Before we start making mooncakes, it may be helpful to learn about the tradition and culture behind them and why we make them.
The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) is a traditional event observed and celebrated all over Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and in many countries in East and Southeast Asia.
中文翻譯文字在下方)
It has a long history, with people having celebrated the harvest during the autumn full moon since the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BCE). It is the second-most important festival after the Spring Festival - Chinese New Year.
The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar. In 2024, it falls on Tuesday 17 September.
Being an agrarian society in the past, the festival was originally a time for the people of China to enjoy harvests of rice and wheat, along with food offerings made in honour of the moon. Today, it is an occasion for families to get together, and as it is believed that the moon is at its brightest and roundest on Mid-Autumn Day, these are perfect conditions for ‘moon worship’ and harmonious reunion.
One of the best-known legends about the Mid-Autumn Festival is of Chang E, the Chinese goddess of the moon. The story goes that Chang E‘s husband, the great archer Hou Yi, had been gifted an elixir of life as a reward for shooting down nine of the ten suns that had been causing such extreme heat and danger to the population. On August 15th of the Chinese lunar calendar, whilst Yi was away from home, his apprentice Peng Meng tried to force Chang E to give him the elixir. Chang E refused and instead swallowed it herself. When Yi came back later in the day, he found that Chang E had flown to the moon, all alone. Devastated, he set about offering sacrifices to the moon to remember his wife, and this is said to be the reason people make mooncakes and offerings on the 15th day of the eighth month.
Traditional mooncakes are baked pastries consisting of a rich, sweet filling and a thin, moist, golden brown crust. They are made with a variety of fillings, including lotus seed paste, red bean paste, and mung bean paste etc.
Snow skin mooncakes trace their origins to Hong Kong, where they were first created as a lighter alternative to the traditional baked mooncakes.
The name “snow skin” reflects the mooncake’s smooth and soft outer layer, which is made from glutinous rice flour, giving it a texture reminiscent of snow. The original version of snow skin mooncake has a white, chewy, mochi-like exterior and is served cold. Nowadays, you can find colourful versions which are even more appealing.
Over the years, snow skin mooncakes have evolved with modern innovations and cultural adaptations. Chefs and bakers continue to experiment with new ingredients and techniques, creating mooncakes that reflect global culinary influences while maintaining their cultural roots.
We love the filling of lotus seed and red bean paste so much, here I would like to share with you how to make your own silky smooth lotus seed paste. As the name suggests, it is made from dried lotus seeds which are rehydrated, cooked until soft, and then processed into a smooth purée.
Homemade Lotus Seed Paste - It is possible to buy ready-made lotus seed paste in some Asian grocery stores, but making your own means that it tastes fresher and with no preservatives added, plus you can control the sweetness of the paste.
Beautiful Snow Skin Mooncake
(Makes about 12 lotus seed paste filling mooncakes)
Ingredients:
Homemade lotus seed paste filing:
150g dried lotus seed
500ml water
80g sugar
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp glutinous rice flour
2 tbsp water
3 tbsp oil
For the skin:
50g glutinous rice flour
50g rice flour
35g wheat starch
50g sugar
200ml full coconut milk
2 tbsp plant milk
2 tsp oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the coating:
A small bowl of glutinous rice flour
Tools:
Steamer
Mooncake making moulds (You can get them from Amazon)
Two spatulas
Good quality non-stick pan
Instant pot (if using)
Food grade vegan red colouring
Method:
1 Wash the lotus seeds and then place in warm water (around 50C) for 30 minutes or so to soak and soften. Open the seeds and remove the green centre part - the germ, as it’s very bitter. Rinse the lotus seeds again, drain off then put them into the Instant Pot and add 500ml water. Cover and press the setting for ‘Bean’. Let it cook and naturally release the pressure.
2 If you don’t have an Instant pot or a pressure cooker, after removing the green centre part from the seeds and rinsing, you can instead soak the lotus seeds in hot water for 2 hours. Wash and drain again, add in 600ml fresh water, bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for a further 2 hours, until the lotus seeds are softened, and they become mushy when you press one between your fingers.
