September 15, 2014

Five Nuts Mooncake Part II 五仁月餅

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We're finally ready to assemble our deliriously nutty and yummilicious Five Nuts Mooncake!  Only we seem to have missed Mid Autumn Festival!  Ooops!  To check out our excuses for posting late and our detailed and crazy Five Nuts Mooncake ingredient sourcing and pre-assembly phase, please see our previous post Five Nuts Mooncake Part I  五仁月餅.  

So, at this point we have all the ingredients sourced, toasted and roasted, chopped and bopped into the right configurations.  It's time to put this Five Nut Mooncake together!

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Here's the lovely dough for the Five Nuts mooncake skin.  The dark golden brown color is from the raw sugar that I used to make the golden syrup.  (You can also buy golden syrup premade.)  If you use white sugar the color will probably be lighter.  

I also used fresh homemade lard that my 老公 prepared.  Lard makes for a really fragrant, extra yummillicious mooncake skin.  You can also buy lard online here.

I was really happy with the skin this time.  It rolled out beautifully thin and I was able to wrap so thinly around the mooncake filling.  As everyone knows, a thin mooncake skin is one of marks of mooncake excellence!  

Tip:  The red background you see is the my new silicone mat which is soooo fabulous for rolling cuz things don't stick!  OMG, where has this gadget been all my life!

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Next I gathered all that chopped ingredients and mixed in the filling dough and rolled eveything into nice balls.  The dough for the filling is, interestingly, made with a bit of Chinese Mei Kuei Lu Chiew 玫瑰露, also know as Rose Essence Liquor.  This delicate rose liquor and the Chinese Candied Citrus are what, I believe, give this Five Nuts Mooncake its truly distinct and regal flavor. 

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Place filling on dough
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Wrap with filling

Here I've place my mooncake filling ball onto my rolled out irregular round shaped dough.  ( I kinda suck at rolling dough.)  Then carefully gather the dough up around the mooncake in pleats.  (To keep the distribution even as possible.)  Keep the dough as tight to the filling as you can.  Pinch shut the top and smooth out carefully.  (Because the dough is oily, it's quite easy to pinch and patch shut any holes, etc.)  

Be gentle, my friends, you don't want to make the mooncake upset and thus crumble to pieces in your hands!


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

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Flour your mooncake mold generously.  Each time!  I forgot once and one of my poor little mooncakes got stuck and died an undignified death.  

Now comes the fun part, the super stress relieving part of mooncake making.  Place mooncake ball into your lovely handcrafted wood mooncake mold .  Press down with the palm of your hand gently until the mold is filled with your mooncake ball.  If your weight calculations are correct the mooncake should just fit into the mold.  

Now go to the connecting wall with your neighbor who always plays loud music and bang the mold flat down on the sturdy table next to the wall.  (Just kidding!)  But seriously, this part can get pretty loud.

The first bang should be hard and straight down.  Mine never come out on the first try, so bang again.  Always have a peep and if you see the mooncake starting to come down, don't bang down flat on the next try.  Angle the bang so that you don't smash the bit that's coming out already.  Once the Five Nuts Mooncake's coming out halfway, you can gently help it along with your finger.


I especially love the mooncake at this stage, just fresh out of the mold.  They look so pretty that I want to just eat them right them and there!  And all of the running around, all of that slaving over the hot stove,  all the sore muscles, forgotten in a flash!  I stand there, soothed to perfect contentment at seeing my handmade, from the heart, perfect, precious Five Nuts Mooncakes!

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Mid Autumn Festival Lantern display at our neighborhood park!

Well, dear readers, I hope my excuses are sufficient for you to excuse my lateness in posting this after Mid Autumn Festival.  Hope that your Mid Autumn Festivities were wonderful and as lantern and mooncake filled as ours.  Happy Mid Autumn Festival from us at The Hong Kong Cookery!

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Five Nuts Mooncake Recipe Part II
五仁月餅 
(Prep time: 30 mins  Cook time: 20 mins) (makes 10 mooncakes)

Ingredients:

    Mooncake Skin Dough

    Mooncake Filling Dough
  • 4 1/2 tbsp castor sugar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp chinese rose liquor 玫瑰露
  • 3 tbsp peanut oil
  • 1 1/2 tbsp lard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups Cooked Glutinous Rice Flour (Kao Fen) 糕粉 (180 g) (see our recipe)
  • 6 tbsp water

    Mooncake Filling
(You can substitute with any nuts you like, just make sure you have 5 kinds.  For details and pictures of ingredients listed here please see our Five Nuts Mooncake Part I post)

Directions:

Mooncake Dough: Mix together all Mooncake Skin Dough ingredients until well combined.  Rest for at least 1/2 hour.  Divide the dough into 10 pieces of approx 50 g each and roll into balls.  Cover until needed.

Mooncake Filling Dough: Mix all Mooncake Filling Dough ingredients together and lightly knead to make a smooth dough.  If too dry add more water, 1 tbsp at a time, until the mixture holds together.  

Mooncake Filling: Roast nuts until aromatic and toasted.  Roast seeds until they start popping.  Chop the bigger nuts until all nuts and seeds are approx. the same size.  (Except the sesame of course.)  Chop the winter melon to same size.  Finely mince the Candied Citrus and Jinhua Ham.  Mix together in large bowl.  

