Coloured snowskin with mungbean-inspired fillings

I had bits and pieces of ingredients lying around so decided to come up with this recipes.

Snowskin recipe comes from Souped Up Kitchen video (write-up at Curated Kitchen) because I wanted to try the effect of adding condensed milk to the snowskin. Proportions have been augmented to suit what I have lying around. I can't give measurements for the fillings because it was mostly trial and error with lots of tasting!

Ingredients for snowskin: makes fourteen 75g mooncakes comprising 25g dough and 50g filling; makes 375g dough and needs 825g of filling

55g glutinous rice flour

55g rice flour

39g wheat starch

47g icing sugar

211g liquid (e.g., milk or coconut milk in this case)

28g condensed milk

28g veg or neutral oil

31g gao fen (about 3 tbsp toasted glutinous rice flour)

Filling and skin

Original mung bean filling with sugar before adding any other ingredients: 621g

A. Filling for mocha skin with coffee and gula melaka filling (makes four 75g mooncakes)

Mocha skin: Work 1 tsp cocoa powder into 275g snowskin dough. (If making tie-dye effect, use ½tsp and work it into half of this dough)

Filling: About 200g of mung bean filling

2.5 tbsp shaved gula melaka (adjust to taste)

30g milk (may need more or less, you basically want a dry-ish slurry)

1 tbsp oil or lard

1 tsp glutinous rice flour

Pinch of salt

B. Filling for pandan skin and coffee gula melaka filling (makes ten 75g mooncakes)

Pandan skin: Work 1 drop of pandan essence into 550g snowskin dough. (If making tie-dye effect, use only stain quarter or half the dough).

Filling: About 421g of mung bean filling

6 tbsp shaved gula melaka (adjust to taste)

60-100ml coconut milk (may need more or less, you basically want a dry-ish slurry)

2.5 tbsp oil or lard

2 tsp glutinous rice flour

Pinch of salt

Method is the same for both fillings. 

1. Add mung bean to blender. Add liquid and glutinous rice flour and blend till smooth. You want a dry-ish slurry.

2. Melt the gula melaka on low flame. Once mostly melted, add the lard and mix well to combine.

3. Add the slurry and stir fry on medium low to low flame until almost dry. Use the spatula to press out any glutinous rice lumps. After 20 to 25 minutes of frying, it should be like a pliable dough that doesn't stick to the pan or spatula.

4. Allow to cool and then cover with cling film. 

5. Apportion out into 50g balls of filling. Cover with cling film and set aside.

Method for snowskin

1. Sift in flours into a microwave safe bowl. 

2. Add the sugar and condensed milk and mix well. Add in the oil and whisk well.

3. Cover the bowl and microwave in increments for around 3 to 4 minutes. The first 2 increments may be longer e.g., 1 min then 30 seconds then 10 seconds at a time until no liquid remains. Mix after each increment so that the wet parts are mixed in. 

4. Just after cooking while still hot, cut up the dough using spatula and work it until a ball. 

5. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes until it can be handled. Knead until smooth and elastic. 

6. Wrap in plastic and allow to rest at room temp between 2 to 3 hours so it is no longer sticky which makes it easier to work with.

7. While waiting, pan fry the 3 tbsp of glutinous rice flour until lightly brown (about 2 minutes). Leave to cool.

8. Apportion out the dough into 25g balls.

9. Assemble the mooncake (see video). Important to ensure no air trapped between the filling and the dough.

10. Dust the mooncake ball and mould with gao fen. Remove any excess flour. Place ball on a tray lined with parchment.

11. If using a square mold, press until you feel resistance then hold the pressure for a while to allow the dough and filling to fill up the edges of the square. Press a few more times to properly imprint the design. Unlike round moulds, I had to turn the mould upside down and carefully fit each ball into the mould so that the ball doesn't catch on the edges (and I ended up tearing the ball). And then I had carefully place mould onto the tray and make sure it was flat. Because of the pressure needed to push the mooncake into the edges and I hadn't placed the mold flatly onto the parchment, I ended up squeezing out part of the mooncake from under the mold so there was an extra lip! If you look carefully you can see the 'lips'.

12. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Eat after properly chilled ie about 3 hours or best overnight. Consume within 3 to 4 days.

See extra lip at the bottom of each of the upper 2 rows of mooncakes

Recipe feedback

- Aside from the special instructions for square moulds above, it doesn't help to include an extra gram in the filling or dough because it spills out of the mold which makes it hard to press down and produce a nice clean cube!

