Snow skin mooncakes are a special treat often enjoyed during the Mid-Autumn Festival. These mooncakes are different from the usual baked ones, as they have a soft, chewy, and slightly see-through skin instead of a traditional crust. Let’s make make two-color traditional snow skin mooncake using a mooncake press. It’s simple but still beautiful and delicious.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
To make snow skin mooncakes, you’ll need to prepare the filling and the wrapper. For the filling, I chose lotus seed paste, but you can also try mung bean paste, sweet potato paste, chestnut paste, or any other filling.
For the wrapper, you’ll need rice flour, glutinous rice flour, corn starch or wheat starch, sugar, vegetable oil, and milk. These ingredients are commonly found in Asian food stores. Besides, a bit of beetroot juice, matcha powder or dried butterfly pea to dye the wrapper for making 2-color pattern for the wrapper.
What is a Mooncake Press?
A mooncake press, also known as a mooncake mold or mooncake stamp, is a kitchen tool used to shape mooncakes. Mooncakes are round or square pastries filled with sweet or savory fillings and decorated with intricate designs on the outside.
A mooncake press consists of a wooden or plastic mold with a plunger. To make a mooncake, you place a portion of mooncake dough and filling into the mold, then press down with the plunger to shape the mooncake and create the desired design. Mooncake molds come in different sizes and designs, allowing for creative possibilities.
The designs on mooncakes often have cultural meanings related to the Mid-Autumn Festival, such as the moon, flowers, and lucky symbols. Mooncake presses are practical tools for both home cooks and professional bakers to make beautifully shaped mooncakes with consistent patterns.
Two-Color Snow Skin Mooncake Recipe
Wrapper
- 50g glutinous rice flour
- 45g rice flour
- 30g corn starch
- 50g sugar
- 180g milk
- 20g oil
Natural Food Coloring
- Pink: 3-4 drops of beetroot juice
- Green: A pinch of matcha powder
Filling
- 100g dried lotus seeds
- 2-3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp oil
How to Make Snow Skin Mooncakes with a Mooncake Press
Step 1: Making the Filling
- To make lotus seed paste, soak the seeds in boiling water for at least 2 hours, then boil for 30-45 minutes. You can find a lotus seed paste recipe in my previous post.
- Roll the paste into 50-75g fillings, cover them with plastic wrap, and set them aside.
Step 2: Making the Wrapper
You can work on this step at the same time as step 1 to save time.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add oil and milk, and whisk until the batter is smooth and ivory white.
- Then, boil water for steaming. Place the bowl in the steamer, cover with a plate to prevent water from dripping into the batter, and steam on medium heat.
- After 15-20 minutes of steaming, check the dough with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the dough is cooked.
- Use a spatula to spread the dough in the bowl for 2-3 minutes.
- Once it cools down, remove it from the bowl, knead it 2-3 times on a clean surface, and cover it with plastic wrap.
Step 3: Coloring the Wrapper & Preparing Coating Flour
- To create a 2-color pattern, add natural food coloring to the dough. You can choose pink (beetroot juice), purple (blueberry juice or purple sweet potato powder), green (matcha powder), blue (butterfly pea tea or powder), or any color you like. Dye half of the dough and leave the other half white.
- Knead the dough with the food coloring until you have an even colored dough. Then, put this dough together with the white dough, knead 2-3 times to merge them but still retain two obvious colors on the final dough.
- For coating flour, roast 2 tbsp of glutinous rice flour on low heat for 5 minutes. Use it to prevent the mooncakes from sticking.
Step 4: Shaping the Mooncakes
- The dough should weigh twice as much as the filling to completely cover it, as the snow skin wrapper is slightly translucent.
- Flatten a wrapper ball, place a filling ball in the center, and stretch the dough to cover the filling entirely.
- Use a mooncake press to shape the mooncakes. Apply a small amount of oil on the mold to prevent sticking.
- Gently press the mooncake with your palm to create the desired shape, then lift the press to reveal the beautiful mooncake underneath.
Tips for Perfect Snow Skin Mooncake
After having your snow skin mooncakes done, you shouldn’t eat them immediately. Instead, let it rest in fridge overnight for the wrapper to become softer.
Homemade Snow Skin Mooncake can last 1 week in the fridge. I don’t recommend keeping it at room temperature because homemade mooncake doesn’t contain preservatives for longer shelf life.
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Traditional Snow Skin Mooncake
Equipment
Ingredients
Wrapper
- 50 g glutinous rice flour 1.76 oz
- 45 g rice flour 1.59 oz
- 30 g corn starch 1.06 oz
- 50 g sugar 1.76 oz
- 180 g milk 6.08 fl oz (about 3/4 cup)
- 20 g oil 0.71 fl oz (about 1 1/2 tsp)
Natural Food Coloring
- Pink: 3-4 drops of beetroot juice
- Green: A pinch of matcha powder
Filling
- 100 g dried lotus seeds 3.53 oz
- 2-3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp oil
Instructions
Step 1: Making the Filling
- To make lotus seed paste, soak the seeds in boiling water for at least 2 hours, then boil for 30-45 minutes. You can find a lotus seed paste recipe here.
- Roll the paste into 50-75g fillings, cover them with plastic wrap, and set them aside.
- In case you would like to make other types of filling, refer: sweet potato paste, mung bean paste, or chestnut paste.
Step 2: Making the Wrapper
- Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add oil and milk, and whisk until the batter is smooth and ivory white.
- Then, boil water for steaming. Place the bowl in the steamer, cover with a plate to prevent water from dripping into the batter, and steam on medium heat.
- After 15-20 minutes of steaming, check the dough with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the dough is cooked.
- Use a spatula to spread the dough in the bowl for 2-3 minutes.
- Once it cools down, remove it from the bowl, knead it 2-3 times on a clean surface, and cover it with plastic wrap.
Step 3: Coloring the Wrapper & Preparing Coating Flour
- To create a 2-color pattern, add natural food coloring to the dough. You can choose pink (beetroot juice), purple (blueberry juice or purple sweet potato powder), green (matcha powder), blue (butterfly pea tea or powder), or any color you like. Dye half of the dough and leave the other half white.
- Knead the dough with the food coloring until you have an even colored dough. Then, put this dough together with the white dough, knead 2-3 times to merge them but still retain two obvious colors on the final dough.
- For coating flour, roast 2 tbsp of glutinous rice flour on low heat for 5 minutes. Use it to prevent the mooncakes from sticking.
Step 4: Shaping the Mooncakes
- The dough should weigh twice as much as the filling to completely cover it, as the snow skin wrapper is slightly translucent. Flatten a wrapper ball, place a filling ball in the center, and stretch the dough to cover the filling entirely.
- Use a mooncake press to shape the mooncakes. Apply a small amount of oil on the mold to prevent sticking.
- Gently press the mooncake with your palm to create the desired shape, then lift the press to reveal the beautiful mooncake underneath.
Nutrition
Other Shapes of Snow Skin Mooncake
Beside using a traditional mooncake press, thanks to the snow skin wrapper, which is easy to shape like clay, you can be creative in shaping your mooncakes into many funny and adorable form. Here are some examples: