leyte_cuisine).jpg

| caption =Two pieces of the Leyte "roscas" joined together for presentation.

| alternate_name = Rosca de biscocho

| country = Philippines

| region = Leyte and Samar

| creator =

| course = snack, dessert

| type = Cookie, pastry, biscuit

| served =

| main_ingredient = lard, anise, flour, sugar, butter, and egg yolks

| variations = with tuba palm wine as liqueur ingredient

| calories =

| other =

}}

In Philippine cuisine, roscas or biscochos de roscas refer to a type of pastry cookies from the province of Leyte, mainly from the towns of Barugo and Carigara, made from lard, anise, flour, sugar, butter and eggs.{{Cite web|url=http://www.leytesamardailynews.com/roscas-makers-in-barugo-reels-on-drop-of-sales/|title="Roscas" makers in Barugo reels on drop of sales {{!}} Leyte Samar Daily News|website=www.leytesamardailynews.com|date=August 21, 2014 |language=en-US|access-date=February 18, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://triptheislands.com/food-and-drinks/6-native-delicacies-you-should-taste-when-in-leyte/|title=6 Native Delicacies You Should Taste When in Leyte {{!}} Trip the Islands {{!}} Travel the Best of the Philippines|website=triptheislands.com|language=en-US|access-date=February 18, 2017}}{{cite web |title=Biscocho |url=https://www.aboutfilipinofood.com/biscocho/ |website=About Filipino Food |access-date=January 30, 2019}} These roscas are initially shaped as crescents or penannular rings (hence the name—roscas is Spanish for "rings"). Each of the roscas is then cut in half before baking, resulting in two separate elbow-shaped cookies.{{Cite web|last=de Veyra|first=Jojo Soria|date=February 13, 2017|title=Travel and Pop Semiotics: The Romance in Leyte's Broken Rings|url=https://diskursoartmagazine.wixsite.com/diskurso/the-romance-in-leytes-broken-rings|access-date=April 5, 2021|website=diskurso|language=en}}

While some claim that these pasalubong pastry cookies trace their history to the Spanish era,{{Cite news|url=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/324580/lifestyle/food/rice-cakes-roscas-and-more-eats-at-the-samar-food-fest|title=Rice cakes, roscas, and more eats at the Samar Food Fest|newspaper=GMA News Online|access-date=February 18, 2017|language=en-US}} others have indicated that roscas-making in Leyte was started in the town of Barugo by a returning migrant only in the late 1960s; the migrant's success was purportedly replicated in the nearby town of Carigara and the far town of Calbayog in Samar province. What original recipe the roscas derive from remains unspecified in that account, however.{{Cite web|url=http://library.pcw.gov.ph/sites/default/files/case-report-wee-kneading_success_barugo_roscas_making.pdf|title=Kneading Success for Barugo Roscas-Making|last=Convergence for Enterprise Development|first=GREAT Women Project|date=January 2013|website=Philippine Commission on Women Digital Library|access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-date=February 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218150406/http://library.pcw.gov.ph/sites/default/files/case-report-wee-kneading_success_barugo_roscas_making.pdf|url-status=dead}}