Traditional Mooncake

Pastry Ingredients:
175g Hong Kong Flour
45g 100%Groundnut oil
100g Golden Syrup
1/2 + 1/8 tsp Alkaline water

Eggwash :
1 eggyolk + 2tsp eggwhite + 1 tbsp water + 1/2 tsp groundnut oil. Mixed well and strained.

Filling :
550g Readymade  Lotus Paste
50g Melon Seed
See notes 4 for custard filling

Methods:
Pre heat oven 175°C
Lay parchment paper on a baking tray.

I am using 68g mould. Made 12 small mooncakes.


1. Place syrup in a bowl. Add alkaline water. Stir until combined. Add oil and continue to stir until combine. Set aside.

2. Sift flour into a big bowl. Add the syrup mixture into flour. Using a spatula combine them into a soft dough. Wrap the dough into a plastic bag or cling wrap and let it rest in fridge for at least an hour. I rest mine in fridge for half a day and sometime overnight.

3. Combine lotus paste  with melon seed. Mix them well combined. Divide the lotus paste filling into 47g. Shape into balls and set aside.

4. After the dough has rested, divide the dough into 21g. If you are new to mooncake making, you can use 25g. But the thinner the pastry is, the better the results.

5. Take a pastry ball and flatten it with your palm(please wear glove for hygiene purpose). Place a lotus ball in the middle of the flatten dough. Wrap the lotus filling inside the pastry and roll it into smooth ball. See notes 1.

6. Place the mooncake ball onto the baking tray laid with parchment paper. Use the mooncake mould and press over it gently, then release the mooncake on the tray.  Continue the rest until they are all done

7. Bake the mooncakes in 175°C for 10mins until you see the side is lightly brown as shown in the picture as follow. Remove from oven and let the mooncake cool down for 10min to half an hour. I prefer half hour.  See notes 2.

8. After 10mins or  half hour, eggwash the mooncake with a brush. Return to oven and continue to bake for another 10-15mins or until it is golden brown. See notes 3

Some notes:
1. As the dough is only 30% of the filling, so this will need a little patience to slowly move the pastry dough in order to cover the whole lotus filling. Patience will make perfect 😊 and you will be very happy when you see the results.  Making mooncake is a way of training your patience.😊😊😍. Wrapping process is important to prevent "elephant" leg after baked. Pay more attention and you will be rewarded with beautiful mooncakes.

2. I have done spraying water and without before first bake. However, I do not see any different. So, I will do without the water spraying for traditional mooncake. Unlike custard mooncake, spraying water is a MUST. Spraying some water onto mooncake before bake will prevent mooncake from cracking during baking due to the filling expanded.

3.  Be gentle when eggwash. For mooncake, thin eggwash is better than thick. So, for here it is NOT the more the merrier😊. Less is better😊.

This is the result of too generous with eggwash. The pattern was still very clear after 1st bake. However, 2nd bake after eggwash due to generousity of eggwash, the print of the pattern expanded and became blurr. No worries,  the taste of mooncake is not affected. It is only the look is ruin. 😐

4. I have tried wrapping a piece of homemade custard  into the lotus paste. This combination made very perfect mooncake and it tasted really good. The portion is lotus paste 32g and homemade custard 15g. This become the healthier version of salted eggyolk. For alternative and healthier choice 😊.

Enjoy! Share with me if you have use this recipe. I would be happy to see your mooncakes.😊

You may like to try this recipe too :
1. Snow-skin Mooncake