3 Whilst the lotus seeds are cooking, we’ll make the skin. Sieve the glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and wheat starch from the ‘skin ingredients into a large bowl and mix together. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir well. Lightly oil a deep dish, pour the mixture through the sieve into the dish and steam over medium heat for 30 minutes.
4 With a flexible spatula, scrape the dough off the dish. Transfer it to another plate to cool quickly. After 10-15 minutes, once no longer hot to touch, bring the dough together and knead it with gloved hands until it becomes completely smooth and elastic. It is important to knead the dough very well to reduce stickiness and improve its elasticity, this will ensure your dough can stretch adequately around the filling.
5 Shape the dough into a thick disc. Cut into two halves. Shape one half into a thick log, wrap it tightly with cling film. Add a very small amount of the red food grade colouring to the other half of the dough (be sure to know the intensity of the colour before hand, add just enough to create a soft pink colour for the dough). Continue to turn and knead the dough until the colour is spread evenly throughout and you have a pale red/soft pink effect, before shaping this half into a log also. Cover both logs tightly with cling film. To make assembly easier later, chill them in the fridge for at least one hour, but ideally overnight.
6 Once the lotus seeds are cooked, and left to cool for about an hour, use a hand held blender to blitz them in their cooking liquid until it becomes a fine purée. Pass the purée through a fine sieve to achieve an ultra-smooth and shop-bought like paste. It takes a bit of time and patience, but is totally worth it, so please don’t skip this step.
7 Mix up the 2 tbsp glutinous rice flour with the 2 tbsp water, leave to one side. Heat up a good quality non stick pan, pour the lotus paste in, stir with a spatula over medium heat for 5 minutes to cook off some of the water. Then add the oil in, keep stirring and turning to cook for 5 minutes. Next add the sugar and salt, continue to fry the paste the same way for another 5 minutes before adding in the glutinous rice flour and water mixture.
8 Keep stirring and turning the paste over medium heat for a further 30 minutes. As the mixture starts to thicken, fold the paste from the outer-edges towards the centre. Keep repeating until the mixture holds its shape as you do so and you can form a firm block. The whole paste-cooking procedure takes a total of 45 minutes. This seems like a long process, but the end result makes the hard work worth while, so again, if you would like to produce a completely fine and smooth lotus seed paste, this is the most important part, so please don’t skip it.
9 Shape the paste into a block and leave to cool. Then wrap the lotus seed paste in cling film and put in the fridge to chill for an hour while you prepare the coating.
10 Heat a non stick pan over medium heat, add in the small bowl of glutinous rice flour, stir and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until the flour appears to change into a slightly beige colour, empty into a small jar and leave to one side.
11 Assemble the mooncakes. I use 63g Mooncake moulds and my cakes are composed of 40g each of filling and 20g of skin. I really like this ratio, and if you follow my tried and tested method, it should result in a super thin layer of skin wrapped around a mooncake full of soft, smooth and delicious lotus seed filling.
12 Separate the dough for your skin into 20g portions and roll into balls. Then do the same with your filling but 40g each. Put everything in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes for easy handling later when wrapping. I’ve made extra of the skins for wrapping around the red bean paste filling also. I’ll share how to make the red bean paste in the Tips section at end of the recipe below. Or you can use any other filing which you prefer for the remaining skins.
13 You are now ready to assemble the Mooncake wrapping station. Lay out your balls of lotus seed filling and the moon cake skins, as well as the coating flour. You will also need your mooncake moulds, a pastry brush, a rolling pin, some baking paper and a tray.
14 Using two small pieces of baking paper, sandwich a ball of the mooncake skin in the middle, and use a small rolling pin to roll it into a disc as thin as possible, just big enough to encase your filling. Place a ball of filling under the disc and wrap the skin around it before turning over and gently pressing down to close up and flatten the gap. Roll into a mooncake ball or a slight oval shape in order to fit into the mould without catching at the sides.