- I'll never use coconut oil in snowskin mooncake skin again! The unintended effect was that the cream in the coconut milk converted to oil and I had a super oily dough. I had to throw away around 1 tsp of oil and then kept dabbing the mooncake skin dry. Also because my gloves were so oily and slippery, I couldn't even roll a proper ball. I even had to massage in several tsp of gao fen but to no avail. What's worse, the oil prevented the skin from sealing properly and producing a nice flat seam. Cracks refused to heal.

- As such, I can't tell if the addition of condensed milk helped the dough texture and mouthfeel or not as it was obscured by the effect of the coconut oil.

- 25g of dough is the bare minimum amount of dough required to seal up 50g of filling. Any less and there won't be enough dough to seal the seam!

The skin is super thin!

Condensed milk buns with filling

Since this milk bread receipe comparison, I've experimented with different milk bread methods that used cream but no oil and had 2 proves or had oil but needed 3 proves.

Decided to try Omnivore's Cookbook that uses condensed milk and only 2 proves. However, instead of making dinner rolls as her recipe describes or my usual Pullman tin, I'm making bread with filling.

Ingredients for condensed milk bread - 650g dough makes 9 dinner rolls or 12 buns

300g (2½ C) bread flour

140ml (½ C) milk

7g (2½ tsp) instant yeast 

30g (2½ tbsp) sugar

80g (¼ C) condensed milk

4 tbsp butter,  melted

1 egg

Filling of choice - 780g: I made my own coffee mung bean using Kitchen 101 but with 300g dried beans

Method

1. Activate yeast: warm milk to about 38 deg C in microwave. Add pinch of sugar and yeast. Sit for 20 minutes to activate.

2. Add flour, milk, rest of sugar, condensed milk, butter, egg to mixer. Mix together first with spatula. Add yeast and mix. Cover and rest for 20 mins.

3. Using KA, start low and then increase to 8 out of 10 (! - this is against the instructions in the instruction manual which recommends no more than speed 2 or 4!). Knead for 10 to 12 minutes until dough is smooth. Scape if necessary. Stop when you reach window-pane stage. Dough should be wet and slightly sticky but should not stick to your hands.

4. Grease a bowl and put in dough shaped in a ball. Cover with let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, approx 1 hr.

5. Meanwhile, if using filling, divide filling up into 12 balls. Cover with cling film and set aside.

6a. If making dinner rolls, divide dough into 9 and use a 9 x 9" (23 x 23cm) lined baking pan. Each dough ball weighs 68-70g. Cover with plastic wrap and prove until doubled in size, approx 35 mins.

b. If adding filling, divide up dough into 12 balls. Fill with filling and close. Form a ball and place on lined baking tray. Allow to prove until doubled in size, approx 35 mins.

7. Eggwash with thin layer of milk, just the tops of the buns.

8. Bake at 175 deg C for 15mins (with good temperature control but I will stop at 10 mins to rotate trays) or until golden brown. For dinner rolls, internal temp should be 88 deg C.

9. Let bread rest for 5 mins then transfer to cooling rack.

10. To reheat, warm in microwave for about 10 (no filling) to 20 (with filling) seconds. If freezing, keep in ziplock bag for up to a month. Reheat at 175 deg C without first thawing for 10 mins.

Recipe feedback

- Dough is really soft and moist but is difficult to shape. Although very elastic, it refuses to 'stick' when crimping the seam to close. On one hand, any pleats made will be very obvious but on the other hand, any imperfections are also obvious. Perhaps being more sparing with coating the bowl and dough ball with oil during the first proof might help.

After proofing: Imperfections, slits that won't seal! Bumps, dings and lumps on the surface

- Because of the high sugar content in the bun, it browns easily so milk wash is ok, not egg wash.

- How do I prevent the 'cavern' in the bun ie the filling sinks and leaves a huge gap in the roof of the bun? This time, I was super generous with the filling, in effect, putting in more filling by weight than the weight of the dough. Yet there was still a huge cavern. I think it has to do with wrapping style i.e., using the bao wrapping method tends to pull too much dough over the top to crimp and seal (and even then, it's hard to do with this dough). Maybe I have to use the mooncake wrapping method which slowly works the dough over the filling but this dough isn't sticky enough to seal close. 

- In sum, this recipe would be good for plain buns or with sweet filling.

Updated: This recipe by Savour Easy uses normal flour, room-temp butter and hand kneading instead of bread flour, melted butter, and KA. Otherwise, the portions and proportions are very similar. I may give it a try next time when I want a milky sweet bread to contain my filling as hopefully the bread will be more malleable and amenable to shaping due to the inclusion of room temp butter rather than melted butter. It also suggests tenting the bread in the last 10 mins to prevent burning.

Baked mooncake skin

After a lot of reading up, I decided to go mostly with Souped Up Recipes due to her extensive video and tips as well as use of cake flour. I've incorporated some of the good tips from others. This recipe only documents the dough as I bought ready-made filling which comes in 500g packages. This recipe can make varying amounts of mooncakes depending on size of mould. I devised a whole spreadsheet for my 75g, 150g and 200g moulds with single and double yolk variations! In this recipe, I made 2.5x the amount of dough in order to produce 20 mooncakes of various sizes, with 4 types of fillings (store-bought 500g each package of filling)

The 20 mooncakes, not including another tray of 4 spares with single yolks (leftover filling and dough)

The full bake, including spares (aka 1 yolks)

Double yolk in 200g mold - looks a bit dry? The yolk was abit rubbery. Proportions are also out, seems like too little filling to too much yolk

Single yolk in the 150g mold. Seems like ideal proportion of yolk to filling

Ingredients (Makes one portion of 420g dough to wrap approx. 500g filling)

250g cake flour

135g golden syrup

50g veg oil (peanut preferred)

3g (½ tsp) salt

13g (2.5 tsp) lye water (homemade)

Egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water

12 egg yolks (may not end up using all)

2 tbsp rose wine

2 tbsp sesame oil (optional)

Method

1. Mix golden syrup, veg oil, lye water and salt. Lightly beat until incorporated.

2. Sift in 250g flour and lightly knead until the dough is elastic and pliable but doesn't stick to the hands. Don't over-knead. Cover with cling film and leave on the counter to rest for 2 - 3 hrs until no longer sticky.

3. Marinate the egg yolks in rose wine (or sesame oil) for 5 minutes. Remove and wipe dry with paper towel. Weigh each yolk and set aside. (Optional: bake for 150g for 6 mins then let cool to give the yolk a roasted flavour, although Taste Asian says no need).

4. Weigh out filling and roll each into a ball: i.e., individual fillings + egg yolk (approx 12g each) should equal total weight of filling. Cover with cling film.

75g mould (no yolk) using 1:3 ratio: 25g dough + 50g filling 

150g mould using 2:3 ratio: 50g dough + 100g filling; with 1 yolk: 50g dough + 21g yolk + 79g filling (#see note)

200g mould using 2:3 ratio: with 1 yolk: 80g dough + 21g yolk + 99g filling; with 2 yolks: 80g dough + 2*21g yolks + 78g filling (see video for how to roll encase 2 yolks, essentially, make into an oval 'ball'.

5. Weigh out dough and roll into balls. Cover with cling film. Prepare tray to bake - best to indicate which tray/portion of the tray is for what filling(s).

6. Encase dough over filling (see video). Using palm, press out each dough ball into a circle about 4 to 5 inch diameter if using 100g mould. Turn it upside down and wrap so that there are no air pockets. Turn back right-side up and then slowly press the dough to slowly encase the filling until it completely covers and then pinch the same to close.

7. Place ball into mould and lightly flatten. Place mould on baking tray. Press down until you encounter resistance. For round moulds, hold the pressure steady for at least 15 seconds or stamp several times to establish the pattern. For square moulds, hold the pressure steady for at least 30 - 40 seconds so the filling and dough fill out the corners. (probably not advisable for beginners to have yolk inside when using square moulds as it might flatten the egg)

8. Mist each mooncake from a height (to prevent too much water accumulating in the ridges of the pattern). Immediately put in the oven and bake on middle rack at 180 deg C for 10 mins until edges harden and turn lightly golden brown. (5 - 7 mins in small oven and 7 - 10 mins in big oven)

9. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 mins. Don't eggwash when the mooncake is hot otherwise the pattern will run. Egg wash the top and sides lightly with egg. Remove excess wash from in between the ridges with smaller brush or blot with kitchen towel so the pattern doesn't blur. Return to oven to bake:

- Bake at 180 deg C for further 5 to 10 minutes (5 - 7 mins in small oven and 7 - 10 mins in big oven) at same temperature until golden brown. Keep a close eye as fillings are cooked so it's about getting a golden skin. Don't bake for too long or it will dry out and crack.

- Optional: remove and egg wash for second time after 5 minutes then return to oven to finish baking, approx. 5 to 8 more minutes but keeping a close eye so they don't burn or burn.

10. Leave in tray to cool for at least 30 minutes as skin will be soft and flakey and easily break or crack when hot. Once cooled slightly, leave on wire rack to cool completely for at least 2 hours.

