Tuesday 10 September 2013

Shanghai Mooncake 上海月饼 (中英食谱)

  




The mid-autumn festival is just around the corner. Last week, I made my first trip to Kwong Cheong Thye and was awe to see so many types of lotus paste for making mooncakes. This place is highly recommended as the lotus paste is not so sweet compared to those which I have bought in the past from other baking supplier shops.

You will find many interesting flavours like red wine cranberry lotus paste, low sugar green apple lotus paste, low sugar passionfruit lotus paste, HK pearl milk tea lotus paste, green tea dried longan lotus paste, red date longan lotus paste, etc. (too many to name all, don't you feel spoilt for choice? :p) You even get to sample the paste if you visit their retail outlet at Aljunied. The price for the more unique flavours is $18 for a one kilogram pack. You can request the staff to cut the portion into half and buy at 500g if you think one pack is too much for you. That's what I did and I could buy more flavours. :)

After getting the lotus paste, I decided to make some shanghai mooncakes which is on my to-bake list since last year. I have adapted the recipe from blogger Cheah's No-frills recipe and made some changes to it. I have replaced the shortening with butter as you know being a health conscious me, I avoid using this unhealthy ingredient if I can.

The Shanghai mooncakes turned out well and are very fragrant. The pastry is similar to the pineapple tart which uses the rub-in method when making the dough. For this first attempt, I have made it specially for my good friend Emily. I was meeting her for lunch that day and got up at 5am to do the baking before my little one woke up, I am glad that she likes it and the feedback I got from her is the mooncakes are very delicious and the paste is not too sweet, just right! I think the lotus paste has played an important part here, don't you think so? I will stick to Kwong Cheong Thye from now on if I want to get lotus paste. So if you are thinking of making some homemade mooncakes for your loved ones and friends, why not make a trip down to KCT and grab some interesting flavours? :)


(Note: I am not related to Kwong Cheong Thye nor paid for promoting their products. Just purely sharing something which I find good with all.) 



Shanghai Mooncakes 上海月饼

Ingredients 材料: (makes about 11 大概做11粒)

Pastry Skin 外皮
300 gm Plain Flour 普通面粉
40 gm Custard Powder 卡士达粉
1 teaspoon Baking Powder 泡打粉
80 gm Icing Sugar 糖霜
1 Egg, lightly beaten 鸡蛋,打散
150 gm Unsalted Butter 无盐牛油
1/4 teaspoon Salt 盐
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 香草精
Some Pumpkin seeds or Almond Flakes for decorations 一小撮瓜子,装饰用 (I used black/white sesame seeds 我用黑白芝麻)

Filling 内陷:
605g of lotus seed paste 莲蓉 (I use assorted flavours bought from Kwong Cheong Thye 我用在广祥泰买的不同口味莲蓉包裹)
Salted Egg Yolks 咸蛋黄
1/4 tsp sesame oil 麻油

Egg Glaze 蛋液:
1 Egg yolk 蛋黄
1 tsp milk 牛奶


Method 做法:
1. Sift the flour with the baking powder, custard powder, and salt into a mixing bowl.
1。在一个钢碗,筛入普通面粉,泡打粉,卡士达粉和盐。

2. Sift in the icing sugar and mix well into the flour mixture.
2。再筛入糖霜,混合均匀。

3. Cut in the unsalted butter, rub in till resembles bread crumbs. (I used my Wilton pastry cutter to do the job.)
3。牛油切小块,搓入面粉混合成碎屑状。(我用Wilton糕点切刀)

4. Make a well in the centre and add in the lightly beaten egg, combine into a soft dough without kneading it. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
4。中间挖个洞,加入稍微打散的蛋拌匀,混合成团状。休面30分钟。

5. Meanwhile, wash the salted egg yolks, add in 1/4 tsp sesame oil, roll into the egg yolks, steam for about 2 minutes. Leave aside to cool.
5。把咸蛋黄洗干净,加入1/4小茶匙麻油,蒸两分钟,待凉备用。

6. Divide the lotus paste into portions of 55 grams each, roll into balls. Wrap the salted egg yolk in the centre of the lotus paste ball.
6。莲蓉馅平均分成每粒55克,搓圆。咸蛋黄包裹在莲蓉馅中间。

7. Divide the dough into portions of 60 grams each, roll into balls.
7。把面团分成每粒60克,搓圆。

8. Wrap in the filling and shape into a dome. Arrange them on a lightly greased baking tray.
8。包入馅料,搓圆,放在铺了烤纸的烤盘上。

9. Decorate with some sesame seeds, and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celcious top/bottom heat for about 10 minutes. Take them out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.
9。用瓜子或芝麻装饰,放入预热后的烤箱以180摄氏度上下火,烤约10分钟,取出放一旁待冷5分钟。

10. Brush them with egg glaze and return to the oven to bake for another 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
10。涂上一层的蛋液,再放入烤箱烤25~30分钟或至金黄色即可。




Updated on 23 September 2015
Made the cheesy version of Shanghai mooncake and it is more fragrant and tastier than this original one! Click 'here' for the step-by-step tutorial recipe.
芝士上海月饼比原味的上海月饼更香更好吃!点击‘’看中英加图对照食谱。







For more mooncake recipes 其他月饼食谱:
1. Click here for Rainbow Snowskin Mooncakes 彩虹冰皮月饼
2. Click here for Fish Doll Mooncake 简易鱼儿公仔饼
3. Click here for Healthy Purple Sweet Potato Snowskin Mooncakes 健康紫薯冰皮月饼
4.  Click here for Baked Chocolate Mooncakes 巧克力烤皮月饼
5. Click here for Healthy All Natural Snow-skin Mooncake 健康全天然材料冰皮月饼
6. Click here for Baked Custard Mooncakes 酥皮奶黄月饼
7. Click here for Watermelon Shaped Pastry Mooncake 西瓜造型月饼
8. Click here for Cheesy Shanghai Mooncakes 芝士上海月饼
9. Click here for Baked Mooncake with Mandarin Peel Red Bean Paste 陈皮红豆沙烤皮月饼

 The cooking temperature as suggested in all my recipes serve as a guideline. Every oven has different thermostat, you may have to adjust the temperature and timing to suit your oven. Different brand of ingredients have different composites, thus there may be a slight difference in the end result.  食谱里的烘烤温度和时间只是供参考,每一架烤炉的恒温器都不同,请自己调适。不同品牌的材料有不同的复合材料,所以最终成品有可能稍有不同。

“It takes time and effort to compose or translate recipes, I would appreciate it if you do not copy and pass it off as your own recipe. If you wish to share or adapt any of the recipes that I have posted in this blog, please provide a link back to the relevant post here. Thank you.”
编写或翻译食谱需要时间和精力的,请不要复制或将它作为自己的食谱。如果你想分享部落格的任何食谱,请提供在这的相关链接,谢谢。"


© Copyright 2013 bakingtaitai.blogspot.sg