September 13, 2016

Snow Skin Mooncake 冰皮月餅

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By Published: 2016-09-13
It's almost that time of the year again, the time of the glorious harvest moon, the Mid Autumn Festival 中秋節, a right jolly time in Hong Kong that all, the children especially, look forward to.  And why not?  A beautiful fuller than full moon hung high in the velvet blackness of the night, a pass to stay up and play as late as one wants, delicately beautiful lighted lanterns and myriad glow sticks in hand, and, best of all, mooncakes 月餅 galore to eat!  

We've already made the White Lotus Paste with Double Yolk Mooncake 雙黃白蓮蓉月餅 and the amazing Five Nuts Mooncake 五仁月餅, so this year we thought we would make the Hong Kong creation known as Snow Skin Mooncake 冰皮月餅, also known as Ice Skin Mooncake, a modern twist where the traditional mooncake fillings are wrapped in a delicate, light, mochi-esque skin.

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I was gleeful when I first started making these snowy delights because it seemed to be much easier to make than the traditional mooncakes.  Ah-ha!  I thought, think of the time I will save!  But then...disaster struck.  The skins of my first batch of snow skin mooncakes cracked as they came out of my wooden mooncake mould!  Yikes!  Uggh!  (Cue much hair pulling.)  

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Color the snow skin dough
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Lotus seed paste balls

I finally did figure out the problem.  I had used homemade Kao Fen flour 糕粉 (cooked glutinous rice flour) which it turns out is fine for making fillings and the such but not fine for the sticky stretchiness needed for making these delicate soft elastic skins.  But then...more trouble!  Arggh!  I couldn't buy Kao Fen flour anywhere!  You would think, in Hong Kong the land of the mooncakes, one could easily find it but no such luck.  

I finally managed to find a Japanese brand of cooked glutinous rice flour which was labeled as 寒梅粉.  This was mixed with sugar and a bit of lard (or shortening but I don't like to use shortening) and ice cold water to form the perfect mochi-esque, stretchy, slightly sticky soft dough. 

Once I had the right dough, making these Snow Skin mooncakes was actually pretty easy and quick!

You can use any of these homemade traditional mooncake fillings: lotus paste, red bean paste, sesame paste, mung bean paste, purple sweet potato paste, custard, etc.  Just be sure to chill the fillings sufficiently so that you can roll them into tidy balls and they will stay that way as you wrap the mooncake.

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My little girl making a snow skin mooncake.

As with all mooncakes, you need to carefully weigh your dough and filling so that once wrapped your mooncake will just fit into the mould.  It will take a bit of testing to figure the exact weights you will need to weigh out for the dough and the filling for each mooncake but the ratio should be 1:2.  (If you haven't got a digital food scale yet, this is your excuse.  I used to think I didn't need one and now I use mine everyday!)

Roll out your dough into a circle 1/8" thick.  I would use a silicon counter mat here, it makes it so much easier to work with this sticky dough.  Also the rolled out wrapper, which tends to shrink back on itself, sticks helpfully to the silicone, making it easier for you to roll thin, but removes when lifted without sticking.  I found that this really helped me to achieve a thin even skin for the mooncakes.

Update: Check out our easy mooncake wrapping 'cheat', perfect for wrapping the mooncake with a thin, even skin!

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See how the wrapped mooncake fits just so into the mould?  If too much or too little the mooncake will not look good at all.  Very important: Be sure to brush glutinous rice flour all over your mooncake mould with a toothbrush (toothbrush helps to achieve even coverage) before each mooncake so that the it won't get stuck inside.  I've forgotten a time or two and been forced to witness horrible mooncake deaths.

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You want to get the top pattern pressed in strongly so be sure your mooncake is pressed into the mould as snug as a bug.  Then it's a simple matter of knocking the mooncake out.  Hold on one end and knock the wood mould on your working surface with the other end while holding the mould at a slight angle above the table so that you don't squish the mooncake as it comes out.  A couple of gentle knocks ought to get these lovelies out.  Aren't mooncakes just so beautiful!

An easy, quick mooncake to make, just make sure to get your store bought Kao Fen 糕粉.  The snowy skin is light, sweet and delightfully tenderly chewy while the fillings are satisfyingly familiar.  A lovely treat for the eyes and the tummy!  Happy Mid Autumn Festival to all!

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Snow Skin Mooncake Recipe 冰皮月餅
(makes 24 small 35g cakes)   Prep time: Cook time:

Ingredients

Directions:

Sift the icing sugar into the kao fen and mix.  Add lard and rub into the flour until it looks like bread crumbs.  If you want different colored snow skins, separate the flour mixture evenly into separate bowls.  Divide water into equal number of bowls, add food coloring to desired color and chill til icy cold.  

Add chilled water to the flour mixture 1 tbsp at a time, mixing until it comes together in a soft, stretchy and mochi like dough.  Do not over knead.  Weigh into 12g balls and set aside, covered.

Weigh and roll the filling into 24g balls.  If your filling is soft and squishy, chill in freezer until firm enough to roll cleanly and stay that way while you wrap.

On your working surface and rolling pin sprinkle some glutinous rice flour and roll out a round of dough to approx 3" circle, about 1/8" thickness.  It may be a bit hard to roll out because the dough will want to stretch back on itself but keep at it and it will spread thin.

Tip: Using a silicone counter mat is very useful here as the dough will adhere to the silicon enough to allow for roll out without the dough stretching back on itself.  Just roll out and turn the dough as usual but don't turn the dough itself, turn the whole mat.  The dough won't shrink back.  Easy peasy!

Place the filling in center and use fingertips to draw up the dough around the filling. Press lightly to seal dough together.  Don't worry if it looks messy or there are bits sticking out, just as long as everything is sealed.  You may not have enough dough to meet at top, but that's okay.  Just gently stretch the elastic dough to meet the other side and press to stick it together.

With the wrapper sealed all around the filling you can take a scissor and carefully cut off the extra bits that stick out.  Smooth into a ball and dust with glutinous rice flour.  

Dust inside of mooncake mould with glutinous rice flour, shaking out excess.  Place mooncake pretty side down into your mould and press down gently until snuggly fitted.  Knock out mooncake by rapping one side of the mould on the table at an slight angle.  Your beautiful hand pressed mooncake is done!  

Serve chilled and store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.  Or eat 'em all up under the full harvest moon.  Nom, nom, nom!  Happy Moon Days!

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Mid Autumn Festival Lantern at my local park!

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