11. Store at room temp in airtight container for 2 to 3 days for 回油. The skin should become very shiny and moist. The skin will also become darker due to the lye water. Keep in fridge with each one wrapped in cling film for up to 10 days, or freeze immediately and keep for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, bring to room temp and then lightly toast in toaster oven.

Recipe feedback

- Even though using storebought filling, it's important to fry up and add oil, as well as check freshness of the product. (Clockwise from top left: chestnut, black sesame, red bean, yam). The oil on the yam had split and wasn't the freshest. Also, chestnut, yam and red bean tended to be quite dry anyway so definitely needed the oil for mooncake.

- The first batch of dough was a total failure. Even after resting for 3.5 hours, it fell apart into crumbs when trying to massage it. When I touched it and tried to flatten it out, it cracked every which way and was impossible to work with. I think it's because of my home made lye water which was a total failure. 

- Second try seems to work because I'm using storebought lye water. The chemical constituents are different to homemade so that's probably the reason!

- It's very difficult to cover those with egg inside as they are less forgiving. To completely cover the seam, I have to push the dough upwards to close the gap. This ends up causing the filing to shift and expose the egg so when stamping the design, the egg is obvious. 

Can see the yolk poking out

- Also found that the 3:7 ratio is insufficient. It needs to be 2:3 dough:filling because baked skin is not very stretchable compared to snowskin. Have adjusted above.

- Do not rest the dough more than 2 hours. Ideally after 30 mins when it's no longer sticky to the touch. Dough becomes really dry and started to crack by the time I reached the last batch of 8 mooncakes. I had very carefully wrapped everything in plastic from filling to dough to completed mooncakes, and I had a very humid afternoon as it was raining heavily. Without which, there would even more cracking.

Cracked! After first 15 mins. Next time will reduce to 10mins first round

- The 200g could barely able to contain 2 yolks and doesn't allow a deep imprint to be left. It was ok with 1 yolk.

the 200g double yolks (clockwise from top left: red bean - lotus seed design?, yam - rose design, chestnut - peony design, black sesame - lily design

- # For some reason the 150g are really short! The 150g could more likely be a 175-180g mold. EDIT: I had mismeasured the filling by 20g and each mooncake is only 125g total. Because there was just enough dough to encase the underweighted filling, in reality, 3:7 is not viable. I've updated above.

150g red bean - fish design

150g black sesame - lily design

150g yam - lotus design

150g chestnut - peony design

- Most difficult filling to work with : black sesame. Easiest to handle when chilled hardened so form ball first then keep chilled. Next is red bean, similarly, form ball and chill. Taro and chestnut are really dry and hard so need a lot of oil when frying. The oil helps with the handling otherwise it is too hard to form balls. However, they don't retain the oil and exudes the oil after being in the fridge.

After 回油

Snowskin mooncakes

I decided to use the Woks of Life ingredients soley because of the amount of filling I had. I had about 340g of caramelised mung bean filling from Kitchen 101 (omitted coffee) and made black sesame paste, making enough for around 21 mooncakes. Method is from an amalgamation of videos from here which all have various good tips but particularly Souped Up Style. Despite noting that microwaved method seems to require condensed milk, I decided to follow the other recipes without condensed milk because I don't want the skin to have a yellowish tinge.

Ingredients - Makes ten 50g and six 45g

400g filling

60g icing sugar

215g milk

25g neutral veg oil

50g glutinous rice flour + 3 tbsp for dusting

35g rice flour

35g wheat starch

Method

1. Mix the sugar, milk and oil in a large bowl. Sift in the flour. Mix until no lumps.

Optional: if adding colour to the skin, make sure to do it before cooking the dough as there will be no further cooking. Check out the tie-dye doughs here with Emily Lu.

2. Steam or microwave the dough to cook it.

Steam: If steaming, cover with clingfilm and steam on high eat for 25-30 mins until fully translucent and mostly dry. A little oil may be left on top.

Microwave: Cover the bowl. Microwave in 3 increments (around 1.5 mins, 1 min, and 30 seconds). Mix each time with spatula until no liquid remains. 

5. Allow to cool slightly for 10 to 15 mins then knead with gloves for about 5 mins until oil is fully incorporated. If easier, transfer onto a flat surface (not floured!) and knead until dough is smooth and non-stick. The dough is easier to work with when still warm. Cover with clingfilm and chill dough in fridge for between 30 mins to 2 hours.

6. While waiting for the dough to rest, portion out the filling into 25g balls. Cover with clingfilm with the plastic touching to prevent drying out and forming a skin.

