Makes approx. 13 small moon cakes of 50g gram each or 3 large moon cakes of 180g each
Ingredients:
Outer Pastry approx. 270g:
1. 150g plain flour (1 1/4 cup)
2. 70g golden syrup or honey (1/4 cup)
3. 30g vegetable oil (3 TBS or 45ml) (I use sunflower seeds oil)
4. 1 tsp lye water (alkaline water) (4g) You can buy lye water from a Chinese grocery store.
5. 1 egg yolk (approx. 18g)
6. 0.5g salt (equivalent to just a quick dash of salt)
Filling approx. 415g:
1. 100g dried red beans (yields approx. 275-300g of cooked red bean paste)
2. 70g brown sugar or sugar (1/4 cup) (I like to use 1/2 and 1/2)
3. 20g maltose (1 TBS)
4. 50ml olive oil, sunflower seeds oil or other vegetable oil
Directions:
Prepare the filling first:
This can be done ahead of time or the day before :-)
1. Rinse and drain 100g of the red beans.
2. In a pot, add red beans and cover it with about 1 inch of water above the beans or 4 cups (1 litre) of water.
3. Bring to boil, and cook under medium heat until the water is boiled down and the beans are soft, about 1.5 hour. Monitor and adjust with more water, if all the water has evaporated, before the beans are cooked.
4. Drain away any excess water and blend with a hand blender until smooth.
5. The red beans are done when you can mash them easily with a fork. Drain the cooked red beans, but keep the water.
6. Using a handheld blender, blend until smooth. Add back 1/3 red beans cooking water if it is needed to achieve a smooth consistency.
7. Heat a pan on medium high heat on the stove, add 1/2 of the oil and 1/2 of the sugar and stir until the sugar turns into an amber color, but not burnt.
8. Add the red bean puree, remaining sugar and oil to the pan. Stir and cook until the sugars and oil are incorporated into the puree.
9. Add the maltose, stir and cook it until it is dissolved into the paste.
10. Continue cooking until the paste is pulling away from the pan and coming together as one piece, looking shining and smooth, about 6 to 10 minutes, depending on your heat level and how much water you added while blending the red beans. The paste shouldn't stick to your hands.
11. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool before using. The paste will thicken quite a bit after cooling down.
Then prepare the outer pastry:
1. In a mixing bowl, add 70g of golden syrup or honey.
2. Add 30g of vegetable oil (I use sunflower seeds oil.)
3. Add 1 teaspoon of lye water, which is alkaline water.
4. Add 0.5g of salt (optional) and mix well.
5. Add 150g of plain flour
6. Add 1 egg yolk and mix until combined. Don't overmix, otherwise it will become too flexible, lose its strength to hold the filling.
7. Wrap the pastry dough with a kitchen wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour.
Assemble:
1. Weigh 20g of pastry dough and roll into a ball. Place the pastry dough on a plate, cover with a string wrap and set aside.
2. Weigh 30g of red bean filling and roll into a ball.
3. Wrap the filling into a dough as shown in the pictures below.
4. Lightly coat it with flour.
5. Place each of them into the moon cake mold.
6. Press and make it fit evenly into the mold.
7. Gently knock the moon cakes out of the mold.
8. Place them neatly on a baking tray laid with baking paper. Sprinkle a bit of water to prevent them from cracking under baking.
9. Bake for 5 minutes at 165 degree Celsius and let them cool down for 15-30 minutes. Very important, don't skip this step, otherwise, the pattern of your moon cakes will be blurred during baking.
10. Meanwhile prepare egg wash with 1 egg yolk and 1 teaspoon of water and mix well.
11. After the moon cakes have cooled down for 15-30 minutes, very lightly coat it with just one stroke, apply the first coat of egg wash. otherwise again the pattern will be blurred during baking.
12. Bake for another 5 minutes and take it out and let it rest for another 15-30 minutes.
13. Lightly apply a second coat of the egg wash on the moon cakes.
14. Bake for another 5 minutes and take it out of the oven. You can off the oven now.
15. Once the moon cakes have cooled down, store in an airtight container for 2-3 days for the moon cake to rest and set, before eating... now is the time to train your patience!!
Additional Information:
Our children love red bean moon cakes too. Red beans are a good source of iron, phosphorus and potassium. They're also an excellent low-fat source of protein and dietary fiber. Red beans also contain phytonutrients.
The ratio of pastry to filling for each moon cake used in this recipe is 40/60, i.e. 70g of pastry to 110g of filling. If we are making the small moon cakes, we would use 20g pastry to 30g filling.
In my family, we love the pastry, so sometimes we even make it 50/50, i.e. 25g of pastry and 25g of filling, but you can also use a ratio of 30/70, i.e. 15g pastry to 35g filling.
