There are many varieties of mooncakes (hereinafter referred to as mooncakes heh), of which Cantonese mooncakes dominate. In fact, making mooncakes is not as difficult as you might think, as long as you grasp a few of the key steps, which may seem cumbersome, but in practice it's still relatively easy to do.

The mooncake crust of the Cantonese mooncake is improved here by using whole wheat flour instead of regular flour, and the red bean paste filling is boiled on its own. I recommend that you make the red bean paste filling yourself, because the fillings bought outside are usually on the sweet side, and making your own red bean paste filling allows you to control the sweetness of the filling according to your taste.

Sharing your DIY mooncakes with your family and friends is delicious, reassuring, healthy, and full of a deep sense of camaraderie. Here is a detailed analysis of how to make mooncakes with whole wheat bean paste mooncakes as an example, so that you can easily make healthy and delicious Cantonese-style mooncakes.

Special note: Syrup can be purchased at bakery stores or on Taobao.com. Alkaline water can be replaced by a 1:3 mix of lye and water.

How to Make Whole Wheat Bean Paste Mooncakes

Ingredients: (about 12 mooncakes for 40 grams)

1. Crust:

100 grams of whole wheat flour

5 grams of powdered milk

75 grams of sugar syrup

1 gram of alkaline (1/4 tsp)

25 grams of peanut oil

2, Filling: 300g of bean paste filling

3. Others:

Egg yolk water (1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp of egg white mixed well for brushing liquid on the surface of the mooncake)

A little bit of water (spray it on the surface of the mooncake before putting it in the oven)

Directions:

1: Add spout to the syrup and mix well;

2: Add peanut oil and mix well;

3, add whole wheat flour and milk powder, knead into a dough, wrapped in plastic wrap room temperature rest 1 hour;

4, the bean paste filling divided into about 25 grams of small portions, the moon cake crust dough is divided into about 15 grams of small portions, were gently rolled into a round ball;

5, take one of the moon cake crust dough, with the hands of the panel in the middle of the press into the middle of the thick edge of the thin sheet, the center of the beans filling, and put the moon cake crust with two hands. To try to make the thickness of the pie crust, do not reveal the filling, wrapped gently rolled into a ball;

6, baking tray lined with tinfoil, the moon cake blanks on the baking tray, moon cake mold set on top, press down on the handle to press out the pattern, lifting the moon cake mold to continue to press down on the handle, the moon cake will be released from the mold on the baking tray;

7, preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius, the middle, the moon cake surface sprayed with water and then baked in the oven for 5 minutes, after setting, remove it and cool slightly for 2 minutes, then remove it. After shaping, take it out and cool it slightly for 2 or 3 minutes, brush the surface with egg yolk water (only brush the surface, the side is not brushed), and then put it back in the oven to continue to bake for about 8-10 minutes, even color can be removed from the oven.

8, after the moon cakes out of the oven on the baking sheet to cool, and income preservation box sealed for a day, back to the oil after the crust soften can be eaten.

Whole wheat bean paste moon cake production process Figure Source: Zhang Jing [Click to enlarge] Operation Tips: 1, usually wide moon cake skin and filling ratio is 2:8. For example, the production of a 50 grams of moon cake, you need to crust dough 10 grams, moon cake filling 40 grams. But through practice I think, slightly increase the ratio of the crust, filling is easier to wrap, but also delicious. I think the ratio of mooncake crust to mooncake filling should be 1:2 or 3:5; 2. We recommend buying ready-made syrups, such as the Swire's Golden Syrup that I used, which comes in a small bottle (454g) in a sealed package, so it is safe to consume. Out of food hygiene considerations, it is best not to buy the kind of syrup packaged; 3, there are many kinds of moon cake molds, there can be replaced with a piece of plastic press mold, wooden molds and so on. I personally feel that the plastic press type moon cake mold is better to use, molding, demolding are very convenient. More importantly, the use of plastic press-type mooncake mold, mooncake blank size is relatively flexible, mooncake blanks made of larger mooncakes will be thicker, and vice versa, thinner, while the diameter of the mooncake is unchanged. But the wooden moon cake mold on the size of the moon cake billet requirements are strict, only full mold made of moon cakes will be beautiful; 4, moon cakes into the oven baking time is relatively short, be sure not to leave no matter what, pay attention to observation, color evenly out of the oven, do not pay attention to baked; 5, lye also known as soda ash (sodium carbonate), is not baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), in the supermarket can be purchased, don't be mistaken Oh; 6, just out of the oven! Mooncakes, the crust is relatively dry and hard. After cooling, received in a sealed box for a period of time, the crust will be soft, the surface produces a layer of oily luster, this process is called "back to oil". Usually mooncakes need 1-3 days to return to the oil.