What are Snowskin Mooncakes?
Snowskin Mooncakes, a by-product of traditional mooncakes that are cheaper, easier to make, more versatile, and most importantly, less calories! It is no wonder we see a huge surge of this as an alternative in recent years. Indeed, snowskin mooncakes are wrestling their predecessor for the most coveted dessert during Mid Autumn Festival.
It is essentially a dessert eaten chilled, with a slight gooey, smooth exterior and a sweetened creamy filling of your choice. Typically, the most common filling is custard, but it has evolved a long way since then. I find durian snowskin mooncake to be a perfect pairing.
By adding matcha powder into the snowskin, I find that it brings a slight bitterness to contrast the sweet filling. Plus the lovely green looks amazing and resembles the durian husk as well.
What Cultivar Should I Use for my Durian Snowskin Mooncake Filling?
In this recipe, I used Musang King, which is my favorite. Despite it being delicious, I think it is probably not the most suitable. For one, Musang King tends to be more bitter, which is why I added some sugar to balance the flavor. And secondly, it is expensive. Frankly, I feel Musang King should be kept bare, and eaten as is. I just so happen to have some leftover Musang King, which was why I made the mooncake using it.
Otherwise, I will say D13 or Red Prawn will be the best match. It has a lovely creamy texture, sweeter and probably cost around 40% less than a Musang King.
To make the durian filling, it is just as simple as extracting the durian flesh, and blending it in a mixer until smooth. Sugar is optional and depends on how sweet you would like it. Once it is well incorporated, portion and shape the durian into equal weighing balls and pop it into the freezer to firm up.
What are the Ingredients for the Snowskin?
From the above, this is all you will need to make a basic plain snowskin. To alter the color or taste, just add about 2 teaspoon of whatever natural flavoring powder into the 170g liquid and mix well. You can use milk powder, blue pea powder, pink pitaya powder, or matcha like I did here. It is totally up to your taste and preference.
Simply mix all ingredients to form a dough, and again weighing them out equally. The portioning of both the skin and filling is really crucial. This is because you will be using a mould to compress it, and you would want a nice ratio of thin skin to filling. So if possible, try not to just eyeball it and use a weighing scale instead.
Quick video guidance on the making of Snowskin Mooncakes
If you are not a fan of durian, I’ve also made a simple milky snowskin mooncake with custard filling (above) – here’s the recipe!
Alternatively, if you are looking for a unique twist to the usual mooncakes, this cendol gula melaka jelly mooncake with custard yolk might just be it!
Durian Snowskin Mooncake
Ingredients
Durian Filling
- 200 g durian flesh
- 20 g icing sugar optional
Matcha Snowskin
- 170 g drinking water
- 2 tsp matcha powder
- 100 g gao fen/koh fun *see notes
- 40 g icing sugar
- 20 g shortening
- 1 tbsp milk powder
To Assemble
- 1 mooncake mould (50g)
- 20 g gao fen/koh fun
Instructions
Prepare Durian Filling
- Place durian flesh and icing sugar in a bowl, and beat using hand mixer for 1-2 minutes to combine. Alternatively you also also blend the durian flesh in a food processor or in the Thermomix for 5 seconds/Speed 4.TIP: If you are using a sweet, creamy durian type, you may omit the icing sugar and use 100% pure durian. You will still need to beat/blend the durian flesh.
- Portion the durian paste into 10 x 20g and use a cling wrap to wrap it into a round ball. For convenience, you can use a small 35mm ice cream scooper to scoop each 20g portion out evenly on a plate layered with cling wrap.
- Place the durian balls into the freezer for 30 minutes to set.
To Make Snowskin
- Refer to this quick 1 minute video for visual guidance.
- Sift matcha powder into warm water and stir until dissolved, then set aside in the refrigerator to cool down.
- Sift gao fen and icing sugar together into a clean bowl then mix evenly using whisk.
- Rub shortening into flour mixture using your hands.
- Add in 3/4 portion of cooled matcha mixture and mix using a spatula until dough forms.
- Add in milk powder and if required, the remaining matcha mixture – this would be depending on your flour absorbency, you may require a lesser amount so work on using approx 140-170g of liquid). Knead the dough for several minutes to combine.
- THERMOMIX METHOD: Place gao fen and icing sugar into mixing bowl then blend on Turbo/2 seconds. Add shortening, and knead 30 seconds. Add in milk powder, and set to knead for 1.5 minutes. Gradually add in cooled matcha mixture on to the lid (depending on your flour absorbency, you may require a lesser amount of liquid between 140-170g) and allow to drip in. Allow the dough to form into a big ball. Refer to this video for visual guidance.
- Flour your work station with gao fen. Divide the dough into 10 x 30g portions then roll each portion into round ball.
To Assemble
- Remove durian balls from freezer.
- To make mooncake, flatten each snowskin dough ball, either with a rolling pin or your palms, into a thin circle. You would want to ensure the centre is thicker, and the sides to be thinner.
- Place durian ball in the middle and wrap in snowskin and pinch to seal the seams. Roll into a ball.
- Dust either the mooncake mould or the dough ball with gao fen. Press the dough firmly into the mould, and push the level to release mooncake from mould.
- Refrigerate mooncake for at least 2 hours, and serve chilled.
Notes
Have you tried this recipe?
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Hello Michelle, thanks for the recipe. I tried it and it worked for me on the second attempt. Really had fun and didn’t know it was possible for me to make this. Thanks for the love to share, appreciate it! I even tried to make some with red bean paste and dragon fruit juice for the pinkish skin and they are yums too, although durian matcha will be my number 1 pick. Tq again and take care!
Hi Michelle!
Thanks for the amazing and simple recipe. Tried to make it today and it really enjoyed it! Really appreciate this!