Successful Moon(cake) Landing

You know me. I just could not accept that I had failed at making Mooncakes. So, washed and cooled the baking sheets and immediately started another batch of Mooncake dough, this time I tried Lily Sek's of http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/. I made half the quantity as I already have more Mooncakes than we can eat. Mixed up the starter, set is aside for 1 hour. Luckily, we had a late lunch so I could still play.Meanwhile I pan toasted up some sunflower seeds and almond silvers to add to the too sweet filling. Chilled the mixture in the fridge.

Prepared dinner for family - Adobo Flank Steak and Grilled Eggplant on the grill outside.While Flank steak was cooking, I pulled out the chilled filling and rolled them into balls. It is now about 9:30 p.m.! Of course, I was torn between watching the basketball finals between USA and Spain and redeeming my name!

Made the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes while I ate dinner. This recipe ask me to knead the dough. The previous one said not to knead. I used almost maximum flour asked for; 220 gm for half recipe. Adding flour as I kneaded until it was no longer sticky. It felt like good playdough. I felt more confident.

I roll the dough into balls. Flattening each ball into a 2 1/2 inch circle. As luck would have it, next to me was a plactic 1 cup measure. I put it on top of the ball of dough and pressed down. A nice circle of around 2 1/2 inches. I pick up the flatten dough. Put a ball of filling in the middle. Lily is right. If you put the dough and filling ball in the middle of a cupped palm and push the filling against the dough, it will stretch, allowing you to cover the filling without too much extra dough. I lightly roll the filled dough between my floured hands, before putting it into the mould and pressing lightly. A couple of knocks on the counter and it comes off the mould. A prefect little mooncake.
The imprint was more distintive this time. The recipe calls for broiling it in the oven for 5 minutes. My oven's broiler needs to be preheat.By the time I put the prepared Mooncakes in, it was quite hot. At 3 mins 40 seconds it was quite brown. Admittedly, I was watching the Basketball final and did not check on the Mooncake....Next time, I would broil for less time or keep an eye on it (so Ladies, no Chinese Soap or House Episodes).Take out of oven and rest 10 minutes. That was was good, as USA had started to make careless fouls....Brush on egg glaze and another 5 minutes rest. Caught a little more game.

Baked for 10 minutes as it was quite brown form my broiling. Cooled it on sheet and then on cooling rack. The imprint was so much clearer this time!


The Mooncake seemed a little harder than the other recipe. Lily's recipe said to store for 2-3 days before it is ready for eating. Cut one to try anyway. Just a tad drier but just as delicious pastry. The added sunflower seeds really cut the sweetness.The skin was evenly around the filling. Very nice.

This morning ( the day after) the pastry already seems softer and more shinny and taste even better. So, It is worth a try. I will make different fillings the next time and share the recipe.

Oh where do I hide my Moon Face?

So sad to report, my Mooncakes experiment was not quite a success. They looked good before baking but when they came out of the oven, the beautiful imprint were so shallow, they were barely visible. I was looking forward to reporting success and giving tips on how to make them. Oh, where do I hide my shameful Moon Face????? I guess it is back to the kitchen.

Before Baking After Baking

I think the pastry dough was not firm enough to hold the imprint while in the oven. Maybe,I did not measure the ingredients accurately- too much Golden Syrup. That does not seem likely as the pastry was just nice, not too sweet.I put in only the half tablespoon of alkali water it called for, seeing how paranoid I was about that ingredient- so that could not be it ( too little? maybe but I think not- I was very focus on getting it right). That leaves the flour- too little? All in all the texture of the pastry/ skin was good.

I had used ready made black bean and red bean filling. It was too sweet for our taste. Next time I will either make my own or add nuts and sunflower seeds to ready made filling to cut down on the sweetness.

I think part of the problem could have been the wrapping of the dough around the filling. Maybe I did not wrap it close enough around the filling, leaving a air gap. This would not have given the pastry the support it needed, allowing it to `spread'.

Whatever it is, it is back to the kitchen for me though the sweet taste of the filling at the back of my throat is not encouraging me. Maybe I can make the Snow Skin Mooncakes instead. No, I will persist and make some beautiful Mooncakes soon and report back.

Now what do I do with these very sweet Mooncakes?

To Mooncake or Not

On my recent trip back to Malaysia I saw beautiful Mooncakes being sold everywhere. No longer contented with the traditional black bean paste, lotus paste with diced ham and fragrant nuts (Kum Thui), we now have chocolate, peanut butter, cappuccino, green tea, durian filled Mooncakes. The array become even more confusing with the Snow Skin version of Mooncakes - filled with strawberry, raspberries, blueberries, longan and every sort of flavor you can imagine. With the Snow Skin Mooncakes also comes the colors; the greens of the pandan and green teas, the pinks of the berries and others hues tinted by the fruits and herbs used. Then the sizes and shapes. Things sure has change from when double yolk Mooncake was the luxury!

Anyway, I was inspired to try to make Mooncake this year. My dear sister in law was kind enough to take me to buy some Mooncake moulds before I left ( and also a Ang Ku mould... hopefully more about that later). Of course, I have the dilemma of the alkali water aka Potassium Carbonate and Sodium Bi- Carbonate solution aka Kan Sui aka Lye water. I always knew that alkali water was involved in Mooncake as in many Chinese dishes.....and also how controversial it is. I guess I knew I would be trying this. Who was I kidding.

Anyway to the blogs I go to find out if there is a substitute for lye water / alkali water. I come across it being banned / pull off the shelves in Australia- highly cautic, strongly akaline. I read about Norwegian dishes that use it. Of European Artisian bakers who use lye and believe that there is no substitute for it.Pretzel makers use it (although I use sodium bicarbonate in pretzel recipes with good success. Will experiment at some point). Somehow the texture of traditional food is different without it. The Chinese use it in making Noodles, giving it the springy texture, the Kan Sui Koh, Kan Sui Chung (Rice Dumpling) to name a few. It boils down to being careful with it, using only a very small amount of it, keeping it out of the hands of children and buying food grade alkali / lye water, none of the drain cleaning grade!

So tonight, I have followed Betty Yew's Traditional Mooncake recipie and prepared my deadly starter for tomorrow's Mooncake skin. More tomorrow on the Mooncake adventure as I (hopefully) live and breath.

As a footnote, my husband bade me goodnight in the kitchen, with snide remarks about the potion I was going to kill him with.......