The ratio should be one part of pastry to two parts of fillings. Do you reckon I can increase the amputation of oil when making the pastry so the end result won’t be too dry? An average box of 4 mooncakes cost US$60. Try to bake slightly longer or at a slightly higher temperature. However, it’s nearly impossible to find any ingredients locally. Auhui-style mooncake is featured with its thin crust and full stuffing. Hi KP Moon cakes consist of a thin layer of pastry wrapped around a dense filling. If you are not living at a place with a large Chinese community, you should be able to get it from Amazon online. KP Kwan. Some mooncakes are savory, filled with meats or vegetables. Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony", as well as the name of the bakery and the filling inside. Mooncakes: Mooncakes are a type of Chinese pastry traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn festival, but can be enjoyed any time in the year. If you use the store-bought one, try to add some oil and knead to combine it. As for the 5-nut version, I am not sure as I have not made that before. Do you know how much should I use for the dough? 1. I am glad to hear that the recipe works well. The mooncakes contained a secret message: on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, kill the rulers.[9]. Thanks, and I appreciate your patience in trying this recipe. I do not suggest you do so, as lye water is readily available in the Chinese community. You can also use red bean paste instead of the lotus paste as the filling. Essentially made out of flour, sugar, and oil, eating an entire mooncake takes up almost half of your daily quota of calories. We use a digital weighing machine down to one gram in our restaurant to measure everything from solid to liquid. The Mid-Autumn Festival began Thursday in China and around the world. I found kansui at my local baking shop but in powder form. KP Kwan. Three types of mooncake crust are used in Chinese cuisine:[citation needed], There are many regional variants of the mooncake. The resulting 16 pieces were pieced together to reveal the message. I use water to rinse away any egg white that adheres to the salted egg yolk. Hi Kp Kwan Thank you. Thanks for sharing and love your site. They often have a whole salted egg yolk in their center. Continue to bake until the pastry turns golden brown. Traditional mooncakes are made of sweet soft thin pastry wrap around various filling. Certainly. Their designs largely resemble that of their Chinese counterpart, though some other images, such as the sow with cub, fish, shrimp, etc. I live in Malaysia, and this is available at almost any kitchenware shop. The style and purpose of this festive dessert have evolved considerably in the modern-day. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. The traditional lotus seed paste filling was smooth and rich, without the cloying aftertaste left by baking fillers and preservatives. People celebrate the harvest moon by eating mooncakes and lighting lanterns. Other Western ingredients, including champagne ganache, malt whisky, volcanic-salt caramel and even Black truffles, caviar and foie gras have made it into mooncakes. Compared to other variants, Vietnamese mooncakes' flavor is more on the sweet side. Mooncakes are traditional Chinese pastries that are made during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is celebrated in China, Vietnam, as well as other countries in Asia. Although vegetarian mooncakes may use vegetable oil, many mooncakes use lard in their recipes. Im wondering if you have the recipe for snowy mooncakes. I am using the salted egg fresh from the market since they have everything that I need. I believe I uttered “I want to kill myself” too many times during the past few days, which made Thomas very worried. Unbeknown to many, the humble, traditional mooncake packs a whopping 716 calories. I use it to convert 24g vegetable oil and is equal to 1.8tbsp or 27ml or 0.85 oz. Mr. Kwan, Hi Stephanie, Another method of hiding a message was to print it on the surfaces of mooncakes (which came in packages of four), as a simple puzzle or mosaic. This is a small mooncake, and therefore you do not need to pre-cook the egg yolk. Mooncakes are traditionally elaborately decorated with Chinese characters and symbols, as well as other delicate designs like flowers, vines, and animals. Hi Wong, Thank you! They often have a whole salted egg yolk in their center. Traditional mooncakes contain a paste made from lotus seeds or beans, and they're sweet. Hi, this is KP Kwan. Or should I refrigerate it after? I assume because you are using 10 egg yolks . (use accurate weighing scale is recommended, as too much kansui can be bitter) In addition to standard mooncakes, this bakery offers something a little different from the rest. Yunnan Style Mooncake with Xuanwei Ham. This process is called 回油 in Chinese. What Were Mooncakes for? Roll out the pastry in between two plastic sheets or cling wraps. A rich thick filling usually made from red bean paste or lotus seed paste is surrounded by a thin, 2–3 mm (approximately 1/8th of an