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Homemade Snowskin Mooncakes

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It’s mooncake festival this month. Stores have started selling mooncakes since early August and we’ve succumbed to buying one or two cakes when we were out shopping.

This year I decided to venture to make my own mooncakes. After some research and scouting various recipes, I settled on making snowskin mooncakes. Mainly because I like them and they are rather hard to find in Perth… and because the recipe is actually a bit easier than the conventional baked version.

I found this recipe on fatboo.com to be the best one as it had detailed photos explaining the various ingredients and process.

Here is my version of the recipe…

For the homemade filling, I made three different types: red bean, black sesame, and a nutella flavoured one. All the filings start with a base of red bean paste.

First step is to prepare the red bean paste: Soak 1kg of red azuki beans in water overnight.

File:W azuki2111.jpgImage from wikipedia

The next day, transfer the beans into a pot, cover with water and cook until beans are soft. I used my pressure cooker which also worked very well.

After that, blend the cooked beans with the residual water in a food processor until it becomes a smooth paste.

Now comes the cooking process of the different types of filling. Here is the list of ingredients for each type:

Red Bean Filling
Approx 5 cups of the bean paste (about half of the whole amount prepared)
315g peanut oil (approx 1½ cups)
200g sugar (approx 1 cup)

Black Sesame Filling
Approx 3-4 cups of the bean paste (about a quarter of the whole amount prepared)
150g ground black sesame seeds (approx 1 cup)
280g sugar (approx 1¾ cups)
300g peanut oil (approx 1⅓ cups)

Nutella Flavoured Filling
Approx 3-4 cups of the bean paste (about a quarter of the whole amount prepared)
200g nutella (approx ¾ a cup)
100g sugar (approx ½ a cup)
150g peanut oil (approx ⅔ a cup)

Then it’s just a matter of combining everything together in a wok and stirring everything together over medium to high heat until it all comes together. At first all the ingredients will seem chunky and clumpy, but just keep stirring and periodically mashing some of the clumps of red bean. Eventually the oil and sugar will mix it together to make a beautiful paste

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Next up is the ingredients for the snowskin:
450-500g Fried Glutinous Rice Flour* (approx 4 cups – I used up the whole packet)
300g Icing Sugar (approx 2 cups)
270ml Cold Water (approx 1¼ cups)
30g Vegetable Shortening
A few drops of colouring or flavouring (I used pandan and almond essence)

*It’s very important that you get the FRIED glutinous rice flour and not the ordinary kind because the snowskin will not undergo any form of cooking.

*Tip: Set aside about ½ a cup of the flour for sprinkling on the dough when rolling it out.

Rub the shorterning in the flour with your fingers until the mixture develops a breadcrumb-like texture. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix everything together to form a dough. Work and knead the dough with your hands until you get a smooth supple consistency.

Everything should come together pretty well, but the measurement of the ingredients is not an exact science, so you can sprinkle in a little flour or water as needed to bring everything together.

Now comes the fun part, shaping the mooncakes

Pinch off about a palm-size portion of the snowskin dough and about the same amount of the filling and roll each of them into a ball.

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Roll out the dough into a rough flat circle (about 3-4mm thick), place the ball of filling in the centre and wrap the snowskin around it.

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Press the dough and filling ball into a mooncake mould (I find it helps to dust the mooncake with a little flour first to avoid the dough sticking to the mould).

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Then flip it over and knock the mooncake out. Sometimes it takes a few knocks and taps to pop it out. It might take one or two tries to get the right thickness of skin that works for you.

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Beautiful and delectable snowskin mooncakes all ready to be devoured myself given away to friends.

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Happy Mooncake Festival everyone!

ADDITIONAL NOTE: This is recipe is for a big batch – I made about 20 mooncakes based on this quantity. Feel free to scale the amounts down as needed if you want to make a smaller batch

 

Linking up to DinoMama’s Foodie Fridays :)

Comments

  1. Wow! How many mooncakes did you make? From the qty of ingredients you used, seemed like a lot to me! Just to share something about the glutinous rice flour, I read somewhere that you could actually steam them to make them cooked prior making the snowskin. I have yet to try this method. I used the stir fried method.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is an EXCELLENT question Sweetday! I totally forgot to mention that in my post. Thanks for the reminder. I added a note on this point based on your question.

      I made about 20 mooncakes in total from this. I still have some leftover fillings which I froze and plan to make a small batch of tau sar buns or pau next time.

      And also thanks for that tip on the glutinous rice flour. I'll be on the lookout for recipes on this steaming method to prepare the flour.

      Delete
    2. Hey! I failed on the snowskin again. haiz... so in the end, I am making lotus paste buns. Taste great although it looked a little yellowish. I used all purpose flour not pau flour.

