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Kitchen Challenge | Snowskin Mooncake

Asian Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) is just around the corner! This year, it falls on the 24th of September. I’ve been busy these days testing recipes for mooncakes, the traditional delicacy that Chinese people enjoy on this special occasion. Today, I’d like to show you how to make no-bake snow skin mooncake, Green Tea Custard Mooncake, and Beetroot Coffee Lotus Mooncake.

We want to challenge ourselves making them because the one they have in the market is too expensive. Moreover, we want to make some as a gift for our friends and family.

My love for snowskin mooncake is unparalleled. Love is probably an understatement. I’ve got to have at least one of these so-easy-to-binge-eat doughy sweet treats all to myself every Mid-Autumn Festival. No sharing is allowed, even if it comes in a large size.

Besides being so easy to munch on, snowskin mooncakes are actually really easy to make too! That’s great for me as I can make as many as I want to till my heart’s — and belly’s — content, and so can you.

This recipe is so simple; it’s like playing an adult version of Play-Dough. You could make a whole batch of it while watching your favorite TV show or get grab a kid or two to keep them occupied and entertained.

Let’s us get started by preparing the filling of the mooncake first. This time we are going to make some homemade custard filling. For the coffee lotus filling, we will be using pre-made one that we got from Phoon Huat.

Ingredients for Custard filling |

  • 20 gm cake flour
  • 20 gm custard powder
  • 55 gm caster sugar
  • 30 gm whisked egg
  • 30 ml condensed milk
  • 80 gm coconut cream
  • 45 gm butter, melted

Method for Custard filling |

Sieve all flours in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar. Whisk together the egg, condensed milk, and coconut cream until combined before adding melted butter. Pour into flour and mix until a smooth. Strain into a large and shallow pan. Cover with foil and steam for 15 to 20 minutes over medium-high heat.

Once firm removes and lets it cool down, give it a few kneads until smooth then wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for later use. Divide into 8 portions of 32g each and roll into balls.

We also make some extra Custard filling aside as we want to wrap it in the Beetroot Coffee Lotus Mooncake, making it look like the egg yolk in the traditional mooncake. Then divide the custard filling into 8 portions of 12g each, and the coffee lotus into 8 portions of 20g each. Afterwards, roll the custard into a ball. Then using the coffee lotus we wrap the “egg yolk” in it.

Now that we have our filling ready and leaving them aside. We can now make our skin! Start by sieve all flours in a large mixing bowl then add sugar and stir with a whisk to mix. Mix milk and condensed milk together before pouring into the flour mixture. Mix until combined then stir in vegetable oil.

Strain through a fine sieve into a large and shallow pan. Cover with foil and steam for 15 to 20 minutes over medium-high heat. Let it cool down before transferring to your mixing bowl and add green tea powder. Knead until you get an even green dough. Divide into 8 portions of 33g each. Roll each piece into a flat circle, keeping the center thicker.

Now come to the fun to wrap and chop them! This is my favorite part in making them, as it’s so excited to see the out come of the mooncake!

Here some little tips for you, to ease your pain in making them!

  • Shortening fat is vegetable fat with less grease. Other brands besides Crisco, can be found in major supermarket stores and baking supplies shops.
  • Rest the soft dough to turn it into moist and pliable textured snow skin. If rest soft dough longer than 10 minutes, covers the dough with the dry cloth or cling wrap when resting it.
  • Snow skin can make into different flavor and color by changing the flavor/ essence, according to different filling used.
  • If you wish to add salted egg yolk, reduce the amount of lotus paste to half. Salted egg yolk and lotus paste can be found at major supermarkets.
  • As the snowskin is so sticky it is best to work with the clear wrap of plastic gloves. It is totally a mess when the mochi skin sticks onto you or anywhere.

Ingredients |

  • 40 gm glutinous rice flour
  • 20 gm rice flour
  • 8 gm wheat starch
  • 12 gm plain flour
  • 35 gm caster sugar
  • 160 ml milk
  • 35 ml condensed milk
  • 30 ml vegetable oil (such as sunflower oil or canola oil)
  • 1½ tsp matcha powder & beetroot powder
  • 3 Tbsp cooked glutinous rice flour, for coating

Method |

Now that we have our filling ready and leaving them aside. We can now make our skin! Start by sieve all flours in a large mixing bowl then add sugar and stir with a whisk to mix. Mix milk and condensed milk together before pouring into the flour mixture. Mix until combined then stir in vegetable oil.

Strain through a fine sieve into a large and shallow pan. Cover with foil and steam for 15 to 20 minutes over medium-high heat. Let it cool down before transferring to your mixing bowl and add green tea/ beetroot powder. Knead until you get an even green dough. Divide into 8 portions of 33g each. Roll each piece into a flat circle, keeping the center thicker.

Wrap the filling with the snowskin dough firmly and seal the edges well. Coat with cooked glutinous rice flour. Shake away the excess then press in a floured mooncake mold firmly then press it out to unmould. Store in an air-tight container covered with a kitchen paper in the fridge for a couple of hours before cutting and serve. These mooncakes are really soft and need to be handled gently. If you like, you can freeze first in order to cut them into neat slices.

Mooncakes can be kept for a few weeks in the chiller. Just thaw it before serving.

xoxo, Joe.

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