inch) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Hi Rachel, Imprints of the Moon, Lady Chang'e on the Moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the Moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration. I tried making mooncakes but the dough ended up really dry and tough despite following the measurements accurately. Other than that, the recipe has a large margin of error. I am sorry that I do not know the answer. Most people cannot eat a whole mooncake on their own, with families cutting their mooncakes into wedges and eating them together. Wash the egg yolk with water to remove the egg white sticking to the yolk. The cake is made round also because Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion and “round” has a similar pronunciation with “reunion” in Chinese. Hello,I can’t find lye water in my country so I have to make my own, for the homemade lye water you mentioned one portion baked to 4 portion of water can I get measurements? Hi Winnie, The first part of this mooncake recipe is to prepare the dough. After being filled with various combinations of salted egg yolk, dried sausage, mung bean paste, salt, sugar, cooking oil, sugared pig fat, lotus seed, watermelon seed, it will be brushed with egg wash, then baked in the oven. Thank you, Kwan. The most traditional mooncake found within Taiwan is filled with sweetened red bean paste, sometimes with mochi in the center. KP Kwan. It is sweetened so you can use it out of the box. Just my thought! If I were to use purple sweet potato, egg yolk and pine nuts for the filling; will the pastry be too too dry. Hi Jackie, I lived in China for a few years with my Chinese husband, and we’re going to make moon cakes for the first time this year in the UK. ), and even ham have been added to give a modern twist to the traditional recipes. Golden syrup is an inverted sugar. The other variation is called Snow Skin Mooncake, in which the process does not involve baking at all. The crust is made of frozen glutinous rice, and looks snow white. Love your recipes and the tips/footnotes provided. Try The Best Mooncakes in the U.S. Hi, this problem never happens to me, and I do not have the right answer. Lye water is kansui/枧水/jian shui in Chinese. Then add four portions of water to dissolve the baking soda. A crucial point that I have not tried indeed! Learn how to make this traditional filling for mooncake with simple ingredients. I followed the ingredient list and portions exactly. Thank you so much! Taro paste (芋泥, yù ní), pineapple and durian were amongst the first to be introduced, especially amongst the overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. It has sufficient gluten to form the dough but is not too much that will harden the soft pastry. Cake flour has a lower (about 8%), and all-purpose flour has a higher (about 10%) protein. Baked mooncakes are more traditional, and as the name suggests, baked (chewy, flaky or tender, as noted above). A good quality mooncake should have a thin pastry with consistent thickness. Yunnan style moon cakes, also known as Yunnan ham moon cakes, are made of a Yunnan specialty Xuanwei ham, plus honey, lard and sugar mixture as filling. Add all at once to the above mixture. Hey! There is a folk tale about the overthrow of Mongol rule facilitated by messages smuggled in moon cakes. Enjoy your baking. The salted egg yolk will be cooked as this are mini size mooncakes. However, I will include the tsp and tbsp in approximation in my new recipe to come for the readers’ convenience. Why has this measure now changed and what would I measure in you recipe for 24 g into mls. A skillful chef can use even less pastry to encase the filling. Made for a dinner party last night and 9 people ate the whole thing. Hi Sima, So great with some cups of tea. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by tea. I have one which may be useful to you. Note: The explanation is long because I want to cover all aspects that may affect the results, but the actual work is quite straightforward. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Thank you. In addition, filling with ingredients such as coffee, chocolate, nuts (walnuts, mixed nuts, etc. Or I shouldn’t refrigerate it at all? This step is to ensure the dough will not stick to the mold during shaping. I hope it will solve the problem Today, most people refer to either baked or Snowskin mooncakes. They can be baked or eaten immediately. However, this kind of white coloured mooncake is popular with teenagers. Mooncakes are a central dish to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in China. In Vietnam, mooncakes are known as bánh trung thu (literally "mid-autumn cake"). Larger sizes are not uncommon. Azuki (red bean) paste is the most popular filling for these mooncakes, but other sorts of beans, as well as chestnut, are also used. Thanks, Thank you so much for this great recipe, and also giving me the confidence to try it! ), fruits (prunes, pineapples, melons, lychees, etc. KP Kwan, Happy early Mid Autumn Festival to you too . These old-school confections are known as la bia in the Chaoshan region in the east of Guangdong, where the Teochews came from. Lye water darkens the color of the pastry. KP Kwan. Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Wow the effort and detail you have put in this is absolutely amazing. Some people prefer lard, but it has become unpopular recently as there is a concern about the health issue. Snowy mooncakes first appeared on the market in the early 1980s. Also, I noticed some recipes include the golden syrup in their filling (i.e. If I assume that golden syrup is also used for the filling (which I am not sure), then I will suggest adding kansui to the filling too to neutralize the acidity of golden syrup of the filling.) Sunny Bakery . I’m vegan so I wanted to omit eggs and found this very useful response which I’m keen to try out! Hi Pol, To adapt to today's health-conscious lifestyle, fat-free mooncakes also appeared. https://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/ This looks delicious All Rights Reserved. The dough will take the shape of the mold, and the pattern will be imprinted on the surface. I am pleased to reply to any questions and comments as soon as possible. Snow Skin Mooncake with Custard Filling The snow skin mooncake is made with a tender and … I am happy to see you in this comment area, as you have read through my recipe. I hope that is what you mean by melting. However, there are other types of mooncakes too. The egg yolk of salted egg is quite firm. Stay safe&happy! Popular modern flavors include green tea, chocolate, strawberry and tiramisu. The amount of golden syrup and kansui should be proportionate. ), vegetables (sweet potatoes, etc. Til now I cannot forget its taste. Hi Christine, The result clearly showed that the baked egg yolk separated from the filling. It can be completed within an hour. Thank you for the recipe! KP Kwan. (Courtesy Maggie Zhu) Instead of the baked mooncake, Zhu recommends first-time mooncake-makers try out snow skin mooncakes. The weight of the filling is the combination of the lotus paste and the yolk. This is a traditional treat eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival in China. Mooncakes were used for delivering secret messages during times when people wanted to rebel against the Mongolian government. Thank you, Hi, By doing so, we can rip the benefit of the golden syrup that creates a soft pastry without the sour taste. Remove the cling film on top, fold the pastry towards the filling. Moon cakes are a traditional Chinese pastry that is eaten every year around the time of the Mid Autumn Festival, one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. KP Kwan. So if I am you, I will head to the grocery shop to get some ready-make salted egg this round. However, the pastry may not be as soft as those made with golden syrup, and the color of the pastry is on the lighter side. Shake off the excess flour. "Bánh nướng" (baked mooncake) is made from wheat flour, cooking oil, and simple syrup boiled with malt. The lotus paste is cooked by adding sugar and oil, and therefore it contains oil. Hi Jonathan, I am sure it will benefit other readers who can’t find the ready-made lotus paste. In the middle of the bean paste is a bright yellow salted egg yolk…the “moon” in the mooncake. It can be said that "bánh nướng" and "bánh dẻo" are two special kinds of cake in Vietnam. Hi Christina,\ This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix on 7/19/2019. Therefore, I thought this is close to absurdity and trigger me to I should develop a simple recipe that everyone can follow to make it at home. Simply added 2/3 cup sugar, pureed, then added 6 tablespoons shortening to the seeds. Traditional Chinese delicacies such as ginseng and bird's nest were soon followed by abalone and shark fin. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. KP Kwan. Traditional Chinese mooncakes, specifically Cantonese-style mooncakes, are baked, golden-brown and molded or stamped on top with the name of the filling. The yam filling and flaky pastry crust are what set Teochew mooncakes apart from other mooncakes. Mooncakes are generally made round to symbolize the full moon. Types of traditional mooncake include:[original research? The dryness of the outside ‘skin’ is mainly due to insufficient oil migrates back from the filling to the skin. There is no specific technique involved. Snowskin mooncakes originated in Hong Kong as a way to reduce the oiliness of traditional mooncakes. Hi Kelly, Thanks for trying the recipe. During this time, the oil in the lotus paste will enter the skin and soften it. Traditional mooncakes are made of sweet soft thin pastry wrap around various filling. Thank you for your advice. Compared with the store-bought alternative, the flavors in my mooncakes were cleaner and fresher. Thanks so much and I can’t wait to give this to a friend as a homemade gift! Snow skin (雪皮 xuepi /shwair-pee/) mooncakes are non-baked mooncakes, which originated in Hong Kong, and have become fashionable in China. Mooncakes are quite similar to the traditional Chinese. It also tends to be slightly sweeter than mooncake that made with golden syrup with the same quantity. The classic