7. Fry the 3 tbsp of glutinous rice flour until slightly brown for 6 - 7 mins on medium heat. Set aside to cool.

8. Portion out dough into 25g balls. Roll dough balls out into about 3 inch diameter (for 50g mould; 4 inch diameter for 100g mould). Either flatten out between two pieces of parchment if using rolling pin or flatten out between palms. Press around the edge with your finger to thin the edge.

9. Dust the molds well with cooked flour. To really prevent the dough ball from sticking, lightly coat the ball too. (Note that too much flour will blur the pattern). Encase the filling ball in the flattened dough (see videos). 

10. Press the ball into a slight cylinder and press the top down with thumb slightly so it doesn't budge out (see video). Place flattened top into the upturned mould and drop the dough ball without forcing it in. Press the bottom into the mould gently with a thumb so it doesn't bulge out. Place the mould with dough ball right side up on parchment. Press the lever down until you feel resistance. Press for about 15 seconds to establish the shape. Press down several more times gently to really imprint the design. Release the mooncake and dust off excess flour with a pastry brush.

11. Chill for a few hours and keep stored in fridge. Best consumed within 3 to 4 days (max 1 week).

The black sesame 中秋 is 45g and shorter than the rest

Recipe feedback

- As a beginner, I had equal portion filling to dough ie 25g:25g and there was plenty of dough to go around, perhaps a bit too much. I reduced to 45g ie 20g dough to 25g filling and there was JUST enough dough to go round.

- Skin is very easy to handle after it's been properly kneaded. Resting the fridge isn't really necessary but avoid using too much flour on the surface or hands. While it is mostly non-stick, still best to handle using silicon mat and food prep gloves as it can 'suddenly' stick to hands. Avoid using oil on the hands.

- For mung bean filling, do not put in the fridge after portioning into balls as it becomes hard and difficult to press with the mould.

- For the black sesame filling, it becomes quite hard after putting in the fridge. However if left out of the fridge, it falls apart. As a compromise, I apportioned then roughly shaped them into balls before covering with cling film (touching the balls) and put in the fridge. They were in the fridge for only 2 to 3 hours. When ready to use, they were stiff so I used cling wrap to shape them into balls. They were still soft enough to press with the mould.

Easy kimchi tips

Since I've learnt how to make Maangchi's mak kimchi back in 2012, I've been using the same trusted recipe.

Recently however I've come across different Korean bloggers who all have their own take on easy kimchi and I've picked up a few tips. Korean bapsang comes to mind. This is her full pogi kimchi recipe.

Without going into the full recipe, here are some tips that I've learnt. Roughly 1 baechu cabbage will equate to about 3 medium storage ziploc bags of kimchi.

- remove the green leaves. Make a side dish by dweonjang banchan by Modern Pepper (된장 배추 반찬) with the leaves.

- always add 1 tbsp of sugar!

- use either pear or apple to make it slightly sweet, even just 1 is enough.

- MUST use fish sauce to help with the fermentation or soya sauce if lacking fish sauce. Also, fermented shrimp helps (chincalok!)

- Soaking for 6 hours in 1.5 C of salt to enough water to cover the kimchi is very important. I usually soak for only 3 to 4 hours but the additional 2 hours really made the stems of the cabbage bendable and the cabbage leaf became sweet!

- If sugar is added, it takes away the sting and spiciness of gochugaru. Usually I add about ½ C of gochugaru but this one can take about ¾ C

- Blending the pear or apple with the 8 cloves of garlic, thumb sized ginger, and 2 stalks of scallion makes a huge difference! The machiko paste is no longer needed.

- To wash out the mixing container used to mix the gochugaru with the spice sauce, use ½ C water and add pour that back into the bags of kimchi. That will help keep the kimchi under the braising liquid - UPDATE: This produces a very bland tasting kimchi in a few weeks so not recommended if keeping the kimchi rather than eating it fresh

- Must put the kimchi in plastic bags so it doesn't stain the plastic containers.

- Leave a slight air gap otherwise when it ferments and releases gas, it's going to over flow! Preferably, burp the bags!

- Leave to ferment for at least 2 days in winter (1 day in summer) before putting in the fridge. Once in the fridge, leave for another 2 weeks otherwise it tastes like rotten veg!

Longan almond agar agar with evaporated milk

Since my attempts using milk in 2015 and the original 2009 to make almond jelly, I thought I'd try with evaporated milk because I had it in the cupboard and I don't often.

