Snowskin Mooncakes

With about 2 weeks away to the mid-autumn festival (中秋节), this is now the perfect time to make your own mooncakes. Snowskin mooncakes (冰皮月饼) are my favourite over the baked mooncakes, and they are also easier to make – there is no baking involved, and all you have to do is to make the moon cake skin and wrap them around the (ready made!) lotus filling. They are also very pretty to look at especially if you make all kinds of colours.

See Also:

• Traditional Baked Mooncakes Recipe

My family love these cute mini snowskin mooncakes, and we have been enjoying them for breakfast or tea break the past few days.

Here are some of the ingredients and tools you will need to make moon cakes.
(A) ready made mooncake filling (lotus paste).
(B) kaofen (fried/cooked glutinous rice flour)
(C) shortening
(D) mini mooncake moulds.You can get them from Phoon Huat (PH) or Kwong Cheong Thye (KCT); KCT carries filling paste in minimum 500 grams pack (more information on my instagram) so it is my preferred place to buy, while PH sells in minimum 1kg pack.

In a large bowl, measure and add sifted kaofen and icing sugar. Rub shortening into the flour mixture with your fingertips.

Add iced water and combine with a spatula until a soft dough is formed.

Divide the dough depending on the number of different colours you intend to make. Add food colouring, a few drops at a time, to each portion and knead until the colour is well distributed. You can add a few drops of ice water to help the colour to distribute evenly, if required.

Note: I divided my dough into five equal portions. The original colour of the dough is white. I am using red dye for pink, pandan paste for green, yellow and red + yellow for orange.

Divide dough into 15 grams pieces.

Tip: If there are odd leftover dough left, combine and weigh them into 15 grams pieces to make multi-colour snowskin mooncakes.

Divide the filling paste into 25 grams pieces. If desired, add 1 tsp of melon seeds to each serving of filling paste. Shape each dough into a ball. Make the same number of filling balls accordingly to the number of 15 grams mooncake dough you have.

Add appropriate amount of kaofen to each portion of dough, a little at a time, and knead until it is no longer sticky. Do not over-knead. Flatten the dough to a small circle either by hand or a rolling pin.

Place the lotus paste ball in the center of the mooncake skin. Hold the skin in one palm, use your other hand to to close the skin over the lotus paste. When this is done, shape mooncake into a ball by gently rolling it in both palms. Remember to dust your work surface, hands and rolling pin with flour to prevent sticking.

Dust the mooncake ball in flour. Press it firmly into the mooncake mould. Turn the mould over and give it a few taps to loosen the mooncake. Repeat until the dough is used up.

Store snowskin mooncakes in airtight containers and chill in fridge. Serve cold.

Print

Snowskin Mooncakes Recipe

In this recipe, a mini mooncake mould is used. Each mooncake is made with 15 grams mooncake dough (skin) and 25 grams filling. If you used a different mould, do adjust and weigh the dough & filling according to the proportion stated.

Serves: roughly 20 mini mooncakes

Total Time: 40 mins

Prep Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

• kaofen aka fried/cooked glutinous flour (糕粉) for dusting work surface, rolling pin, hands and dough

Mooncake Filling

• 500 grams ready-made mooncake filling paste (such as lotus paste, red bean paste etc)
• melon seeds (about 1 tsp per mooncake)

Mooncake Dough

• 100 grams kaofen sifted
• 80 grams icing sugar sifted
• 30 grams shortening
• 150ml iced water with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• food colouring optional

Tools

• mini mooncake mould (50 grams mold)

Directions:

Dough (Mooncake Skin)

1. In a large bowl, add flour and icing sugar. Rub shortening into the flour mixture with your fingertips.
2. Add iced water and combine with a spatula until a soft dough is formed.
3. Divide the dough depending on the number of different colours you intend to make. Add food colouring, a few drops at a time, to each portion and knead until the colour is well distributed. Add a few drops of ice water to help the colour to distribute evenly, if required.
4. Divide dough into 15 grams pieces.
5. If there are leftover odd coloured dough left, combine and weigh them into 15 grams pieces to make multi-colour snowskin mooncakes.

Filling paste

1. Divide the filling paste into 25 grams pieces. If desired, add melon seeds to each serving of filling paste. Shape each dough into a ball.
2. Make the same number of filling balls accordingly to the number of 15 grams mooncake skin dough you have.

Making the snowskin mooncakes

1. Add appropriate amount of kaofen to each portion of dough, a little at a time, and knead until it is no longer sticky. Do not over-knead.
2. Dust hand or rolling pin with flour and flatten each dough into a small disc. Wrap the mooncake skin around the filling and shape it into a ball.
3. Lightly dust the mooncake ball with additional kaofen. Place it in the mooncake mould and press firmly. Invert the mould and tap a few taps to push the mooncake out. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
4. Store mooncakes in airtight containers and chill in fridge for up to a week. Serve cold with Chinese tea.

Credit: Mooncake dough recipe adapted from ZaTaYaYummy