I make - Matcha Snow Skin Mooncakes

After my first snow skin mooncake experience, I have been quite motivated to try another flavor and to test another rice flour ratio. My first snow skin recipe calls for three types of flour, glutinous rice, rice and cornstarch. Since most gluten-free flour blend is a mixture of rice flour and potato/tapioca starch. I wonder what would come out if I simply use gluten-free flour blend instead.

Also, although I am happy with my first recipe, I am missing the chew from mochi. Therefore, this time I upped the glutinous rice amount in the flour mix. The dough is softer than my first recipe but still workable. However, I'm sorry to report that increasing the glutinous rice flour does not make the dough more chewy. In fact, it's the opposite. Even after chilling overnight, the dough is flabby. I will stick with my first recipe.

Matcha Snow Skin Mooncakes

You need snow skin dough, your choice of filling (mung bean is shown below) and toasted glutinous rice flour while making the mooncakes.

For Matcha Snow Skin: (for ~15 50g mooncakes)

80 g glutinous (sweet) rice flour
40 g gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)
30 g icing sugar
215 g milk (1.8 x flour)
15 g oil
1 tsp matcha powder

In a non-stick sauce pan, weight in two types of flour, sugar, milk and oil. Stir to dissolve all flour particles until it's smooth. Cover and rest the mixture for 30 minutes.

Put the sauce pan on medium-low heat. Use a rubber spatula to stir the mixture/scrape the pan bottom while heating. The gelatinization process happens quite quickly (3 minutes). Small pieces of paste show up first then bigger ones. Keep folding and mixing until you end up with a single piece. 

Remove the pot off the heat. Scatter the matcha powder on top of the dough and use a rubber spatula to work the matcha powder in. When the dough is not burning hot, switch to a rubber gloved hand to knead the dough until the match powder is evenly distributed. You may slightly oil the glove before kneading but it's optional. Kneading the match powder in after the initial paste is formed gives better matcha flavor and color. Chill the snow skin dough in the fridge for two hours before using.

For Mung bean paste

150 g skinned and split mung beans (aka moong dals)
Water to submerge the mung beans during cooking
70 g sugar
70 g butter
1/8 tsp salt
1~2 tbsp toasted glutinous rice flour

Wash the mung beans with water until the water drains away almost clearly. It may take 3-5 changes of water. Soak the mung beans in fresh water overnight. Next day, drain the mung beans and put them in a non-stick sauce pan. Add water to the pan just enough to submerge the mung beans. Bring the pot to boil and lower the heat to medium-low. Remove the scum for the first 5 minutes. Cover and turn the heat to low and cook until the mung beans are tender. It will take 20-30 minutes depending on the freshness of your beans.

When the mung beans are fully cooked through, remove the pan from the heat and use a stick blender to puree the mung beans. Be careful of the hot mixture. You can further sift the mung bean puree to have a super silky texture but it's optional.

Put the pan pack to the stovetop. Stir in sugar, butter and salt. Mix thoroughly and add in toasted glutinous rice flour. Stir again. On medium heat, cook the puree to reduce the water further. It may take up to 30 minutes to form a paste. The aim is to have a paste which falls from a spoon with a zigzag tear-off pattern. Make sure to stir and scrape the bottom the whole time. Chill the paste in the fridge before using.

To make Mooncakes:

Divide the snow skin dough into chunks of 25 g each*. Same with the bean paste, 25 g each*. Use rubber gloved hands to pat out each dough into a circle. Put the filling in the center of the dough and enclose it completely. Roll the mooncake in toasted glutinous rice flour and repeat the process until all components are used up. 

The snow skin mooncakes keep in the fridge for at least 3 days.

*Note: The amount of wrap per filling is adjustable. The dough is pretty pliable to take a larger amount of filling. I've tried 20 g dough with 30 g filling successfully.