When it comes to mooncakes, nothing quite compares to the popularity of Snow Skin Mooncakes. In contrast to the usual golden brown pastries, these ones are white as snow, and they’ve become a huge hit. Knowing that the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, I set out to create our family’s take on a traditional dish.
What Are Snow-Skin Mooncakes?
These mooncakes are known as “ice/snow skin mooncakes” in Chinese, or bīng pí yuèbǐng. Even though their form is similar to that of traditional mooncakes, their mochi skin is snowy and transparent, making them a truly unique treat.
Pastries are made with flour and inverted sugar/golden syrup to create traditional mooncakes, such as our lotus mooncakes with salted egg yolks. This results in a smooth, glossy exterior.
The Snow Skin Mooncake, on the other hand, isn’t baked at all. These use both white rice flour and glutinous rice flour, along with wheat starch. They are loved all over Asia (and the world) for their slightly sticky, chewy texture.
Major Variations From The Typical Mooncakes
There are some advantages and disadvantages to snow skin mooncakes compared to the traditional variety.
PROS:
- Put away the oven mitts! The dough must be steamed to be cooked, and all of the components must be ready to eat before assembly. However, once you put the pieces together, they will not require any further work.
- These mooncakes can be colored any way you like with food coloring. They need not be of the white race. The colors range from pink to deep purple to jade green. Additionally, you can use packaging colors to denote distinct flavors.
CONS:
- The typical mooncake has a shelf life of over a year when stored properly. Mooncakes made at home typically retain their freshness for up to 2 weeks. On the other hand, snow skin mooncakes should be eaten as soon as possible and no later than a week after they have been made. If the mochi is kept out for too long, it will dry out and crack.
- The outer mochi is so tender that you can only use many different fillings. Various soft pastes, such as red bean paste, mung bean paste, lotus paste, pumpkin, custard, etc., are required.
- To work with the dough, you’ll need some clear plastic wrap and some food-safe gloves. Plastics will not absorb the sticky rice.
Why Use Wheat Flour?
The mooncakes are made to look like ice or snow, thanks to the addition of wheat starch, which makes the skin slightly translucent rather than completely opaque.
Just consider har gow! (dim sum shrimp dumplings). The wrappers for those dumplings are made primarily of wheat starch, which allows the orange-pink shrimp filling to show through.
Wheat starch can be challenging to come by, but cornstarch is, so you can use that as a stand-in. There will be a slight increase in the mooncakes’ opaqueness.
Finally, we can get down to the recipe!
Ingredients:
- 400g of filling of your choice (you can use red bean paste)
- 215g of whole milk
- 60g of powdered sugar
- 50g of glutinous sweet rice flour (plus 25g, divided)
- 35g of rice flour
- 35g of wheat starch
- 25g of vegetable oil
Instructions:
- It’s important to remember that you should prepare the filling you plan to use the day before and keep it in the fridge.
To Make the Dough:
- To a large bowl, add the powdered sugar and stir in the milk and oil. Mix 50 grams of glutinous (sweet) rice flour, 35 grams of rice flour, and 35 grams of wheat starch together in a large bowl using a sieve. Make sure there are no lumps by stirring and mixing it thoroughly.
- Put the dough in a bowl that can withstand the steamer’s heat. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes on the counter.
- Get a steamer ready with enough water to allow for high heat steaming for about 25 minutes. Put the dough (still in the heat-safe bowl) into the steamer before the water has come to a boil. To prevent condensation from forming on the dough as it steams, keep the plastic wrap on it. Wrapping material should be kept away from the steamer’s hot edges.
- Cover and steam for 25 minutes over high heat. When the dough becomes completely transparent, it is done cooking. Some oil will always rise to the surface. If the dough is not cooked all the way through after 15 minutes, cover it again and steam it for 5 more minutes under high heat.
- To prevent the dough from becoming too firm, continue stirring after it has finished cooking. After the dough has cooled enough to handle, put on some protective gloves and knead it for a few minutes to incorporate the oil and make it smooth. Place the dough in a plastic bag and chill for at least an hour and up to two.
- Maintaining a medium low heat, toast the remaining 25 g of glutinous (sweet) rice flour in a dry pan for 6-7 minutes or until it turns very lightly brown. Avoid burning by stirring constantly, and let cool to room temperature before serving. Dusting is accomplished with this flour.
Assemble:
- About 400 g of dough should be available to you. The ideal ratio of dough to filling is one to one. A 50-gram mooncake requires 25 grams of dough and 25 grams of filling. Wearing protective equipment, measure out the filling by weight or by the number of cavities in your mooncake mold. Form a ball from the filling and use it for each serving. After chilling, the dough should be handled in the same manner. To separate the dough, use a plastic dough cutter (it won’t stick) or your gloved hands. It’s important that the dough is soft and easy to shape.
- Spread some plastic wrap out on your table to stop things from sticking. Use your palm to flatten each ball of dough into a round disc. Mooncakes weighing 50 grams need a circle no larger than 3 inches (7.5 cm) in diameter. There shouldn’t be any more than 4 inches (10 cm) of skin on a mooncake that weighs 100 grams. Roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin.
- To make the turnover, place a filling ball in the middle of the dough circle and carefully lift the whole thing up, and turn it upside down. Use gentle pressure to remove any air bubbles from around the filling ball.
- Flip the opening over and seal it by pressing the dough together slowly while trying to keep the dough as uniform as possible.
- Sprinkle the cooked glutinous rice flour liberally inside the mooncake mold, making sure to get into all the crevices (AKA sweet rice flour). Because of the intricate patterns on mooncake molds, it’s important to flour the dough well before pressing it into the molds. Carefully place the ball inside the mold after shaking off any excess flour. Try not to cram it in there. The mooncake ball should be reshaped as needed to ensure a snug fit in the mold.
- Turn the mooncake form upside down, with the opening facing down, on a sheet of plastic wrap. Press the spring bar down until you feel some resistance from the mold. Raise the mold, press down gently on the spring bar (this will push the mooncake out of the mold), and use your other hand to gently guide (and catch) the mooncake as it falls out. Repeat this step until all of the mooncakes have been made.
Notes and Tips:
- If you want to use a particular filling, it’s best to make it the day before and store it in the fridge. Recipes and ideas for fillings can be found in the aforementioned post. All calorie counts and nutritional analyses are based on a red bean paste filling.
- This recipe can be used to make either 8 x 100g mooncakes or 16 x 50g mooncakes.
- Filling preparation time is not included in the total time for this recipe.
- Keep in a sealed container with a layer of plastic wrap to prevent sticking. The mochi will be nice and chewy when served chilled from the refrigerator.
- The best flavor is achieved when consumed within 3–4 days but no more than a week after preparation.
- Before placing the dough ball into the mold, you should dust it and the mold with the cooked sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour) to prevent the mooncakes from sticking. This will simplify the procedure, though using too much rice flour can muddy an otherwise sleek appearance. My mooncakes have too much flour in some spots.