Sweet Potato Skin Mooncake
Learn the secret to vibrant, healthy sweet potato skin mooncakes. Steamed, delicious, and easy to customize with purple or orange sweet potatoes.
Servings: 16 small mooncakes
Calories: 118kcal
Equipment
- Steamer Used for cooking the raw sweet potato slices and steaming the final assembled mooncakes.
- 50g Mooncake Mold Fitted with your choice of patterned stamp to press intricate designs onto each mooncake.
- Kitchen Scale Crucial for accurately measuring flour ratios and portioning the dough and filling into precise weights.
- Mixing Bowls For combining the dry starches and kneading the sweet potato dough.
- Skillet For lightly dry-toasting melon seeds before mixing them into the filling.
- Perforated Parchment Paper Lines the steamer tray to prevent the soft mooncakes from sticking during cooking.
Ingredients
Mooncake skin
- 200 g Sweet potato (white, orange or purple) washed
- 110 g Glutinous rice Flour
- 55 g All-purpose Flour
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 120 ml Water
Mooncake filling
- 320 g Lotus Paste or Red Bean Paste
- Melon seeds optional
Instructions
Step 1: Steam and Mash the Sweet Potatoes
- Slice washed sweet potatoes into uniform round slices approximately 1 cm thick. Arrange them in a single layer in your steamer basket. Steam over high heat for 12 to 15 mins until a fork slides effortlessly through the center.
- Once cool enough to handle safely, peel off the skins and mash sweet potato in a mixing bowl until completely smooth and free of lump fragments.
Step 2: Form the Tender Sweet Potato Dough
- To the bowl of warm mashed sweet potato, add glutinous rice flour, all-purpose flour, and sugar. Stir the mixture using a spatula to distribute the starches.
- Gradually pour in water while stirring. Begin bringing the dough together with your hands, kneading lightly until a uniform, supple ball forms. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 mins to fully hydrate the starches.
Step 3: Prepare the Nutty Filling
- While the dough rests, prepare your chosen filling. Toast a handful of melon seeds in a dry skillet over medium-low heat until lightly golden and fragrant. Mix the seeds evenly into lotus paste or red bean paste.
- Weigh out equal portions of filling at 20g each, then roll them between your palms into balls. Place them on a tray.
Step 4: Portion and Shape the Dough
- Divide the rested sweet potato dough into 16 equal portions, weighing approximately 30g each. Roll each portion into a smooth ball.
- Take one dough ball and gently flatten it between your palms into a round disc, making the edges slightly thinner than the center. Place a 20g filling ball directly in the middle of the disc.
Step 5: Wrap and Seal
- Wrap the dough disc around the filling ball, gently pushing the edges upward while rotating the ball until the filling is completely enclosed. Pinch the seam to seal, then roll the mooncake between your hands into a ball once again. Repeat with the remain dough and filling.
Step 6: Mold with Precision
- Dust your mooncake mold with extra glutinous rice flour, tapping out any excess powder. Lightly dust the dough ball as well.
- Shape the ball into a slight oval shape so it fits easily into the mold without scraping the edges. Insert the ball into the mold, place the mold flush against a flat surface, and apply firm, even pressure on the plunger. Gently release the plunger and lift the mold to reveal your embossed mooncake. Repeat.
Step 7: Gentle Steaming
- Line your steamer tray with parchment paper perforated with holes. Arrange the mooncakes on the paper, leaving at least one inch of space between each piece. Place the steamer over medium-low heat and steam for exactly 20 mins.
- Remove from heat and allow the mooncakes to cool completely before handling.