More mooncakes

I started making some mooncakes on my own last week and yesterday as well. The first batch was for some friends and this batch is more for family. In my first batch, I followed the recipe exactly but it resulted in a rather soft skin, so for yesterday's, I did one and a half times the recipe and added the water gradually till I got the consistency I was happy with. It resulted in a firmer skin which was perfect.

I started by sifting the flour and sugar and mixed in the shortening till it resembled breadcrumbs. I hate handling shortening as it is too oily, so what I did was to use a butter knife and slowly cut it up. :) I then added water till it combined into a dough. It usually is a little sticky at this stage so you have to let it rest. You can use your favourite recipe but make sure you add the water slowly and not all at once. This is where my recipe originates, but as I do not have permission from the owner, I can only link it.

While the dough was resting, I measured out the filling and shaped them into little balls. It is optional to add melon seeds, etc. I chose the white lotus paste as I was told by the guy in Phoon Huat that it isn't too sweet. Lotus paste also happens to be my favourite filling. I wish I could have gotten the pandan paste as that too is one of my favs, but I wasn't planning to make that many mooncakes so it would have been a waste.

After having rested the dough, I divided them into 6 balls and added colouring to get the shades I liked. The last ball had Oreo crumbs added to it so that explains why it is black.

These 2 batches below were from last week. The colours are more pastel which I liked.

However, having looked back at the previous ones done at Cranberry's, I opted to add more colour this time round so they would look more vibrant.

This is what the inside looks like. Am happy that it's a great combo of thin skin and the right amount of filling.