filling for mooncakes is lotus seed paste, although sweet red bean paste and jujube paste are not uncommon. These non-baked, chilled mooncakes usually come with two types of crusts: In addition, the Chaozhou people also have a fried lotus cake (or lotus pastry) (simplified Chinese: 莲花酥月饼; traditional Chinese: 蓮花酥月餅; pinyin: Liánhuā sū yuèbǐng), eaten on the Mid-Autumn Festival. I will follow your recipe to do that. They are widely popular and are sold only during the Mid-Autumn Festival season. Hello, this is my first time here. Snow skin (雪皮 xuepi /shwair-pee/) mooncakes are non-baked mooncakes, which originated in Hong Kong, and have become fashionable in China. You can also increase the lotus paste’s oil content as the oil from the paste will migrate to the pastry. I attempted to make mooncake for the first time including the lotus paste from scratch. For added hygiene, each cake is often wrapped in airtight plastic, accompanied by a tiny food preserver packet. Customers pick and choose the size and filling of mooncakes that suits their taste and diet. To read the message, each of the four mooncakes was cut into four parts. Hi, may i know what is the size of mooncake mould you using base on this recipe. I would say up to a week should be fine, but not sure what will happen after one week as I never try that before. I am going to send this recipe to all my friends because this recipe is amazing. Snowskin crusts are thin and made from glutinous rice. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by tea. I think it should be something like thick peanut butter, which is thick enough to hold its shape. Similarly, plunge the piston of the mooncake mold to the flour, and shake off the excess. Mooncakes can be made in multiple batches with different fillings and pressed with different patterns. We’re using red beans inside. KP Kwan. Red bean mooncake is one of the most classic mooncake during Mid-Autumn festival. Please keep the freshly baked mooncake for three days before consuming it. After three days, the oil from the filling will migrate to the thin layer of pasty, resulting in a very soft and moist outer layer. However, understand that it takes about three weeks to marinate the egg. I suspect the lotus paste you use contains too little oil. The most likely cause of shrinkage at the waist is insufficient baking. Happy Mid Autumn Festival in advance. Fantastic recipe! Hope it will turned out great! Greeting from Australia. Thank you again! ], Over time, both the crusts and the composition of the fillings of mooncakes have diversified, in particular due to a commercial need to drive up sales in the face of intense competition between producers and from other food types. This is a very interesting recipe and I am thinking about trying to make the mooncakes-however, I am not a fan of egg yolks-can the cakes be made without the salted egg yolk? "Bánh dẻo" is not as popular as "bánh nướng", however. Ben Ben Diaries – #92 “What are mooncakes made of?” Sorry for the long hiatus as I was busy with setting up my new business and also living my very own "baby Seth Diary". The steamed egg yolk seems overcooked a little, while the best result is from the one that was just clean with water and pat dry.Needless say, I will neither bake or steam the egg yolk, which does not show any significant benefits. Hi Nicole, This is the first time I have made it. Really can’t guarantee the result but is worth to try. I’m so thankful I found your blog. This prompted the quick distribution of mooncakes. But in my country we do not celebrate autumn, which is sad. This is to make 10 pieces of Mooncakes? Because of this, I will add ninety-five percent of the flour to the oil and golden syrup mixture, then add the remainder slowly to the right consistency, if necessary. Thank you for sharing your recipe. You can use honey as the substitute, and omit the lye water as honey is not acidic. Mooncakes are usually round, made in a special mooncake mold, and contain a sweet filling, with the most common one being lotus seed paste or red bean paste. KP Kwan. The closest I can think of is the mooncake collapse. Fillings may include pork, chocolate, cheese, milk, durian, jackfruit and many other exotic fruits made into a paste. KP Kwan. So you can do it your way as long as the egg yolk is fully wrapped within the lotus paste. Hello KP! The traditional "mooncake" does not taste very good, particularly the preserved duck egg yolk in the center which makes your tongue feel gritty. Should be good at least one to two weeks. The reason I use gram is that it is the most accurate way of measuring. You can use green tea powder (also called matcha powder) to get the green color. Moreover, there is a large population here who do not eat pork. mooncakes made with honey instead of golden syrup. I made the decision that I’d make mooncakes a month ago, not knowing what I was getting myself into. Since the purpose of lye water is to neutralize the acid, that means other alkaline ingredients will do the trick if lye water is unavailable. The egg wash will protect the crust of the cake from drying out and create the aroma