STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE

Snowskin mooncake, or ‘Bing Pi’ (Ice Skin) in Mandarin, got its name from its distinctive crystal texture and snow-coloured pastry. Snowskin mooncake is a chic and modern version of its more traditional baked counterpart (check out our Traditional Baked Mooncake recipe here!).

Over the years, snowskin mooncake itself has evolved to take on all hues of colours to match the trendiest flavour of the month. Snowskin mooncakes are normally filled with lotus seed paste, but recently, other flavours have emerged, including red bean or black sesame pastes, and locally acclaimed kaya and Mao Shan Wang durian pastes. Some even use alcoholic flavoured truffles in place of the salted egg yolk.

Couldn’t get your hands on the famous sold out snowskin champagne mooncakes? It is not too late to make them yourself! At a fifth of the price, you can recreate the iconic mooncake by following our recipe. An added bonus is that the snowskin mooncake does not have to be baked! Once done, simply chill in the refrigerator overnight and serve cold the next day.

TRICK OF THE TRADE

1. Get good quality ingredients! We recommend going to Sun Lik Trading for the:
   • Lotus Seed Paste – it is best if you follow our recipe to make it yourself, but we have discovered that their recipe tastes the best among the store-bought versions we have tried.
   • Flours – We used fried glutinous rice flour and baked Hong Kong flour from Sunlik and the snowskin turns out very smooth and delicious. The flours from some other brands we have tried tasted uncooked and doughy.
   • Alcoholic flavoured truffles – Sunlik sell different alcohol variations like vodka and champagne. According to them, they even supply their alcoholic truffles to hotels for their mooncake production (p.s. this is not a sponsored post though we would love to work with Sun Lik for future collabs!)
2. This recipe is extremely dependent on the weight of its components, thus it is important that you use a weighing scale.
   • Make sure the total weight of your mooncake equals to the capacity of your mould.
   • For our 46g snowskin mooncake, we used 21g of snowskin to 25g of filling.
     • e.g. if your mould is 46g,
       • Snowskin + lotus seed paste = 46g, or
       • Snowskin + lotus seed paste + alcoholic truffle/chocolate centre = 46g

INGREDIENTS (makes 32 mini mooncakes)

Sugar Syrup

• 300g Sugar
• 450ml Water
• 6 Pandan Leaves

Snowskin

• 130g Fried Glutinous Rice Flour
• 230g Baked Hong Kong Flour
• 42g Crisco Shortening
• 350ml Sugar Syrup (from the previous section)

Filling

• 1kg Lotus Seed Paste (you can find our recipe here!)
• 200g Toasted Melon Seeds
• Alcoholic Truffle Center/Chocolate (optional)

Assembling the mooncake

• Fried Glutinous Rice Flour (for dusting)

HOW TO MAKE SNOWSKIN MOONCAKE

PREPARE THE SUGAR SYRUP

1. Combine the sugar syrup ingredients in a pot and heat over medium heat until all the sugar has melted.

PREPARE THE SNOWSKIN

1. Sieve both flours into a mixing bowl. Add the shortening and combine with a spatula.
2. Gradually add in the sugar syrup while stirring to incorporate.
3. Knead the dough and let it rest for at least 15 minutes.
4. Weigh out the dough into 21g portions and roll into balls. (Do note that this measurement is based on a 46g mould. You will need to make adjustments if your mould is of a different size.)

PREPARE THE FILLING

1. Add the melon seeds to the lotus seed paste and mix well.
2. Weigh out the lotus seed paste such that the lotus paste plus the truffle centre together weigh 25g. (Again, you will need to make adjustments if your mould size is different).
3. Roll the lotus seed paste portions into balls. Then, use your thumb to make an indent in the centre big enough for the truffle. (Alternatively, you can skip the centre and use only lotus seed paste for the filling.)
4. Place the truffle in the middle and cover it with the lotus seed paste, ensuring that it stays in the centre as much as possible. Roll it into a ball and set aside.

   

   

   
   

   

   

   
   

ASSEMBLE THE MOONCAKE

1. Flatten each snowskin portion with your palms. Next, wrap the pastry around the filling, ensuring that there are no cracks in the skin.

   

   

   
   

   

   

   
   
2. Once the filling is enclosed, roll into a ball and dust with fried glutinous rice flour.
3. Generously dust the mooncake mould with fried glutinous rice flour and tap out any excess.
4. Gently press the ball into the mould until all the spaces are filled. Dust the bottom of the mooncake with fried glutinous rice flour so that it will not stick.
5. Use the mould to press out the mooncakes.

   

   

   

   
   

   

   

   

   
   
6. Chill overnight before consumption.

MARKETING TIPS

1. Snowskin mooncakes come in all sizes but for the purpose of this recipe, we decided to go with the smaller variation, thus it would not be the same size as a traditional baked mooncake. Our mould could only hold 46g worth of ingredients.
   • You can find out the exact capacity of your mooncake mould by filling it completely with snowskin, and weighing the said amount.

