Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important event in Chinese traditional holidays . This festival was a time to enjoy the succesful harvest with food offerings in honor of the moon (Wiki )
Today , it is more of a family gathering or reunion , kids carrying brightly-lit lanterns at night and making or buying and giving mooncakes .
Traditional mooncake is made from Chinese pastry crust with rich filling either from red bean paste or lotus seeds and may contain yolk(s) from salted ducks egg(s) and baked . Though this kind of mooncake is still popular here in Hongkong , some people prefer the snowskin mooncake which was popularized by Taipan bakery .
Snowskin mooncake is made from glutinous rice , flour , sugar , milk and oil and the filling is usually mungbean paste and must be stored in the freezer . Some version have fruits , chocolate , cream cheese or any fillings under the sun that pastry chefs can think of .
Making snowskin mooncake is pretty easy just like making a mochi but much prettier . Different kinds of plastic moulds are used to create different patterns . In these mini version , I used a 50 grams mould and filled some pieces with both mung bean and ice cream and made a sort of matcha mochi ice cream mooncake . The filling is wrapped inside the cooked snowskin dough , dusted with some cooked glutinous rice flour to prevent sticking then pressed into the desired mould . This kind of mooncake should be kept frozen .
Snowskin mooncake is made from glutinous rice , flour , sugar , milk and oil and the filling is usually mungbean paste and must be stored in the freezer . Some version have fruits , chocolate , cream cheese or any fillings under the sun that pastry chefs can think of .
Making snowskin mooncake is pretty easy just like making a mochi but much prettier . Different kinds of plastic moulds are used to create different patterns . In these mini version , I used a 50 grams mould and filled some pieces with both mung bean and ice cream and made a sort of matcha mochi ice cream mooncake . The filling is wrapped inside the cooked snowskin dough , dusted with some cooked glutinous rice flour to prevent sticking then pressed into the desired mould . This kind of mooncake should be kept frozen .
I had a hard time with ice cream filling though , it should be soft enough but not melting when you wrap the snow skin over it . By the time I wrapped it , there was a tear here and there and the ice cream started to leak out . You have to patient when making this which sadly , I was short of it that day lol If you want to try your hand in filling the snowkin with ice cream , try it half skin and half filling . Flavor-wise , you can barely tastes the matcha and chocolate flavor though , I think it was muted by the amount of coconut milk . And for the mungbean filling , it's way better than the one I made last time !
Recipe adapted from Homemade Delightful Fruit Desserts by Charles Ho
Snowskin :
110 grams coconut milk
70 grams fresh milk
35 grams caster sugar
10 grams vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
25 grams rice flour
20 grams wheat starch
20 grams glutinous rice flour
10 grams cake flour
40 grams cooked/fried sweet glutinous rice flour for coating
* Sift together rice flour , wheat starch , glutinous rice flour , and cake flour , set aside .
* Bring coconut milk , milk , sugar , oil and vanilla to the boil , reduce to low heat . Add in the sifted dry ingredients , stir until dry ( about 4 minutes ) . Transfer to a bowl , let cool and chill in the fridge to loosen texture . You can make this a day ahead . I made 13 ( 20 grams each ) mini mooncake from this using 50 grams mold .
If you want to use ***cocoa powder , add 5 grams and reduce glutinous rice flour to 13 grams . ***If using matcha or coffee powder , 3 grams , no need to reduce the flour .
Mungbean / green been paste :
80 grams skinned mungbean
35 grams coconut milk
15 grams butter
15 grams caster sugar
85 grams condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
20 grams custard powder
8 grams wheat starch
8 grams milk powder
100 grams mango , diced and frozen , for filling ( omitted this )
ice cream , optional
* Soak green beans in water for 20 minutes . Drain and rinse . Place in a saucepan and add enough water to cover the beans ( I used 1 1/2 cups ) , let boil and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes or until soft and mushy , drain ( not much water left to drain , in my case ) . Add in coconut milk and blend into a paste . You can use a fine sieve , use a spoon or a spatula to push the mixture through it or to make your life easier , use a food blender /food processor/ immersion blender .
* Heat butter in a pan or a small saucepan , add in the green bean paste and the remaining ingredients . Mix well and stir until dry ( I cooked the mixture over medium heat for about 6 minutes ) . Let cool and wrap with a cling film , chill in the fridge before using . You can make this ahead .
* Divide snowskin and filling and roll into a small balls . If you have have a 75 grams mould , 30 grams snowskin and 45 grams filling . Or if you have 50 grams mould , 20 grams snowskin , 30 grams filling .
* Flatten one snowskin dough thinly and place filling into the center and roll into a ball , coat with fried glutinous rice , brushing excess flour before pressing into the mould .
* Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and continue with the rest . Put in the freezer several hours before consuming . Let mooncake stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes before eating . The snowskin mooncake ice cream must be eaten straight from the freezer .