I've surmised that I like the texture of agar agar which is slightly chewy better than jelly which tends to come out rubbery rather than pillowy toufu-soft.

Ingredients and method are pretty standard. 1 tsp almond essence to 1 litre of liquid to 1 packet of Swallow brand agar agar - only that brand will work. Basically I used all the liquid from the can of evaporated milk and can of longan and topped up to make 1 litre. I didn't add any additional sugar because I used the liquid from the can of longan.

Recipe feedback 

Compared also the using milk with agar agar, the colour of the almond agar agar using evaporated milk is yellowish rather than white. Texture-wise, it's as firm as using milk but taste-wise, it's certainly a lot creamier.

Baked mooncake recipe comparisons

This post contains homemade recipes for lye and golden syrup, different paste recipes, and tips for mooncake making in general.

1. Pandan coconut filling mooncake by Kat Kwa (video), makes sixteen 50g mooncakes

- 300g plain flour with baking soda instead of cake flour. Cover and rest for 2 hrs on countertop.

- Cover and rest rest dough for 2 hours so it's not sticky and can be handled

- Bake for 180 deg C for 12 mins without egg washing. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 30 mins before egg washing. Mix egg yolk with 2 tbsp egg white and 1 tsp salt. Egg wash thinly the tops. Bake further 10 - 15 mins.

2. Black sesame with yolk in lotus seed paste by Kat Kwa (video), makes six 180-200g mooncakes

- 2 layer filling: Toasted ground black sesame mix with peanut butter and 150g lotus paste which encases yolk. Uses another 600g lotus seed paste to encase the black sesame

- 160g plain flour. Cover and rest 30 mins on countertop until dough no longer sticky.

- 100g lotus seed paste (with melon seeds), 30g sesame seed paste, 40g dough, ?g egg yolk

- (Didn't mist!) Bake 180deg C for 15 mins. Cool for 20 mins. Egg wash with 1 yolk, 1 tbsp egg white, ⅛ tsp salt. Brush only top. Bake 180 deg C for another 10 - 12 mins. Store airtight container for 2 days outside fridge.

3. Traditional lotus seed by Kitchen 101 (video+written recipe), makes four 180-200g mooncakes

- 100g cake flour, 460g paste

- 48g dough + 115g paste + 1 yolk

- Mix yolk with rose or any cooking wine and steam 5 mins

- After mixing the dough, do not over-knead. Just mix until all combined. 

- Mist before putting in oven to bake at 160 deg C for 10 mins. Egg wash of 1 yolk + 1 tbsp milk (for darker colour). Return to oven to bake 10mins or until golden brown. Keep in airtight box for 2 - 3 days outside of fridge until skin is softer and glossy.

4. Cooking therapy - Lotus seed (¾ C dried lotus seeds, 3tbsp oil; makes ten 80g mooncakes)

- ¾ C (178g) plain flour

- Only cools dough in fridge for 30 mins

- Bake 177 deg C for 3 mins. Egg wash lightly with 1 egg + 3 tbsp milk. Bake further 12 mins.

5. Christines - 420g lotus seed paste, yields twelve 50g mooncakes

- Golden syrup recipe - cook at 110 - 115 deg C for 45 mins. Use after 2 days. Lasts a few months at room temp.

- 100g plain flour

- Rests covered dough for 40 mins until no longer sticky.

- Bake 180 deg C for 10 to 12 mins. Egg wash 1 egg yolk with 2 tbsp white. Bake another 5 mins.

- Mooncake sld be moist from oil not water. Oil develops after around 2 days so mooncake should be fairly dry after baking. If the mooncake is very moist right after baking, it will become more soggy over time so that's wrong.

6. Taste Asian - filling is irrelevant (written), makes ten 53g mooncakes

- Recipe for dry conc lye water: bake 1 portion at 175 deg C for 30 mins. Add four portions water.

- Only add as much flour only until required to form soft dough. Use fork or stainless steel whisk to combine the dough.

- Fridge dough for 30 mins.

- Can use honey instead of golden syrup and lye but pastry will not be as soft and lighter in colour.

- 100g cake flour

- Demonstrates how to prepare egg yolk. Wiping is enough!

- Ratio of dough to filling is 1:2

- Mist surface of mooncake with water before baking. 

- Bake 175 deg C for 5 mins to firm the surface so pattern won't be blurred by egg wash. Brush with egg wash and remove excess with kitchen towel then bake for further 10 mins.