COOKING TIPS

1. You can add a few drops of food colouring to your snowskin mixture to colour the mooncakes according to your preference.
2. The snowskin has to rest to allow the flour to absorb the shortening and sugar syrup to produce a softer and smoother dough.
3. If you are toasting the melon seeds yourself, you can bake them in an oven at 160 degrees for 10 minutes, mixing them once.
4. As a non-alcoholic alternative, you can use soft chocolate pieces for the center so that your little ones get to enjoy some chocolatey goodness as well!
5. Use some fried glutinous rice flour to dust the bottom of the mooncake ball before pressing down on the mould so that it would not stick to the tray.

STORAGE TIPS

1. You can store the snowskin mooncakes in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

DIETARY MODIFICATIONS

• Egg-Free: No modifications needed.
• Fish-Free: No modifications needed.
• Nut-Free: No modifications needed.
• Shellfish-Free: No modifications needed.
• Vegan: No modifications needed.
• Vegetarian: No modifications needed.

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Snowskin Mooncake

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: mooncake, snowskin

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 32 Mooncakes

Calories: 228kcal

Author: Bee Leng

Popular with all ages due to its innovative flavours, Snowskin Mooncake is known for its chewy texture and clear skin, which gives a lightness to the decadent dessert.

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Sugar Syrup

• 300 g Sugar
• 450 ml Water
• 6 Pandan Leaves

Snowskin

• 130 g Fried Glutinous Rice Flour
• 230 g Hong Kong Flour
• 42 g Crisco Shortening
• 350 ml Sugar Syrup from the previous section

Filling

• 1 kg Lotus Seed Paste
• 200 g Toasted Melon Seeds
• Alcoholic Truffle Center/Chocolate optional

Assembly

• Fried Glutinous Rice Flour for dusting

Instructions

PREPARE THE SUGAR SYRUP

• Combine the sugar syrup ingredients in a pot and heat over medium heat until all the sugar has melted.

PREPARE THE SNOWSKIN

• Sieve both flours into a mixing bowl. Add the shortening and combine with a spatula.
• Gradually add in the sugar syrup while stirring to incorporate.
• Knead the dough and let it rest for at least 15 minutes.
• Weigh out the dough into 21g portions and roll into balls. (Do note that this measurement is based on a 46g mould. You will need to make adjustments if your mould is of a different size.)

PREPARE THE FILLING

• Add the melon seeds to the lotus seed paste and mix well.
• Weigh out the lotus seed paste such that the lotus paste plus the truffle centre together weigh 25g. (Again, you will need to make adjustments if your mould size is different).
• Roll the lotus seed paste portions into balls. Then, use your thumb to make an indent in the centre big enough for the truffle. (Alternatively, you can skip the centre and use only lotus seed paste for the filling.)
• Place the truffle in the middle and cover it with the lotus seed paste, ensuring that it stays in the centre as much as possible. Roll it into a ball and set aside.

ASSEMBLE THE MOONCAKE

• Flatten each snowskin portion with your palms. Next, wrap the pastry around the filling, ensuring that there are no cracks in the skin.
• Once the filling is enclosed, roll into a ball and dust with fried glutinous rice flour.
• Generously dust the mooncake mould with fried glutinous rice flour and tap out any excess.
• Gently press the ball into the mould until all the spaces are filled. Dust the bottom of the mooncake with fried glutinous rice flour so that it will not stick.
• Use the mould to press out the mooncakes.
• Chill overnight before consumption.

Notes

MARKETING TIPS

1. Snowskin mooncakes come in all sizes but for the purpose of this recipe, we decided to go with the smaller variation, thus it would not be the same size as a traditional baked mooncake. Our mould could only hold 46g worth of ingredients.
   • You can find out the exact capacity of your mooncake mould by filling it completely with snowskin, and weighing the said amount.

Read Also:  Traditional Baked Mooncake (传统烘月饼)

COOKING TIPS

1. You can add a few drops of food colouring to your snowskin mixture to colour the mooncakes according to your preference.
2. The snowskin has to rest to allow the flour to absorb the shortening and sugar syrup to produce a softer and smoother dough.
3. If you are toasting the melon seeds yourself, you can bake them in an oven at 160 degrees for 10 minutes, mixing them once.
4. As a non-alcoholic alternative, you can use Hershey's Kisses or chocolate pieces for the center so that your little ones get to enjoy some chocolatey goodness as well!
5. Use some fried glutinous rice flour to dust the bottom of the mooncake ball before pressing down on the mould so that it would not stick to the tray.

STORAGE TIPS

1. You can store the mooncakes in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Nutrition

Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 58mg | Potassium: 3mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 15g | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg