I have been commissioned by Phoon Huat to create a video tutorial for snowskin mooncakes made using their ingredients and plunger moulds. Those of you not in Singapore may wonder if there's any point in going through this blog post then. Yes there is! The basics and patterning techniques shown here can be applied to other recipes using cooked or raw glutinous rice flour. I will include blog links to my other recipes without using the premix at the end of this post.
Feel free to upsize the portion to 12 mooncakes but I don't recommend working more than that in one round if you are making the ombre version or making coloured patterns like the green tea version as the dough gets more difficult to work with when you let it rest for too long regardless of the recipe/method you use. I colour my snowskin mooncakes using natural sources like Matcha powder and fresh pink dragonfruit puree that has been sieved. Feel free to use food coloring of your choice or other natural sources of colouring!
Here's the YouTube video tutorial:
Basic Snow Skin Mooncake
Ingredients (makes 6 mooncakes with 50g flower mould):
100g snow skin premix, sifted
20g vegetable shortening
50-55g cold water
Food colouring or flavouring of choice (optional)
150-160g lotus paste (or any filling of choice)
2 tsp (6g) melon seeds, toasted (optional, use more filling if omitting)
Ingredients (makes 6 mooncakes with 50g flower mould):
100g snow skin premix, sifted
20g vegetable shortening
50-55g cold water
Food colouring or flavouring of choice (optional)
150-160g lotus paste (or any filling of choice)
2 tsp (6g) melon seeds, toasted (optional, use more filling if omitting)
1. Toast melon seeds if using. It adds a nice crunch & breaks the monotonous texture of the filling
2. Knead melon seeds into lotus paste. Divide into 26-28g portions
3. Rub-in shortening into sifted snow skin premix until very fine crumbs form
4. Add colouring &/or flavouring into cold water. Optional as premix already has milk powder added for a milky flavour. Use less water if adding liquid flavouring.
5. GRADUALLY add water & knead until dough forms for premix to absorb as much water as possible to keep snow skin moist longer.
6. Continue kneading until dough is smooth & elastic.
7. Cover & rest for 10-15 min to relax dough
8. Divide dough into 26-28g portions
9. Lightly dust mould & cling wrap work surface with a little premix
10. Flatten a portion of dough, sandwiching it between cling wrap. I use a wooden coaster as a handy tool for flattening the dough.
11. Wrap a portion of filling with the help of cling wrap. Pinch seal the opening
12. Lightly coat mooncake with premix. Roll between palms until diameter is able to fit into the mould easily
13. Press mooncake into mould, using fingers to press in around the edges for smooth & well-defined looking sides
14. Press plunger FIRMLY onto a flat work surface. Patterns won't be distinct if you don't press hard enough. Push mooncake out. Brush off excess dusting
Here's the reel for the basics:
I made Instagram reels as well if you need some thing a little faster paced.
STORAGE & CONSUMPTION TIPS
Store in airtight condition in the fridge. Best consumed within 3-5 days. Leave at room temperature for 20 minutes before eating to soften cold snow skin. Snow Skin mooncakes tend to harden from the third day onwards so it really makes a difference to let the cold mooncakes soften at room temperature before you eat it. Proper storage is important to help to keep the mooncakes moist longer. Make sure there is minimal air gap between mooncake and the container. You may cover with cling wrap to help minimize the air gap. Repeated opening and closing of the box also releases a lot of moisture so you may want to keep each one individually covered if you want to keep the snow skin as soft as possible for a longer time.
Store in airtight condition in the fridge. Best consumed within 3-5 days. Leave at room temperature for 20 minutes before eating to soften cold snow skin. Snow Skin mooncakes tend to harden from the third day onwards so it really makes a difference to let the cold mooncakes soften at room temperature before you eat it. Proper storage is important to help to keep the mooncakes moist longer. Make sure there is minimal air gap between mooncake and the container. You may cover with cling wrap to help minimize the air gap. Repeated opening and closing of the box also releases a lot of moisture so you may want to keep each one individually covered if you want to keep the snow skin as soft as possible for a longer time.
Green Tea Snow Skin Mooncake
Ingredients:
100g snow skin premix, sifted
20g vegetable shortening
27g cold water
27g hot water
1/4-1/2 tsp matcha powder
150-160g green tea lotus paste
2 tsp (6g) melon seeds, toasted
1. Whisk matcha powder in hot water. Cover & refrigerate for at least 2h
2. Knead toasted melon seeds into green tea lotus paste. Divide into 26-28g portions.
3. Rub-in shortening into sifted premix until very fine crumbs form. Divide into two 60g portions
4. GRADUALLY add cold water/matcha & knead until dough forms & is smooth & elastic
5. Cover & rest the dough for 10-15 min
6. Divide each coloured dough into 26-27g portions. Set aside a few grams for patterning. Keep any dough left idle covered with cling wrap
7. Lightly dust flower mould of choice with premix or cooked glutinous rice flour. Cover the pattern with a little dough. Don't overfill the pattern or the dough will spill over to adjacent sections when pressed. Press dough into pattern with your finger. Cover finger with cling wrap if dough tends to stick to your finger.
8. Wrap green tea filling with colour of dough that is different from pattern dough. Insert into mould & press the mooncake out.
Ombre Fuchsia Snow Skin Mooncake with Kinder Bueno Surprise
Ingredients:
100g snow skin premix, sifted
20g vegetable shortening
27g cold water + 1/8 tsp pink dragonfruit puree (sieved)
20g cold water + 1.5 tsp pink dragonfruit puree
6 mini Kinder Bueno
120g lotus paste
1. Divide lotus paste into 20g portions. Wrap Kinder Bueno with lotus paste.
2. Rub-in shortening into sifted premix until very fine crumbs form. Divide into two 60g portions
3. GRADUALLY add concentrated/diluted dragonfruit water & knead until dough forms & is smooth & elastic
4. Mix 7-8g of dough from each colour to form a shade of fuchsia that is in-between
5. Cover & rest the dough for 10-15 min
6. Divide light & dark fuchsia into three 24g portions & three 1g portions. Divide dough in step 4 into six 2-3g portions. Try to work quickly & keep dough that is left idle covered
7. Place 24g of dark/light fuchsia dough on lightly dusted cling wrap. Press a ball of 2-3g fuchsia dough on top followed by a ball of 1g light/dark fuchsia dough. Cover with cling wrap & press flat
8. Flip flattened dough with ombre side down. Wrap filling with dough. Insert into mould & press the mooncake out. Don't worry if the ombre pattern is a little off-center. It will still look pretty!
Here's the reel for making patterned green tea snow skin mooncake and ombre fuchsia with Kinder Bueno surprise filling:
Alternative Recipes
Some of you may have preferences for types of ingredients used or you may not have access to cooked glutinous rice flour. Here are some alternatives you may refer to.
My favourite default recipe uses cooked glutinous rice flour and you can choose to use the premix if you wish. It is able to keep moist and soft for the longest time, about a week, if stored properly. If you expose it too much in the fridge or use too much flour for dusting, it will still dry out faster. The texture of the snow skin is like soft mochi for the first two days so if you prefer it more snow skin-like, wait for 3 days before consuming. I adapted it from Ann Low's recipe.
This recipe uses oil for those of you who prefer not to use vegetable shortening. It also uses cooked glutinous rice flour.
Those of you who are not able to get a hold of cooked glutinous rice flour may wish to use this recipe instead that uses raw glutinous rice flour. It is more work but the texture is really good too! This recipe uses oil too. I adapted it from Kenneth Goh's recipe and provided the link in my post if you wish to see the original recipe.
with love,
Phay Shing
Phay Shing
Beautiful mooncakes!
ReplyDeleteThank you! 😊
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