7. China Sichuan food (written + video) - lotus seed (200g dried lotus seeds with 90g oil), red bean (200g red bean with 2 tbsp lard/oil), mung mean (240g mung bean with 40g butter and 50g oil) fillings. Makes 14 mooncakes (eight 50g incl egg yolk and six 45g w/o egg yolk)

- Recipe for golden syrup

- 115g plain flour and 380g paste; 14 balls of 15g dough with 35g paste + yolk or 30g paste

- Fridge for 2 - 3 hrs.

- Mist with water than bake at 180 deg C for 5 mins. Egg wash lightly with 1 yolk and 1 tbsp white. Bake further for 15 - 20 mins until well browned.

8. Gin's Kitchen - Lotus seed (400g dried lotus seeds and condensed milk with 200ml oil makes 900g paste), makes seventeen 75g moulds

- How to prepare the egg yolks: mix yolk with wine to marinate for a few minutes then wipe dry. Cut in half and set aside.

- 200g plain flour 

- Rest 2 hrs in fridge or overnight. If overnight, allow to come to room temp for 30 mins.

- dough to filling is 3:7 (23g dough: 52g paste incl 5g yolk)

- Mist before going into oven. Bake at 177 deg C in upper third of oven for 10 mins, let cool for 15 mins. Brush with egg wash of full egg. Bake at 162 deg C for further 25-30 mins. Fully cool on baking tray.

9. Eatlittle bird - lotus seed paste (200g dried lotus seeds with 100ml oil). Make eighteen to twenty 50g mooncakes

- 225g plain flour.

- Rest at room temp for 30 mins. Dough will still be slightly sticky and oily.

- Egg wash with 1 egg + 1 tbsp water

- 50g mold = 20g dough + 30g filling (incl ½ egg yolk)

- 100g mold = 40g dough + 60 filling (incl full egg yolk)

- Bake at 180 deg C without fan for 10 mins. Cool for 10 mins before egg washing. Use kitchen paper to blot excess. Bake at 160 deg C for 10 to 15 mins. Allow to fully cool on baking tray. Can store at room temp for 1 week.

10. Cicili - Red bean (1133g filling using 680g dried beans), makes twelve 125g mooncakes (video)

- Video has most comprehensive method.

- A note on filling. There is an insane amount on the oil in the filling (¼ C or 60ml oil for 1133g filling). Stir in half of oil the oil for 3 mins then add the rest and stir for another 9 mins at low heat.  

- Filling to dough between 2:1 to 3:1 e.g., 74g filling to 51g dough (using 600g plain flour)

- Incorporates a lot of resting time. Rest filling 1 hour until cool to handle. Rest dough 2 hours which seems ideal. 

- Always keep dough and filling and unbaked mooncakes covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out.

- Spray assembled mooncakes and rest covered for 30 mins. Then before baking, spray again and immed bake for 5 mins at 204 deg C on middle rack. Remove and cool for 15 mins then brush with egg. Egg wash sldn't be applied when mooncakes are hot or the pattern will be blurred. Bake again for 10 mins at 190 deg C. Remove from oven and cool for 30 mins before transferring to cooling rack for 2 hrs.

11. Essential mooncake guide by Runawayrice - method

- For Snowskin mooncakes, ratio of dough to filling is 1:1

- For baked mooncakes, ratio of dough to filling is 2:1 for bigger mooncakes (i.e., 75g will be 25g skin and 50g filling) but 1:1 for smaller mooncakes (50g)

- Store homemade baked mooncakes outside for 2 - 3 days to 回油 then in fridge for up to 10 days or freezer for up to 3 months. Snowskin can be stored outside for 1 - 2 days then refrigerated for up to a week. However, they taste better cold.

12. Ultimate guide by Omnivore's Cookbook - Black sesame filling (140g raw seeds with GRF and 55g butter). Also has lotus seed filling (100g dried seeds with 50g oil makes 400g paste) and red bean paste (100g beans with 50g oil makes 400g paste) recipe on her blog. Makes 10 mini mooncakes (50g)

- recipes for golden syrup and lye water (dry conc) - bake at 120 deg C for 1 hr in lined tray.

- 100g cake flour

- Different brands of golden syrup and kansui will have different pHs. To future confuse things, homemade vs shopbought will be different. How the golden syrup and kansui interplay will affect colour of mooncake and even shape (eg can be misshappen after baking).

- Cake flour leaves beautiful pattern by sticky dough

- Suggests baking 8 to 9 mins on middle rack before egg washing.

- Best egg wash is yolk + pinch of salt but very difficult to brush.

- Best brush will be hair rather than silicon which drags on too much egg wash. Also, use small brush to remove excess egg wash in between the grooves where its not wanted or will blur the pattern.