of the cake. The festival is intricately linked to legends of Chang E, the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality. Some of the earliest forms of diversification were by changing the fillings with ingredients considered unusual then. Clean the salted egg, then crack it open. For context, according to the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS), the average recommended daily intake of calories is 2,500 for men and 2,000 for women. Pinch away the excess pastry where the pastry is double folded to ensure consistent thickness. If you are willing to spend some time to make the lotus paste filling, make your own is the best since you can control the sweetness, softness and the texture. If you use 5x golden syrup, kansui should be 5x too. I think I got most vía amazon but I could really use a recipe for lotus paste or any others that I could get off amazon. Today, it is customary for businessmen and families to present them to their clients or relatives as presents,[1] helping to fuel a demand for high-end mooncakes. Glad to know it turns out well and you love it. The outside of my mooncake melted after I baked it! Ps: Happy Mooncake Festival to you. i need help! Thank you so much, Mr. Kwan! Plunge the piston of the mold to the flour, and shake off the excess. They are associated with Chinese culture and are sold all year round, mainly in Japan's Chinatowns. I will do the same as you if I use this filling. KP Kwan. Making mooncakes does require some skill, and tedious if you start from scratch. the best way (and free) is to use a service form Convert Me dot com. They come in a wide variety of flavours ranging from the traditional baked ones, to the Teochew flaky ones filled with yam paste, to snowskin varieties filled with chilled fruit pastes. However, many prefer to add 100% pure Hunan lotus seed to maintain the quality of mooncake. The ingredients used in the fillings are various. What are mooncakes made out of? Why do we use golden syrup instead of the regular sugar to make mooncake? The ingredients usually consist of: jam, dried sausage, mung bean paste, salt, sugar, cooking oil, sugared lard, lotus seed, watermelon seed, etc. KP Kwan. I have the same thought as you. Traditional mooncakes feature base fillings of red lotus paste, white lotus paste or red bean paste, with 0-4 salted duck egg yolks embedded within. KP Kwan. Hi Lea, So I can feel all the feelings of the autumn tasting them. KP Kwan. This is the perfect time for me to share with you the mooncake recipe that I have just made. Pat dry. [20] Maxim has been known for its lava custard mooncakes which were extremely popular in mainland China, as well as its July sell-out sales of coupons (each coupon redeemable for a box of mooncake in August–September). Inverted sugar is a mixture of two simple sugars, i.e., glucose and fructose, as opposed to the regular sugar, which is sucrose. I intend to make mooncake with nuts, do I need to add extra oil to prevent the skin from drying? With Kunming purple wheat flour for the crust, their surface is golden or brownish red. I just marinate my egg with salt lastnight to achieve salted egg but I like to speed up the time by adding water and more salt before bake day on 1 oct. Due to China's influence, mooncakes and Mid-Autumn Festival are also enjoyed and celebrated in other parts of Asia. Am I supposed to just add kansui to every batch of golden syrup before I use it? Important: You need a kitchen scale to measure all the ingredients accurately. Pork-free products are the trend now because everyone in our community can enjoy it. It is entirely a different mooncake recipe which will be discussed separately. I did try once in Viet Nam, I remember! Chinese Culture >> Chinese Food Articles >> Mooncake. It is prepared by boiling the regular sugar with an acid such as lemon juice until it becomes a thick amber-colored syrup. (Courtesy Maggie Zhu) Instead of the baked mooncake, Zhu recommends first-time mooncake-makers try out snow skin mooncakes. I bought it and will attempt to make. I never make the nut version of the mooncake and do not want to give you an untested answer. Made my mooncakes the other day with homemade red bean paste as a filling and they turned out great! If you want to use the traditional (full-size mold), it should be around 130g to 150g. Chewy mooncake crusts are made using a combination of thick sugar syrup, lye water (碱水, sodium carbonate (碱 [Na 2 CO 3]), flour, and oil, thus giving this crust its rich taste and a chewy yet tender texture. For example can I bake 1tsp or baking soda and mix it to 4tsp of water? Hi Lila La, Although I prefer to wrap the egg yolk with the lotus paste without pre-cook the egg yolk, I have carried out a simple test to validate two methods to cook the egg yolk as suggested by some mooncake recipes. Mooncakes are cakes that are from China. I did add 1 pouch of vanilla sugar to base/choux pastry, used fat free cream cheese and skim milk for pudding mixture, … Since the amount of water varies among different brands of golden syrup, the amount of flour required to form the soft dough is not the same.