Jazzed up traditional baked red bean mooncakes with a black sesame surprise. If you have a different amount of red bean paste, you can use my Mooncake Dough Calculator to compute how much dough you require.
Servings: 2050-gram mooncakes
INGREDIENTS
Black Sesame Filling
90gramsblack sesame seeds, toasted in 160°C oven for 10 minutes until fragrant
Process black sesame seeds into a fine powder. Add sugar, maple syrup and butter and process until well-mixed. Add glutinous rice flour and process until it becomes a dough.
Divide filling into 10-grams portion and roll into a ball. Freeze for 30 minutes for ease of wrapping.
Red Bean Filling
Knead the melon seeds into the red bean paste. Divide the filling into 20 pieces, about 20 to 21 grams each. Roll each filling into a ball.
Flatten each red bean ball then enclose a black sesame ball inside. Roll into a ball and set aside. You can chill the filling while making the mooncake dough for ease of wrapping.
Mooncake Dough
Sift flour into a large mixing bowl.
Whisk golden syrup, lye water and oil in a separate measuring jug until thoroughly combined. Pour liquid into the flour and stir with a wooden spoon / spatula until a dough has formed. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl to ensure all the flour has been mixed in.
Cover with cling wrap or tea towel and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Divide the mooncake filling into 20-gram portion. You may end up with a little leftover mooncake dough.
Wrap and Shape
Flatten each portion of mooncake dough and enclose the red bean filling inside.
If your red bean filling is very chilled, let the wrapped mooncake come to room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before stamping it out with the mooncake mould.
Egg Wash
Whisk egg yolk and water together in a small bowl.
Bake and Rest
Preheat oven to 180°C (conventional) / 170°C (convectional).
Spritz the surface of the mooncakes with water. Dip a pastry brush into the egg wash. Remove the excess egg wash and brush the top of the mooncakes gently and lightly. (As the designs are very delicate, if you brush with too much egg wash or used too much strength, the designs may be ruined.)
Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside on a rack for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 175°C (conventional) / 165°C (convectional).
Brush with a second layer of egg wash and bake for another 10 to 13 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Set the baking sheets on a rack and let the mooncakes cool completely.
Store the cooled mooncakes in an airtight container. Let the mooncakes rest for 2 days to allow the skin to soften before consuming. The skin will also become darker as it rests.
Storage
Store the mooncakes in an airtight container at room temperature for about 1 week. Store them in the refrigerator to last longer.