September 10, 2022

Snowskin Butter Mochi Red Bean Paste Mooncake 牛油麻糬紅豆冰皮月餅

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It's that time of the year again!  The time of the fullest moon of the year,  of gaily dressed folk swinging their Chinese lanterns high, glowing orbs set against a magnificent moonlit night...the night of the Mid Autumn Festival!   Mid Autumn Festival comes early this year, following the dictates of the fickle lunar calendar and, if the moon we saw tonight is any indicator, the Mid Autumn moon this year is going to be AMAZING!

As you probably know already, we've made most of the traditional mooncakes before, like the double yolk lotus paste mooncake, sesame paste mooncakesnowskin custard moon, five nut mooncake, etc.  This year we wanted to try something new.  

Poking around, brainstorming, I noticed that some mooncakes nowadays are filled with mochi instead of the traditional filling pastes like lotus paste.  I was intrigued, what an interesting idea!  

After a bit of a brainstorm I decided to make Snowskin Butter Mochi Red Bean Paste Mooncakes 牛油麻糬紅豆冰皮月餅, chilled mooncakes wrapped in delicate skin, filled with tender, chewy mochi deeply infused with notes of butter and milk and a heart of luscious sweet red bean paste.  What can I say, this innovative combination turned out a most yummilicious mooncake!

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I chose to use snowskin to wrap this mooncake.  Snowskin is a chewy rice and milk flavored mooncake skin that is used for wrapping chilled unbaked mooncakes.  This was perfect for the butter mochi filling which is also served chilled.  

I did think about wrapping the mochi in the traditional flour based mooncake skin and then baking the whole thing.  That would look really cool, doncha think?  But I worried that the mochi would puff if baked and break through the skin :(

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I love this snowskin recipe.  It is so easy to make and work with and comes out beautifully thin.  It's a combination of rice flour, glutinous rice flour and regular flour with milk, sugar and a touch of oil.  Just mix it and steam.  

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Let the steamed mixture cool and knead with extra glutinous rice flour until smooth and no longer sticky.  If you want to have different color skins separate into portions and knead in food coloring.  They're ready to use for wrapping now.  Cover, set aside and let's get on to the mochi filling.

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I had never made butter mochi before, never even tasted it to be honest.  But it sounded real yummy and I wanted a flavored chilled mochi for the filling.

You will need the special ingredient of japanese rice flour, called mochiko to make the mochi.  For normal mochi, like the kind used for making red bean mochi, only mochiko rice flour, water and sugar is used.  For this mochi, however, we substitute in evaporated milk for the water for a luscious milky flavor.

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The mochi mixture is steamed for a bit to get it hot.  Then we mix in the butter for the rich nutty caramel flavor that only butter can provide.  Once the butter is mixed in, it's back to the steamer.

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After steaming the mochi needs to be kneaded.  Add rice flour in tbsp increments and knead.   The mochi is oily and clumpy at this point but persevere and you will be rewarded with...

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...this gorgeous hunk of buttery, milky flavored mochi.  You won't believe how richly flavored and yummy this simple mochi is!  

Note before we go any further: Let's make sure that you've got the right kind of hardware for mooncake making.  You'll need a mooncake mold.  I have these really cool traditional wood mooncakes molds.  There are also many groovy plastic mooncake molds.  I would recommend small sizes for this mooncake as it's quite rich and works better as a dainty bite.

You've also got to have a food scale.  Cuz you need to weigh everything so you know that what you wrap will fit exactly into your mooncake mold!  Every mooncake mold is a bit different so you'll have to guesstimate on the first few mooncakes before you get the exact weight of filling and skin to use that will fit into your particular mooncake mold perfectly.

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We had decided that the heart of our mochi would be red bean paste*.  I looove red bean paste and like to think of it as 'Chinese chocolate'.  IMPORTANT, remember to put your paste in the freezer to firm up before wrapping.  Once it's chilled use a melon baller to scoop out small balls.  

Next step is to weigh out portions of the butter mochi.  Flatten mochi and then wrap the ball of frozen red bean paste inside.  