15 Brush around the moulds with a little coating flour, shake the excess off. Gently roll the mooncake balls in the coating flour, again shake or brush off any excess flour.
16 Carefully place the mooncake ball inside the mould, press down gently and steadily, hold a count of 5 on a flat surface then gently release the mooncake from the mould. It may stick sometimes, you can help by pressing down a couple more times or simply using another hand to help bring it out. Repeat the process for the rest of your mooncakes.
17 Keep the cakes in sealed boxes and store in the fridge overnight or for at least 8 hours before eating them. This gives them chance to form their shape and separate the skin from the filling, for them to be enjoyed at their best.
Keep the moon cakes covered and store in the fridge. Consume within 2-3 days as after 3 days, the texture of the cakes will change.
There you have it! A tray of beautiful and stunning Snow skin Mooncakes have been created by you! What better way to share them with your family and friends to celebrate the Lantern festival together.
Tips:
1 Before assembling, make sure the skin balls and the filling balls have been covered and chilled so they are reasonably firm to touch. This way, they are much easier to handle.
2 I’ve made enough skin balls for two batches of mooncakes. One for the lotus seed paste filling above, one for red bean paste filling. As I use the Instant Pot - Pressure cooker, the process for both the lotus seed and red bean is the same. Just wash 150g red beans, drain and put inside the cooker, and follow steps 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9 above to achieve a silky smooth red bean paste result.
美麗白蓮蓉冰皮月餅
(可做約12個蓮蓉月餅)
材料 :
自製蓮蓉餡：
乾蓮子 150g
水 500ml
油 3 大匙
糖 80g
糯米粉 2 大匙
水 2 大匙
鹽 ½ 小匙
餅皮 :
糯米粉 50g
粘米粉 50g
澄麵粉 35g
糖 50g
全脂椰奶 200ml
植物奶 2 大匙
油 2 小匙
香草精 1 小匙
糕粉 (裹粉)：
糯米粉一小碗
工具：
蒸籠
月餅製作模具 (可以在 Amazon 買到)