If you are using honey instead of golden syrup, just be aware that your moon cake pastry will take a longer time for it to soften. So you will have to wait for 3-4 days instead of 2-3 days, before they are tasty to be eaten.
The egg wash in done in two steps because it is very delicate and can easily destroy the pattern on the moon cakes, if too much egg wash is applied. For this reason too, it is very important to let the moon cakes cool down for 15-30 minutes in between baking before applying each round of egg wash
The golden syrup used to make the moon cake outer pastry can be easily made using homemade golden syrup.
These moon cakes are not overly sweet, unlike the commercial ones, but I sometimes still reduce the sugar content of the filling to 50g instead of 70g, and it still works for my family. Also I sometimes use olive oil instead of sunflower seed oil, when making the red bean paste.
Many recipes call for the soaking of the red beans, but it is not necessary at all.
I use olive oil in the red bean paste filling many times and it turned out great, one couldn't taste the olive oil at all.
Many of the moon cake recipes online don't contain egg yolk in the ingredient list of the outer pastry, but unless you are allergic to eggs, it adds to the taste, texture and nutritional value of moon cakes.
References:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/multimedia/health-foods/sls-20076653?s=5
Prepare the filling:
Prepare 100g of dried adzuki beans.
Rinse and drain them.
In a pot, add the red beans and cover with an inch (2.5 cm) of water over them. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer.
Cook, covered with the lid slightly ajar (to prevent it boiling over), for 1 hour. Keep an eye on the water level as you may need to add more during the simmering.
The red beans are done when you can easily mash them with a fork.
Drain the cooked beans, but keep the water aside for later use.
Using a handheld blender, blend until smooth. You may need to add back 1/3 of the red beans cooking water to achieve a smoother consistency.
Heat a pan over medium-high heat, add 1/2 of the oil and...
1/2 of the sugar.
Stir until the sugar turns into an amber color, but not burnt, like the picture shown below:
Add the red bean puree, the remaining sugar and oil to the pan. Stir and cook until the sugars and oil are incorporated into the puree.
Add the maltose.
Stir and cook it until it is dissolved into the paste. Continue cooking until the paste is pulling away from the pan and coming together as one piece, looking shining and smooth, about 6 to 10 minutes, depending on your heat level and how much water you added while blending the red beans.
Remove the pan from the heat and let cool before using. The paste will thicken quite a bit after cooling down.
Form the filling into balls of 30g each. (Note: This picture contains some of the red bean filling with pumpkin seeds, as I forgot to take pictures of the just purely red bean paste moon cakes)
Prepare the outer pastry:
Add 70g of golden syrup
Or 70g of honey instead, if you don't have golden syrup at hand.
Add 30g of vegetable oil such as sunflower seeds oil
Add 1 teaspoon of lye water, which is alkaline water. You can buy lye water from a Chinese grocery store.
Add 0.5g salt (Just a dash will do)
Stir and mix together.
Add 150g plain flour
Add 1 egg yolk
Mix until combined. Don't overmix.
Don't knead the dough – it should be a bit wet and moist right after combining with light kneading, but turn drier after 40 – 50 minutes of resting.
Now the pastry dough is done.
Wrap it with a kitchen wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour.
Weigh 20g of flour (We like thick outer pastry, so we did 25g)
Place the pastry dough on a plate, cover with a string wrap and set aside.
Take a pastry dough, press out a hole in the middle.
Gently wrap the dough around the filling and seal it up into a ball.
Done :-)
Cover with a string wrap and set aside.
Lightly coat it with flour.
Place each of them into the moon cake mold.
Press and make it fit evenly into the mold.
Gently knock the moon cakes out of the mold.
Place them neatly on a baking tray laid with baking paper. Before placing them into the oven, lightly sprinkle a bit of water to prevent them from cracking under baking.
Bake for 5 minutes at 165 degree Celsius.
Meanwhile prepare egg wash with 1 egg yolk and
1 teaspoon of water and mix well.
After the moon cakes have cooled down for 15-30 minutes, very lightly apply the first coat of egg wash.
Bake for another 5 minutes and take it out.
Let it cool for another 15-30 minutes.
Lightly apply the second coat of egg wash to the moon cakes.
Bake for another 5 minutes and take it out of the oven.
Take them out and let cool. Do not bake for more than 5 minutes each time. Otherwise the moon cakes will expand too much and crack. You can off the oven now.
And they are done :-)
A day later, they are looking more golden and shining :-)
Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days for the moon cake to rest and set, before eating... now is the time to train your patience!!
These are moon cakes after resting for 2 days, look how golden and shining they are. The pastry is soft and firm, perfect for consumption now.
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