More mooncakes

I made more mooncakes last Tuesday and then I fell sick. :( These were made for friends and family, but a few of them didn't manage to get them as it wasn't possible to meet up with these ladies while I was ill. My apologies to you gals. I couldn't possible keep them for too long. Maybe next year I'll do them again. These different coloured moonies had different fillings in them, namely pandan paste (I couldn't resist the paste after my second visit to KCT, seeing them stare back at me sayinG 'buy me'), chocolate, white lotus and sesame pastes. For the skin of the blackish mooncake, I added crushed Oreo bits to it. Encased within is chocolate paste. This one was for the kids.

Mooncake time!

After my first ever mooncake lesson last year, I decided to test the waters again all on my own this time. As usual, I started off lazy, but last Sunday saw hubby at work, leaving us two girls on our own, so after church, we took a walk to the baking goods shop and picked up the flour, sugar, pastes etc needed to make these lovelies. I hope I am able to attempt the baked ones next year.

Thus began my mooncake making journey... the first lot I made only consisted of 5 haha, before we went out to dinner that evening. The skins were left in the fridge for a few days before I made them at a friend's house again yesterday.

These were what we made yesterday using the boy moulds of car & Shinkansen. I love the car one very much. Love the imprints on the mooncakes.

I picked up some black sesame paste yesterday at KCT so will do those hopefully this afternoon.

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.

A date made a year ago...

Plain lotus and some with red bean and a little piece of Oreo hidden within...

Red wine and cranberry snow skin...

The mooncake festival is just round the corner, in approximately 2 weeks' time. Last year at this time, I had only started blogging not long, and was introduced to a whole new world out here on blogger. I've learned a lot in this short time, and marveled at all the wonderful food creations people around the world come up with. There are so many so many talented bakers and cooks out there who don't even do it professionally. Where I used to only bake once in a few months, I suddenly got caught into this baking frenzy with recipes popping up everywhere, some so interesting I just couldn't wait to try them out. It was during this time that I discovered so many people actually made mooncakes at home. I was intrigued. Curiosity got the better of me, and I actually tried it out. Alas, I was unsuccessful. One lady in particular caught my attention and she is none other than Cranberry. I love to drool over her beautiful bakes. She is very talented and when I casually mentioned that maybe she could teach me to make those beautiful snow skin mooncakes, she agreed and we made a date for this year. Time sure does fly by so fast, don't you agree? I can't believe one year has passed.

The mooncakes turned out great and we had lots of fun making them, princess included. J is so super patient with her and allowed her to play with the flour. Mummy couldn't help telling her to stop it and not mess up the place. Hehe. It was really wonderful of her to open up her home to us and let us learn from her. Thanks very much, J. I do so appreciate it.

Not just that, she even made us lovely peach and mango marshmallow cakes. Wow, that was a surprise, but I do so loved it. It wasn't sweet at all and the biscuit base really complimented the marshmallow and fruits. Yum! It's the one thing I've seen countless times on her blog and often wondered what this marshmallow cake is. Now I know and have tasted. :)

Here's the one we brought home. :)