Chef Nouel Omamalin says his favorite recipes in “Cuisinero: Taste of the Philippines” are his takes on biko, both because biko “brings back so many memories” and because it got him to the semifinals at the 2018 Valrhona Chocolate Chef Competition in France. Biko also happens to be one of my favorite Filipino sweets — it’s the only kakanin my lola taught me to make before she moved back to the Philippines — so I tried one of Omamalin’s recipes. To a standard coconut-based biko, he adds a liberal amount of Valrhona Dulcey, a “blond” chocolate made by caramelizing white. The result, topped with Luzon-style latik (coconut curds) just like my lola used to make, is both novel and familiar, luxurious and comforting — just the kind of thing we all need right now.

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