- Mooncakes will flakey and soft when hot so allow to cool before moving.

- Bake mini mooncakes at 180 deg C, first phase 8 to 10 mins until edges turn golden and dough has hardened. Then egg wash and further 8 to 11 mins until golden brown.

12. Souped up recipes (Video) - Lotus seed filling (155g dried seeds with 80g oil and cornstarch to make approx 500g filling.) Makes twelve 100g mooncakes with double yolk (tried here)

- Very comprehensive 15 min video!

- Lotus seed filling: Choose lotus seeds with starch included in it. Cooks in IP 30 mins but 30 mins frying on low heat to dry up! 

- Can use honey but not honey with crystals as will affect texture of wrapper. No need to use lye water.

- Lye water is for colour but can use water as substitute. It will affect colour. Recipe for lye water (liquid form) given. 2.5g baking soda + 1.5 tbsp water simmered for 15 seconds. Cooled and yield 13g (2.5 tsp) for her recipe.

- 250g cake flour makes about 420g dough. Check consistency that it's soft, pliable and non-stick with elasticity.

- Wrap in plastic and rest 3 hours at room temp.

- Cooks yolk by baking 150 deg C for 6 mins. Optional step but roasted taste.

- Suggests using bigger mould for beginners [35g dough + 65g filling = 42g filling + 23g for 2 yolk]

- Demonstrates how to wrap 2 egg yolks which makes it oval ball shaped. 

- Use palm to push out dough till you get a 4 - 5 inch in diameter circle. Flip dough and filling upside down (see video) to prevent air. Flip back right side up and then push dough to close and seal.

- Dust with cake flour. For round mould, once there is resistance, press for 15 seconds to establish the shape. For square mould, press gently with sustained pressure for 30 - 40 seconds so the mooncake fills up all 4 corners.  

- Mist mooncakes. Bake 168 deg C for 8 mins. Egg wash is 1 yolk with 1 tbsp water. Brush thin layer of egg wash including the sides. Same temp another 8 mins. Brush with egg again. Finally, bake 6 - 10 mins. Totally cool before storing.

Filling recipes : Unlike making the filling/pastes for other doughs, baked mooncake filings requires the inclusion of a LOT of oil so that the skin can 回油 

Best IP recipe for lotus seed paste: Souped up Recipes

Best IP recipe for red bean paste: What to cook today

Best recipe for black sesame seed paste by Omnivore Cookbook

Best recipe for mung bean paste - use IP method from AKK but add oil (additional approx 2 to 4 tbsp of lard and/or oil)

Kitchen 101's list of 'healthy' mooncake paste recipes: her pastes aren't very oily or sweet as she uses a liquid (e.g., milk or water) with Glut Rice Flour as the thickener. These make a moist (but not oily mouth feel) paste and really cuts down on pan frying time. In my opinion, perhaps less suitable for baked mooncakes which really need a lot of oil!

Store pastes frozen and then thaw before using. Storing paste in the fridge even wrapped in cling film and in a plastic bag will still dry out the paste.

Yolk preparation tips

Kat Kwa's tips to fix greasy paste (e.g. storebought and put in the fridge or frozen and oil separates from paste)

How to prepare frozen salted egg yolk: 

In contrast, Taste Asian used 'fresh' raw salted egg yolks did a test and said wipe off with water produced the best result in his baked mooncake tests.

How to prepare fresh salted egg yolk

Lisa's kitchen: bake at 170 deg C for 8 - 10 mins.

Homemade Lye and Golden Syrup recipes

The issue with making baked mooncake is that it requires golden syrup and lye, both ingredients aren't widely used in many other recipes, so unless you intend to keep making mooncakes every so often, it's going to be sitting in the cupboard a really long time. In particular, mooncake recipes only need maybe 1 tsp of lye water as it's a corrosive liquid (highly concentrated alkali) which I don't really want sitting around randomly in my cupboard.

Here are some alternatives:

Mooncake syrup making by Kat Kwa which involves boiling 1 lemon and 1 kg of sugar in water for over an hour. You have to leave it for at least 2 weeks or till next year(!) is ideal.

2 tbsp/27g Lye water (liquid form) by King Arthur from the red bean mooncake recipe (which uses stand mixer to beat the dough). This lye recipe involves boiling baking soda and water. There are other recipes which produce adding water dry baked bicarb. Bake bicarb soda at 120 deg C for 1 hr and then adding water in a 1:4 ratio (eatlittlebird). Dry conc is customisable cos other recipes e.g., pretzels require 1:2 baked bicarb to water.