      Delete
    3. Oh dear... well there's always next time. And yes, the pau is a good back up plan. I also use normal flour and don't mind the yellowish colour and it tastes alright. I'm sure your whole family enjoyed it!

      Delete
  2. thats some wickedly lookin mooncakes. can you please deliver some to your mooncake deprived brothers here in singapore? pretty please?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I sooooo wish I could 'cause I made lots. The problem is that it needs to stay chilled which I don't think is possible :(

      If I know anyone is going over to S'pore from Perth, I'll definitely ask to tumpang delivery

      Delete
  3. Pls send some over here kekeke~
    Really admire u n Sweetday, plunging into such a "difficult" cooking task! I'll probably won't go to that direction, too much work n i'll probably stay in bed the next day just to recuperate :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL... DinoMama, I also kinda had to take a break from cooking the next day to recuperate after that momentous task!

      Delete
  4. Woooo cool! I wish I'm as good in the kitchen as you but sadly.. I can only eat not make! lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha... I just make it in order to eat it... That is my main motivation!

      And it's ok... we still need the eaters in the world to support the makers ^_^

      Delete
  5. where do you find mooncakes in perth?? never seem to be able to find them.. wanna buy some for this weekend. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most Chinese grocery shops would have them... Saw lots at Emma's in Northbridge, someone told they bought from Chan Bros, and I'm quite sure Kongs Supermarket would have them as well

      Delete
  6. Thank you for the recipe, I got to try soon. I ave one question though, what is the difference between rice flour and just plain flour, Will it taste different? Thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi! The plain flour is more commonly available is normally wheat-based, versus rice flour which is made from rice. Not only does it taste different but the texture will also turn out very different.

      For this recipe, it's also important to note that the flour used is GLUTINOUS rice flour, which produces a more rubbery, pliable texture.

      You also need to look for FRIED glutinous rice flour which has been pre-fried as this particular type of snowskin for the mooncake does not go through any cooking process. This is one brand of the flour which is quite popular: Fried Glutinous Rice Flour

      You can find this in most Chinese/oriental supermarkets.

      There also are other types of mooncake that use normal plain flour and baked. I'll post up the recipe for this one day.

      Delete
  7. Nice that is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi, do you where you can get moldings for moon cake? That was amazing recipe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ting Shen! Actually I had a lot of difficulty finding the mould in Perth. Looked at many chinese shops here but couldn’t find it. This particular mould was borrowed from a friend who had bought it in Malaysia.

      However a number of people have told me that one of the Chinese shop in Market City on Bannister road in Canning Vale might sell them.

      Alternatively, there is always Ebay: Mooncake mouldings on Ebay

      Delete
  9. Hi Serene.. just wondering which brand of shortening you're using? I'm living in Adelaide and cant find the crisco brand of shortening...

    Bernie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bernie. No I couldn’t find crisco as well. But this was the brand I used: Copha Vegetable Shortening/Solid Cooking Oil. I found it at the cold food aisle at the section where they sell the blocks of butter/margarine at Woolworths and Coles. It comes in 250g blocks similar to the ones like butter or margarine. I think the reason why the recipe calls for the shortening is because it needs to be fairly solid to be able to ‘rub’ it in with the flour. Butter might be possible substitute, but I haven’t tried it and I’m not sure if the cream/dairy contents in butter would give a different texture result. Let me know if you need other suggestions

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the advice! I tried the copha shortening before and didnt get quite a good result. I was using another recipe which called for half the amount of glutinous flour as compared to yours and got a really runny batter! :s will try out your recipe soon! on a side note, i managed to get crisco shortening. I got it online, shipped from usafoods located in melbourne! they also have it in stock in DJs foodhall... :)

      Delete
  10. Where can I buy the fried glutinous rice flour ?? This mooncake need to be bake , steam or cook??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bought mine at a Chinese grocery. Not all Chinese groceries seem to carry fried glutinous flour though. I went to 3 different ones before I found it at the 3rd store I visited.

      This particular snowskin mooncake does not undergo any baking/steaming/cooking. It is eaten fresh as it is. That is why it is important to get the 'fried' glutinous flour which has sort of already been 'pre-cooked'.

      If you really cannot find any fried glutinous rice flour, you can get the ordinary glutinous rice flour (that is quite commonly found) and dry-fry or sort of 'toast' it in a frying pan.

      Hope that answers your question. Let me know if you need me to explain or clarify anything else!

      Delete
  11. These are amazing! I'm not a fan generally of moon cakes but Nutella-flavoured could be a game-changer. I'm so impressed you make you own!

    ReplyDelete

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