Our first homemade snowskin mooncakes...
I always have the impression that mooncake-making is something that involves very complicated steps, very time consuming, and any effort to try it would unlikely pay off very well. It was only after reading a recent article featured in the papers that I learned that snowskin mooncakes are actually quite simple to make, especially when baking supply stores here are well-stock with all the necessary ingredients, including ready-made fillings. The recipe which was published alongside the article almost made me wanted to drop everything and rush to the nearest store to get all the items. Well, I got all the items a few days later...except one important tool, that is, a mooncake mold! I didn't quite like the designs of the molds available at the store, and I didn't want to buy one since I wasn't sure how the mooncakes would turn out. So I used a set of cookie cutters instead. This is nothing new, as I have seen several very creative bloggers use their Disney cookie cutters to shape their mooncakes.
When I told my kids that I was going to try making mooncakes for them, they too got very excited, and were very eager to help me out. Both had fun shaping the dough and the fillings into small rounds. I finds it very satisfying to release the finished mooncake from the cutter. It was also a surprise that they tasted really delicious, I certain didn't have any high expectations when I was making them! Everyone commented that the sweetness was just right. The snow skin was soft and a little 'QQ' which means chewy. The ready-made white lotus paste was smooth and not overly sweet. Those who have tried them were all thumbs up. Our first attempt at making mooncakes was a great success.
Before I went on to make the second batch of mooncakes with my remaining ingredients, I searched around the internet for other recipes to try. It was only then that I discovered that fruit juices can be used to replace the water in the recipe. So, for the second batch, I tried with this recipe here. I divided the ingredients into two equal portions...I used mango juice for one portion, and the other I experimented with pomegranate juice...both were what I had in the fridge. The pomegranate gave a pleasant purple tint to the dough. However, without the use of any artificial essence, the flavour was not prominent. I tried moulding the mooncakes with my Pooh cutters, but it was not as easy as I thought. I couldn't achieve a smooth surface, Pooh's face looked all cracked and wrinkled ;') In the end, I had to fall back on the piggy cutter.
This is the last batch I made yesterday. The yellow snow skins were made with mango juice and I used strawberry milk to made the pink ones. Again, I didn't use a proper moon cake mould, instead, I used a set of improvised moulds...which happens to be my old plastic koniyaku jelly trays.
I have pretty much convinced myself that I should get a mooncake mould next year. It's very obvious that the surface of the finished mooncakes were filled with awful cracks. I wondered whether it was the way I mixed and kneaded the dough? Do I have to knead it longer in order to get a very smooth skin?? Furthermore, I read that the proportion of the dough to filling ratio should be roughly 40% : 60%. As such, I used about 20g of dough to 30g of fillings. However, I find that the dough was a little too thin for easy wrapping the fillings.
We made this assortment of mooncakes and the kids were very proud to give them to their Granny. It was a good learning experience and I hope I can do a better job next year!
With this set of calligraphy done by my younger boy (yes, he stil has got a long long way to go before he could reach his brother's standard), I wish all of you who will be celebrating the mooncake festive today, 中秋节快乐!
I always have the impression that mooncake-making is something that involves very complicated steps, very time consuming, and any effort to try it would unlikely pay off very well. It was only after reading a recent article featured in the papers that I learned that snowskin mooncakes are actually quite simple to make, especially when baking supply stores here are well-stock with all the necessary ingredients, including ready-made fillings. The recipe which was published alongside the article almost made me wanted to drop everything and rush to the nearest store to get all the items. Well, I got all the items a few days later...except one important tool, that is, a mooncake mold! I didn't quite like the designs of the molds available at the store, and I didn't want to buy one since I wasn't sure how the mooncakes would turn out. So I used a set of cookie cutters instead. This is nothing new, as I have seen several very creative bloggers use their Disney cookie cutters to shape their mooncakes.When I told my kids that I was going to try making mooncakes for them, they too got very excited, and were very eager to help me out. Both had fun shaping the dough and the fillings into small rounds. I finds it very satisfying to release the finished mooncake from the cutter. It was also a surprise that they tasted really delicious, I certain didn't have any high expectations when I was making them! Everyone commented that the sweetness was just right. The snow skin was soft and a little 'QQ' which means chewy. The ready-made white lotus paste was smooth and not overly sweet. Those who have tried them were all thumbs up. Our first attempt at making mooncakes was a great success.
Before I went on to make the second batch of mooncakes with my remaining ingredients, I searched around the internet for other recipes to try. It was only then that I discovered that fruit juices can be used to replace the water in the recipe. So, for the second batch, I tried with this recipe here. I divided the ingredients into two equal portions...I used mango juice for one portion, and the other I experimented with pomegranate juice...both were what I had in the fridge. The pomegranate gave a pleasant purple tint to the dough. However, without the use of any artificial essence, the flavour was not prominent. I tried moulding the mooncakes with my Pooh cutters, but it was not as easy as I thought. I couldn't achieve a smooth surface, Pooh's face looked all cracked and wrinkled ;') In the end, I had to fall back on the piggy cutter.
This is the last batch I made yesterday. The yellow snow skins were made with mango juice and I used strawberry milk to made the pink ones. Again, I didn't use a proper moon cake mould, instead, I used a set of improvised moulds...which happens to be my old plastic koniyaku jelly trays.
I have pretty much convinced myself that I should get a mooncake mould next year. It's very obvious that the surface of the finished mooncakes were filled with awful cracks. I wondered whether it was the way I mixed and kneaded the dough? Do I have to knead it longer in order to get a very smooth skin?? Furthermore, I read that the proportion of the dough to filling ratio should be roughly 40% : 60%. As such, I used about 20g of dough to 30g of fillings. However, I find that the dough was a little too thin for easy wrapping the fillings.
We made this assortment of mooncakes and the kids were very proud to give them to their Granny. It was a good learning experience and I hope I can do a better job next year!
With this set of calligraphy done by my younger boy (yes, he stil has got a long long way to go before he could reach his brother's standard), I wish all of you who will be celebrating the mooncake festive today, 中秋节快乐!
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