兩把抹刀
品質很好的不沾鍋
壓力鍋 - 如果使用 (我用 Instant Pot)
食品級純素紅色素
做法 :
1 將蓮子洗淨，放入溫水（50℃左右）中浸泡 30 分鐘左右軟化。打開中間並除去綠色的中心部分 - 胚芽，因為它很苦。將蓮子再次沖洗乾淨，瀝乾水分後放入壓力鍋中，加入 500ml 水。蓋上並按 “Bean”設定。讓它煮好後，自然放壓。
2 如果沒有壓力鍋，可以將蓮子去除中間綠色部分並沖洗後，用熱水浸泡蓮子 2 小時。再次洗淨瀝乾，加入清水 600 ml，煮沸，轉小火，再煮 2 小時，至蓮子變軟，用手指捏時可成糊狀便可。
3 煮蓮子時，我們便做餅皮。將餅皮材料中的糯米粉、黏米粉、小麥澱粉過篩入大碗中，拌勻。加入剩餘的食材並攪拌均勻成粉漿。在深盤上塗上少許油，將粉漿混合物過篩倒入，中火蒸 30 分鐘。
4 用軟而富彈性的抹刀將麵團從盤子上刮下來。將其轉移到另一個盤子上以便快速冷卻。 10 -15分鐘後，一旦摸起來不再熱，將麵團用戴手套的手揉捏，直到它變得完全光滑且有彈性。需要充分揉捏麵團以至減少黏性並提高其彈性是非常重要的步驟，這樣才確保麵團在包裹餡料時可以周圍充分拉伸。
5 將麵團搓揉成厚圓盤狀。切成兩半。將一半推揑成粗圓柱，用保鮮膜包緊。在麵團的另一半中添加極少量的紅色食品級色素（一定要事先知道顏色的強度，只需加非常少，只足以為麵團創造出淺粉紅色便行）。繼續翻轉和揉捏麵團，直到顏色均勻地融入整個麵團中，成淡紅色柔和的粉紅色效果，然後將這一半也推揑成圆柱狀。也用保鮮膜包。為了方便之後包月餅餡時易於操作，放入冰箱中冷卻至少一小時，放過夜第二天才用也可以。
6 蓮子煮熟後，用手持式攪拌棒就在鍋中和煲好的湯汁中一起攪拌，直到變成細膩的蓮蓉。將蓮蓉過細篩，以獲得非常光滑且像買回來的一樣。這需要一些時間和耐心，但完全值得，所以請不要跳過這一步。
7 用 2 大匙糯米粉與 2 大匙水混合，放在一旁備用。燒熱一個好質素的不沾鍋，倒入蓮蓉，用鍋鏟中火攪拌 5 分鐘，煮去部分水份。然後加入油，繼續攪拌並翻轉煮 5 分鐘。加入糖，用同樣的方法再炒 5 分鐘，然後加入糯米粉和水的混合物。
8 繼續翻拌並以中火將蓮蓉糊再攪拌 30 分鐘。當蓮蓉開始變稠時，從外緣向中心折疊。不斷重覆，直至形成塊狀。整個翻炒過程總共需要 45 分鐘。這看來是一個頗長的過程，但最終的成果讓辛苦都覺有價值，所以再次強調，如果你做出細膩光滑的蓮蓉，這是最重要的部分，所以請不要省略。
9 待涼後，將蓮蓉用保鮮膜包好，放入冰箱冷藏一小時。
10 烘糕粉：中火加熱不沾鍋，加入一小碗糯米粉，用中火攪拌翻炒約 5 分鐘，直到麵粉變成淺米色，倒入小瓶子中放涼備用。
11 組裝月餅。我用的是 63g 的月餅模具，我的月餅是用 40g 餡和 20g 皮組成的。我喜歡這個比例，如果你按照這方法，會做到用超薄皮，包裹著名滿是柔軟、幼滑和美味蓮子餡的月餅。
12 將做餅皮的麵團分成 20g 一份，然後搓成球。再把蓮蓉分成 40g 一份，也搓成球。全部放進冰箱冷藏 30 分鐘，以便稍後包月餅時不會軟糯黏手。我還做了額外的皮來包裹紅豆沙餡。我將在食譜末尾的小貼士部份分享如何做紅豆沙。又或者，你可以用喜歡的任何餡料去包進剩餘的餅皮也行。
13 現在可以排設月餅包裝站。將蓮蓉餡球、月餅皮球、裹粉、月餅模具、糕點刷、小型擀麵杖、一些烘焙紙和托盤排開。
14 先取一餅皮球，用手掌心壓扁成小圓塊，用兩小張烘焙紙夾在中間，用小擀麵杖將其擀成盡可能薄的圓皮，大到足以包住餡料便成。
15 在模具周圍刷上少許糕粉，抖掉多餘的粉。將一球餡料放在圓餅皮上，然後翻轉並輕輕包裹起並推揑至掩蓋縫隙然後收口。把月餅球輕輕搓成略為椭圓以便入模或避免卡著，將月餅球輕輕放入糕粉中滾動，撥或刷掉多餘的裹粉。
16 小心地將月餅球放入模具中，平穩地按下在平坦的工作檯上，數到 5，然後輕輕地將月餅從模具中放出。有時它可能會粘著，可以多按幾次或簡單地用另一隻手幫助將其取出。對其餘的月餅重覆此過程。
17 將蛋糕放在密封盒中置冰箱存放過夜或至少 8 小時後才享用。使它們有機會固定形狀並使皮和餡料更入味。
18 將月餅蓋好並存放在冰箱中。 2 - 3天內吃完，因為 3 天後，冰皮月餅的質地會改變，令口感也不會那麽。
就這樣！一盤美麗又令人驚豔的冰皮月餅就被你親手做好了！ 還有什麼用比這樣美好的甜品與家人朋友分享，一起慶祝中秋節覺得更温暖呢？
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