Add in the your prepared Mooncake Filling Dough and use your fingers to break up the dough into small pieces and mix with the chopped nuts.  When well mixed you should be able to make firm balls by pressing mixture together.  If mixture not adhering too well, add 1 tbsp of water at a time until the mix can easily stick together in ball form.  Make 10 balls of approx. 110g each.  

Note:  It's very important to use a food scale to weigh the dough and the filling so that your mooncake will fit exactly into your mooncake mold.  I have a scale now finally and am amazed that I even did not have one.)

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).

Mooncake Assembly: Roll a ball of Mooncake Skin Dough out until approx 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch in thickness.  Place ball of mooncake filling in center, gather the skin up around the filling in even pleats and pinch to close over the top.  Smooth out the skin gently until smooth and as even as you can get it.  Dust with flour all around.

Generously dust your mooncake mold with flour (every time for each mooncake!) and tap out extra flour.  Place mooncake ball in mold, gently press down until the mooncake fills the mold.  Using a sturdy nonbreakable table, bang the wooden mold flat down on surface.  Check if mooncake is released.  Bang again, checking each time.  Once the mooncake starts dropping out of the mold, angle your bangs so that you don't hit the mooncake itself as you bang down.  Once the mooncake is half out, you can use gentle fingers to help slide it out.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Bake at 375 F (190C) for 10 minutes, Remove and let rest for 10 minutes.  Brush with beaten egg, and pop back in the oven for another 10 minutes or until golden brown on top.    Remove, admire, pat yourself on the back (hey, you deserve it!) and let cool.

When your Five Nuts Mooncakes are completely cooled, wrap up or put in airtight container and let rest in a cool place (not fridge) for 2-3 days.  The mooncake needs to mature, or 上油.  The mooncake skin will absorb the oils and flavors from the inside and become soft, scented and tender.  Then your lovely mooncakes are ready to eat!  Yummy yeah!

Go to Five Nuts Mooncake Part I for the first part of the Five Nuts Mooncake recipe where we have the recipes for making your own golden syrup and cooked glutinous rice flour and also tips on buying the many various ingredients needed for the five nut mooncake!

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20 comments:

  1. I applaud you for your determination! Most people would just give up, or substitute for another ingredient in a recipe but not you. Are you a Taurus?
    Anyway, I enjoyed reading this blog and the moon cakes look fabulous! Well done, Ellen!

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    1. No, not Taurus, just a humble Leo! (Hee, hee!) You know, sometimes looking for these ingredients becomes a food adventure all of itself. Very happy you enjoy the blog! ~ellen

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  2. Can you let me know what type of flour do u use for mooncake dough. And do u hv pic for candied citrus?

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    1. Hi Dorothy - I just used regular all purpose flour. We have posted detailed pictures and explanation of all the ingredients including candied citrus in the Five Nuts Mooncake Part I post that is linked to at the top and bottom of this post. Good luck on your mooncakes! ~ellen

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  3. Thanks so much for this recipe. I'm trying to make my own 5-nut mooncakes for the very first time this year (everything from scratch) and goodness, has thee process been exhausting! No wonder these things are so expensive in stores!

    I just have a quick question: IF WE DON'T HAVE LARD, IS THAT OKAY? For the dough-filling, I have the peanut oil but no lard. I read somewhere that coconut oil may be an acceptable substitute since it has a somewhat similar consistency to lard. But is the lard really that important? Can we just omit it altogether? And if so, should I increase the peanut oil amount?

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    1. Hi Kate - First of all bravo for you to make all this from scratch! I totally agree, it is rather exhausting process but fun nonetheless. If you don't have lard you can use peanut oil as substitute. And I rather think that virgin coconut oil would be a good substitute as well. I have used virgin coconut oil in other preparations and the taste is really wonderful but not in mooncakes yet. Don't omit, pls substitute, mooncakes need all the fat that they can get! ~ellen

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  4. After two days when the mooncakes 出油, can keep the mooncakes how long in room temp and fridge?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Chell - I think it would keep pretty fresh at room temp in an air tight container for about two weeks. Fridge would make the nutty filling hard, so if you find you want to keep it even longer by keeping in the fridge be sure to let the mooncake come back up to room temp before eating. ~ellen

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  5. This flavor is my favorite! And you got such good definition for a traditional press - I've only ever used the new plastic kind.

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    1. Hey Kaedi - me too, I love the five nuts mooncake! For the mooncake pattern to show up clearly, you've got to make sure to pack the mold fully and press enough to fill up all the crevices. You should try the wood molds if you get a chance, they're gorgeous to use! ~ellen

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  6. Hi Ellen, how do I calculate the weight of my dough that would fit my mould fully?

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    1. Hi Anne - if you're using a mold size that is different from the large size mooncake usually we used, then you will have to calculate the weight of the dough through trial and error. Estimate the amount required, weigh it out, use it and then weigh out again the leftovers, then subtract from original amount and then you will have the correct amount. It's a bit of work but has to be done. ~ellen

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  7. What can we use as Jinhua Ham alternative?
    I'm in the US and this is not available!

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  8. Hi Rubyy - My parents used Smithfield ham as a substitute. I think that Italian prosciutto or jamon iberico would also be a good substitute. ~ellen

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  9. Hi, the beaten eggs was just for egg wash during baking, right?

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  10. Yes, just for the egg wash ~ellen

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