Snow Skin Mooncakes
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus freezing/cooling time of 1 hour
Cooking time: 10 minutes
For Filling
- 10x15g/0.5 small strawberries, hulled
- 20g/0.7ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 75g/2.6ozs cream cheese, cubed (full fat)
- 55g/2ozs icing or powdered sugar
- 180ml/6.3flozs double cream or thickened cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 1/3 teaspoon fine salt
For Mochi skins
- 30g/1oz mochiko or glutinous rice flour
- 1 cup/250ml/4flozs milk
- 150g/5.3ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 4 teaspoons coconut oil
- 170g/6ozs mochiko or glutinous rice flour
- 1 teaspoon matcha powder
You will also need some 75g/26oz mooncake moulds, either plastic spring molds or wooden molds (spring ones are very easy).
Step 1 - First wash and then hull the strawberries and make sure that they fit in your mold. Place them in a bowl and toss with the sugar and set aside. Place the cream cheese and sifted icing sugar into a mixer bowl with a paddle attachment. Beat until smooth on medium speed, around 1 minute. Then switch to a whisk attachment and add the cream. Whisk til soft peaks. Then take a silicon spatula and scrape up all of the cream cheese around the edge to incorporate into the cream. Add the vanilla and salt and whip cream until you get stiff peaks. It is ready when you can run a knife through the cream and the cut holds firm.
Step 2 -Line a baking tray with parchment. Take a 3/4oz ice cream scoop and scoop up some cream and place the sugar coated strawberry into the scoop pointy side first. Release onto the parchment and repeat using the rest of the filling and strawberries. Freeze for 60 minutes until the outside is hard.
Step 3 -While it is freezing make the mochi skin. In a dry non stick pan add the 30g/1oz of glutinous rice flour and toast the flour for 3-5 minutes on medium heat making sure that it doesn't burn. Place in a bowl. Take a large non stick chopping board and line it with parchment and then sprinkle a generous amount of the toasted flour all over it.
Step 4 - In a non stick saucepan (very important) add the milk and sugar and dissolve the sugar on low heat. Take the pan off the heat and add the coconut oil and then the flour and add it in using a whisk to prevent any lumps. Then return the pan back to low medium heat and start to cook the flour. It will go lumpy but don't worry, as long as you've whisked out the lumps before heating it will be fine. The watery dough will transform into a sticky, cohesive dough but it takes around 4-5 minutes to do this on low heat. I shape it into a square while it is in the pan.
Step 5 - Place the hot dough gently on the floured chopping board and cover with cling film and rest for 15 minutes. Then using food safe gloves knead in the matcha powder until you get a consistent green coloured dough . Allow the dough to cool completely at room temperature. The mochi skins must be completely cold.
Step 6 - Divide dough into 10 x 55g/1.9oz pieces of dough and roll into circles around 11cms/4.3 inches in diameter that are a bit thinner around the edges (like dumpling dough). Take now hard scoops of filling and place in the centre. Gather up the edges using lightly floured fingers and seal. Place smooth side against the stamp and press down firmly but gently. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.
Store pattern side up (obvs!) snow skin mooncakes in fridge for up to 2 or 3 days. They can also be frozen for up to 2-3 weeks.
I find these snow skin moon cakes incredibly addictive. I will eat one and because it has that lovely texture, I want to keep eating them. It's really a combination of creamy, fluffy, fruity and chewy and I love that heavenly combination of matcha and strawberry. Speaking of eating, for the last 2 months it has been a battle of the wills in our house. No not between Mr NQN and I but between us and Teddy Elliott. Tiny Teddy Elliott has been refusing to eat his dinner.
His younger brother Milo happily and heartily gobbles up his food but ever since we got back from Europe in November Teddy turns his nose up at his food or eats a tiny bit and leaves the rest. Mr NQN thinks something may have happened while we were away but who knows for sure.
A lot of people say that dogs (and kids) will eat when they're hungry and not to worry. This continued for a couple of months where Teddy would get fussier and then one day I had to admit that we were defeated. He was getting tinier and tinier and while he seemed fine with it, we weren't.
"You win Teddy, you have definitely won the stand off," I told him. And from then on we did give him his normal dog food because it has nutrients in it but we also add some lean pork mince and cooked grated carrot which we know he loves. If we give him 70% dog food, 30% mince he will know because he is a clever little boy but if we give him 60% dog food and 40% pork mince he will happily eat it. I'm sure that he is part dachshund (a notoriously stubborn dog breed) somewhere in that mix!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you have any tips for a fussy dog? Have you ever tried snow skin mooncakes?