*You can make a batch of Grandma's homemade red bean paste, buy it premade at asian groceries or online here.  

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Weigh out portions of the mooncake skin.  Flatten and roll out.  Wrap the red bean paste filled mochi balls with the mooncake skin using our 'How to Wrap a Mooncake' guide.  Our method of wrapping mooncakes is easy to do and will enable you to have perfectly thin and even mooncake skins that look really professional!

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This next part is the fun part!  Make sure the wrapped mooncake ball is well dusted with potato starch.  (Or you'll get a mooncake that lives permanently in your mold. 😟)  Pop into your mooncake mold and flatten.  If you've estimated the weight of the filling and skin correctly, the mooncake will fit perfectly into the mold.  

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Give the mold a love tap on the back to knock the pressed mooncake out.  Be sure to catch them as they come out!

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Here are my beauties, all in a roll.  Aren't they gorgeous?  And it's not just surface beauty either, these babies are really tasty!  I wasn't sure how it was going to work out but, actually, the result was beyond my expectation.  Dainty little bites of pure yummiliciousness!

We're all ready for some serious moon gazing with these nummy Snowskin Butter Mochi Red Bean Paste Mooncakes!!  Tender, chewy, rich milky buttery mochi filling with a burst of sweet beany goodness at the heart, all stamped with gorgeous traditional Chinese mooncake patterns, what more to moon wish for, amirite?!

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Snowskin Butter Mochi Red Bean Paste Mooncake Recipe牛油麻糬紅豆冰皮月餅
(makes 20 mini mooncakes)  
Prep time: 15 mins  Cook time: 1 hr 20 mins  Wrap time:  20 mins

Ingredients:

    Snowskin

    Butter Mochi Filling
    (adapted from recipe here)

Directions:

Preparing the Red Bean Paste:  Chill the red bean paste in freezer for half hour or until firm enough to scoop.  Take out and scoop balls of paste with melon baller.  Return to freezer to keep firm until ready to use.

Make the Snowskin:  Mix together all the ingredients for snowskin (except the extra glutinous rice, potato starch and food coloring.)  Steam over medium heat for 1 hour.  When cool enough to handle dust with glutinous rice flour and knead, adding in glutinous rice flour, one tbsp at a time, until the dough is no longer sticking to the work surface, and becomes smooth and elastic.  

If making colored snowskins, divide into equal portions, drop a drop of food coloring on each portion and knead the color in until smooth.  Cover and set aside while making the mochi.

Make the Butter Mochi:  Mix the mochiko, sugar and evaporated milk together.  Steam over medium for 5 mins.  Remove from steamer and mix butter in thoroughly.  Put back in steamer and steam for 20 mins.  

Scoop the mochi into a work surface.  It's going to be clumpy and oily.  When it's cool enough to handle, add mochiko flour one tbsp at a time and knead until the mochi comes together into a smooth  ball. Cover.

Wrap the Snowskin Mooncakes:  Weigh out portions of snowskin and roll into balls.  For our size mooncake molds (small), we weighed out 12g for each portion of snowskin.  

Next weigh out portions of butter mochi and roll into balls.  For our size mooncake molds we weighed out 20g for each portion of mochi.  Flatten out one butter mochi ball into 1 3/ 4 inch circle.  Wrap one chilled red bean ball inside.  Repeat for all the mochi balls.

Sprinkle the work surface with potato starch.  Flatten and then roll snowskin ball into a 3 inch circle.  Don't flip the circle over, keeping the starch only on the bottom of the wrapper.  Place mochi ball in center and wrap according to our 'How to Wrap a Mooncake' guide.

Make sure the wrapped mooncake in well enclosed in the skin and well dusted with potato starch.  Press into the mooncake mold and flatten firmly.  Turn over and tap mold to release mooncake.  Make sure you catch it.  

Serve immediately or keep chilled in fridge in potato starch dusted air tight box for up to 4 days.

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3 comments:

  1. OH my goodness; I need to make this. butter and red bean paste and mochi??? NOM

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    Replies
    1. Hey Diane - yeah, all favorite things in this house as well! 😝 Happy Mid Autumn Festival! ~ellen

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