Snow Skin Mooncake 冰皮月餅
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If you have been following this blog, you probably remember my last minute mooncake recipe from last year.
Since I owe everyone a bunch of recipes, I’ve decided to be more proactive this time by starting the mooncakes conversation 4 weeks ahead of the Mid-Autumn-Festival which lands on 9/15/2016 this year. Also, if you are feeling lucky, make sure you check out my mega Mid-Autumn Festival Giveaway where you can win a bundle of kitchen goodies valued over $200.
Just as a reminder, mooncake is a traditional food eaten during Mid-Autumn-Festival and honestly, the probably the only reason I celebrate this occasion. While the traditional mooncakes will always have a place in my heart, I have been increasingly drawn towards this new breed of mooncake called Snow Skin Mooncake, aka Snowskin Mooncake, Ice Skin Mooncake, Snowy Mooncake.
Known for the soft, sticky, and snowy white cake skin, these snow skin mooncakes are very different from the traditional ones in terms of texture and taste. Per this article, snow skin mooncakes were first created as a healthier alternative to the traditional baked mooncakes which are laden with sugar and fat.
With snow skin mooncakes, the stuffing is normally less sweet and sometimes consists of fresh fruits. And most importantly, the snow skin dough is made from steamed rice flour batter, giving it a soft and sticky texture similar to that of Japanese mochi.
Oh one more thing, mooncakes are typically smaller in size which means you will need smaller mooncake mold like the 50g ones I have below.
In this recipe, I used egg custard filling because it’s really delicious and I also happen to have it on hand. However, you cam use a variety of other fillings such as red bean paste, lotus seed paste, taro paste, and etc.
Lastly, if you decide to make a lot of these cakes and don’t plan to consume all the snow skin mooncakes right away, it’s better to store them in sealed boxes and leave in a fridge or freezer for up to 10 days. When you are ready to serve just take them out and bring to close to room temperature.
Snow Skin Mooncake 冰皮月餅
Yield: 12 mooncakes
Prep Time: 60mins
Cook Time: 20mins
Total Time: 1h 20mins
Ingredients:
- 20g powdered sugar (for assembly)
Mooncake Skin
- 50g glutinous rice flour
- 50g rice flour
- 30g wheat starch
- 30 powdered sugar
- 30g cooking oil
- 30g condensed milk
- 230ml whole milk
Filling
- 300g egg custard filling
Directions:
In a large heat-proof mixing bowl, combine the milk and condensed milk. In the meantime, setup a steamer and start heating up the water.
Sift the dry mixture into the wet mixing, in batches. Mix with a whisk in between the sift.
Continue to mix until the mixture becomes smooth and lump free.
Add cooking oil to the mixture and mix until the oil is incorporated.
Place the mixing bowl in the steamer and steam for 20 minutes (my preferred steamer is a large wok + steaming rack + a lid)
20 minutes later, the steamed rice dough is ready and should look like this.
As soon as the dough is cool enough to be handled by hand, break the dough into smaller chunks and transfer the chunks to a Ziploc or food twist-tie bag.
While the dough is still warm, spread the dough into thin layer and fold a few times. Repeat this process until the dough turns smooth.
Form the dough into a cylinder and you are ready to assemble some mooncakes. To assemble the mooncake, you'll need a pair food service gloves, work station, and parchment paper lined counter or tray. Please also take a look at the steps in my traditional mooncake recipe for more detailed explanations.
First, make sure you know the capacity of your mooncake mold. The ones I use are labeled as 50g so I divide dough into 30g pieces and the egg custard filling into 20g pieces. If you decide to use a different stuffing, please do experiment a bit.
With food service gloves on, roll a piece of dough into a ball, flatten the ball into a wrapper about 1/8" thick. Try to make the center of the wrapper slightly thick then the edge. Place the egg custard filling in the middle of the wrapper.
Fold up the wrapper to completely enclose the filling. This might be the hardest part of the process but do practice a little to get comfortable with whatever the folding method you choose. 
Gently roll the mooncake between your palms to smooth out the surface and shape into ball.
Coat the inside of your mooncake mold with a layer of powdered sugar. Follow the mold instruction to press your mooncake accordingly. Repeat to assemble the rest of your mooncakes.
Transfer the mooncakes to a parchment-lined tray. Serve immediately or cover and chill in a fridge for up to 5 days. You can store for longer by freezing for up to 30 days but just make sure you wrap it really well.