Aren’t these babies cute? I made the piggies mooncakes last year and they were enormous. This year, I decided to half the size and they turned out mini and adorable and I am sure not that cloying too.
Last year, I went overboard with the mooncakes and made way too many , tiring myself out too. This year, I bought just 2 packets of paste and a jar of sesame paste and that’s that. I managed to finish the paste and just to make sure I don’t waste as well next year, for two 1kg paste, I was able to bake about 10 mini piggies (35g paste and 25g dough) , 1 huge one (70g paste and 50g dough) and 36 rounds (45g paste with a dollop of sesame spread in the middle and 20g dough) with 700g of dough with excess.
Note to self, try 45g paste and 14-15g dough in year 2018.
For the steps on how to make the piggies, please refer to https://www.anncoojournal.com/handmade-piggy-mooncakes/
Here’re the cuties before they went for a tan.
So here’s the recipe for the traditional round. I recommend rolling the pastes into weighed balls before assembling them and this can be done over 2 days. I weighed and shaped the pastes and made the dough on one day and assembled and baked them on another day and it was more manageable that way.
(yields about forty five standard 50g mooncake mould)
Ingredients
Dough
- 700g plain flour
- 490g golden syrup
- 175ml peanut oil (I used canola oil)
- 14ml alkaline water
Filling
- 1kg sesame lotus paste
- 1kg sugarless lotus paste
- a few tablespoons sesame paste (optional to enhance sesame fragrance)
Egg Wash
- 1 – 2 egg yolks
- 2 tsp of water
- mooncake super glaze
Method
- Prepare the pastes and roll the pastes into 45g balls with a dollop of sesame paste in the middle and chill them in the fridge until ready for assembly.
- To make the dough, place golden syrup in a mixing bowl and add in alkaline water, stirring to combine.
- Then add the oil and stir to combine.
- In another large mixing bowl, measure out the flour and make a well in the middle before pouring the golden syrup mix into the well.
- Mix with a wooden spoon first and once the dough comes together, tip the dough out onto a working surface and give it a few gentle knead and shape it into a smooth dough.
- Divide the dough in two and shape into discs before wrapping them in cling films and chill in the fridge for at least two hours or overnight. (I chilled mine overnight)
- Preheat the oven at 170 degrees.
- When ready to assemble, take the dough out of the fridge and give it a few knead. Weigh 20g of dough and wrap the 45g sesame/lotus pastes with the dough, give it a gentle dust of flour and gently press into the mould. Lastly, press the shaped mooncake out of the mould and onto baking paper lined tray.
- When the mooncakes are ready to be baked, spray the mooncakes with water and bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, take the mooncakes out to cool for 15 minutes.
- Egg wash the slightly cooled mooncakes and place them back into the oven to bake for about 15 more minutes, keeping an eye on them in the last 5 minutes to avoid over browning.
- After baking, cool for a few minutes and brush on the mooncake super glaze.
- Leave the mooncakes to soften their skin for three days before consuming.
There! Mooncakes bake for year 2017, one bake and that’s all. I think they look all shining and inviting. They say we eat with our eyes first right?
The traditional rounds.
The mini cuties, gifting them to kiddos and keeping one for myself.