Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up soon! Mooncakes, or yue bing, are the quintessential food of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the lunar calendar's eighth month, marked by a full moon. Today, let's make snow skin mooncakes at home!
Notes: Mooncake paste is sold in most Chinese supermarkets. It comes in a variety of flavors: red bean, lotus seed, red dates, and etc. The dough to filling ratio is 1:1. Since I’m using a 50 g (1.76 oz) mooncake mold, both the dough and filling can be 25 g (0.88 oz).
Mooncake Dough Ingredients: 10.6 oz (300 g) ready-to-use red bean paste 1/2 cup (2.6 oz) (75 g) glutinous rice flour, plus 6 tablespoons for dusting 4 tablespoons (1.06 oz) (30g) rice flour 4 tablespoons (1.06oz) (30 g) wheat starch 4 tablespoons (50 g) sugar 2 tablespoons extra light olive oil 3/4 cup (184 g) milk, cold 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, for dusting
Red Bean Paste Recipe: 1 ½ pound azuki beans 4 ½ cups water 1 cup sugar
If you want to make the red bean paste from scratch, first soak the azuki beans in water for 2 hours or up to overnight. Rinse and drain.
Then, in a large pot, add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the beans and cook over low heat for 2 hours, adding ½ cup water every 30 minutes, until they become mushy.
To thicken, turn the heat to high and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring constantly. At this point, the liquid should have almost dried out.
Add 1 cup of sugar and use an immersion blender to blend everything until smooth.
In a saucepan over low heat, add the red bean paste and stir continuously for about 10 minutes. The paste should feel thick and heavy, with the texture of peanut butter.
Transfer the paste to a plate, and place it in the fridge for 1 hour. (Once it has cooled, the filling will become firmer, and therefore easier to manage.)
This tutorial demonstrates how to make chewy, soft, and sweet snow skin mooncakes. It covers the entire process from preparing the steamed dough and shaping the red bean filling to the final molding process, resulting in a dozen 50g mooncakes that can be enjoyed immediately or chilled.
In a large mixing bowl, sift in the glutinous rice flour, rice flour, wheat starch, and sugar.
Pour in the extra light olive oil. You can also use the other type of cooking oil.
Also pour in the milk. Whisk until smooth.
In a heatproof bowl, pour and sift the dough mixture.
Cover it up with foil paper and let it rest for 20 minutes.
In a steamer, pour water in and transfer in the dough mixture.
Cover the lid. Over high heat, bring it to a boil.
Continue to steam until the dough is fully cooked, 20 minutes.
Carefully take out the dough. Stir with a heatproof plastic spatula.
The dough is very sticky at this point, but it won't stick to any plastic.
Cover it up with a kitchen towel and let it cool down for about 30 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a plastic surface. Knead the dough until smooth, 3 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a Ziploc bag. Rest in the fridge for 2 hours.
For today's recipe, we'll be focusing on making the dough of the mooncake.
If you're interested in how to make the paste from scratch, you can also check the link right here.
You can find this ready-to-use red bean paste in most of the Chinese supermarkets.
Now we're going to weigh the red bean paste. The dough-to-filling ratio can be 1 to 1.
Since I'm using a 50 grams or 1.76 ounces mooncake mold,
then each portion of the filling could be 25 grams or 0.88 ounces.
Then roll it into a ball. Place it on a parchment-lined plate.
Do the same with the rest of the filling. Transfer the filling balls to the freezer
and let them rest while preparing for other stuff. It will be easier to assemble once the
filling is harder. To make the dusting flour in a pan, we're going to add in the glutinous rice
flour. Over medium-low heat, constantly stir until it is lightly browned, 5 minutes.
Weigh the dough. The dough-to-filling ratio can be 1 to 1.
Again, since I'm using a 50 grams or 1.76 ounces mooncake mold,
then each portion of the dough could be 25 grams or 0.88 ounces.
Roll it into a ball. Place it on a plastic surface. Do the same with the rest of the dough.
Cover it up with a plastic wrap. Flatten the ball dough with your hands into a round disc,
about 2 inches in diameter. Place the filling ball in the center of the disc.
Take out the gloves and dust both hands with glutinous rice flour.
Seal the opening. Dust the mooncake mold with powdered sugar.
Place the dough-to-filling ball inside the mold. Flip the mooncake mold and place it
on a parchment-lined surface. Press down, release, and lift up the mold.
We're going to continue with the rest of the dough and filling.
If you had other mooncake molds, you could also try to make different patterns.
For today's recipe, you can make a dozen 50 grams mooncakes. You can enjoy it immediately
or chill it in the fridge for a few hours. It will last in the fridge for up to a week.
It's chewy, soft, sticky, and sweet.
