If you haven’t heard of butterfly pea extract before, you’re going to love it so much in this lovely blue butterfly pea snowskin mooncakes recipe! It doesn’t give the mooncakes too much flavor, but it gives it a beautiful bluish-hue without adding any dye.
The beautiful blue mooncakes are only made better due to the fact that you can make them in less than 30 minutes! Don’t worry they’re just as delicious as they are easy to make.
The sweetened white bean paste gives the mooncakes a subtle sweetness that isn’t overwhelming but is just enough. Once you make these, you’ll probably be making them much more often.
What is butterfly pea extract?
Butterfly pea extract is a liquid concentrated form of the butterfly pea plant. This plant comes from countries in Southeast Asia like Thailand. The beautiful blue flower has been popular in Southeast Asia for a long time because it is a natural way to dye foods blue.
Does Adding Butterfly Pea Extract change the flavor of the cake?
Adding butterfly pea extract or powder to a dish doesn’t change the flavor much, but it does give it a gorgeous blue color. Recently, butterfly pea powder has become popular in drinks. This is because the color of butterfly pea can actually change depending on the pH level of what it is combined with.
When adding butterfly pea to drinks that have lemon juice, the blue colors turn into a gentle pink color. It is a fun science experiment that makes for a lovely drink.
Here’s why I love this recipe
- no-bake
- easy to prepare
- only 4 ingredients
- customizable (so many filling options!)
Ingredients Used to Make Butterfly Pea Snowskin Mooncakes
**I’ve linked some of these ingredients to amazon.com to give you an idea of what they are, but you should also be able to find them in your local grocery store (usually, the natural & organic food section). They are also affiliate links, which means that I earn a commission as an Amazon Associate if you decide to purchase the items. The price will be the same for you, link or no link 🙂
- Sweetened White Bean Paste (a.k.a. Shiro An) – Shiro an is a thick and sweet fudgy paste made from finely mashed white beans, usually large butter beans or cannellini beans. It’s a hugely popular ingredient in East Asia and widely used in Asian confectionary and desserts like mochi, sweetbreads, cookies as well as mooncakes. Unfortunately, it’s not always stocked in most Asian grocery stores. Here’s one brand I found on Amazon (here).
- Glutinous Rice Flour – this goes by many names. You’ll see Glutinous Rice Flour and Mochiko Flour (my favorite brand) in Asian grocery stores, and Sweet White Rice Flour in most other stores. ***Please note that regular white rice flour or brown rice flour is NOT the same thing as glutinous rice flour!!!
- Water – Just water 🙂
- Butterfly Pea Extract – Butterfly pea extract is a liquid concentrated form of the butterfly pea plant. If you prefer to use the powdered form that’s ok, too!
Filling Ingredients
- I used the sweetened white bean paste leftover from making the snowskin dough as my mooncake filling, but you can also fill these mooncakes with lotus paste, mung bean paste or red bean paste.
- Read more on the filling variations towards the end!
Equipment for Mooncakes
The main highlight of mooncakes is their beautiful engraved patterns and shapes. Mooncake molds are readily available at different Chinese grocery stores. You can also find it online, especially on amazon. They are of premium quality and quite affordable. I got the 75g and 125g mooncake molds here
Step by Step Guide
How to Make Butterfly Pea Snowskin Mooncakes
STEP 1
In a microwaveable glass bowl (like Pyrex), mix the sweetened white bean paste (shiro an) and sweet rice flour
STEP 2
Mix until the white bean paste has been well incorporated into the flour.
STEP 3
Add water and whisk until smooth. Add butterfly pea extract (or powder)
STEP 4
Microwave the mixture for 1 minute.
Use a SOLID METAL spoon (wooden spoons might break!) to stir the cooked mixture so that the cooked and uncooked parts are evenly mixed.
Microwave the mixture again, this time for 1 minute
STEP 5
Stir again, and pour the cooked glutinous rice dough onto a lightly greased baking pan.
Cut the glutinous rice dough into 6-7 pieces using scissors
STEP 6
Fill with prepared sweetened white bean filling.
STEP 7
Seal the ends
STEP 8
Fit the filled pieces into a lightly greased mooncake mold** and press into shape. I used a 75 g mooncake mold, but you can also use any mold size you have at home
STEP 9
For the best texture, let cool in the freezer for 20-30 minutes before eating.
Enjoy!
Filling Variations for Butterfly Pea Snowskin Mooncakes:
Snowskin Dough Variations
Here’s how you can create a gradient effect in these Butterfly Pea Snowskin Mooncakes. Combine with the regular white bean paste snowskin mooncakes recipe (link here)!
See All My Mooncake Recipes HERE
10-Minute Blue Butterfly Pea Snowskin Mooncakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Snowskin Mooncake Dough
- 150 g sweetened white bean paste (shiro an)
- 50 g mochiko flour, sweet rice or glutinous rice flour
- 57 g water
- 4 droplets butterfly pea extract
Mooncake Dough
- 300 g sweetened white bean paste (shiro an) , or other filling of choice such as lotus paste, red bean paste or mung bean paste
Instructions
Prep the filling*
- Prepare mooncake filling by rolling about 1-2 Tablespoons of sweetened bean paste filling into balls. Set aside.
Make the Mooncake Skin
- In a microwaveable glass bowl (like Pyrex), mix the sweetened white bean paste (shiro an) and sweet rice flour until the the shiro an has been well incorporated into the flour.
- Add water and whisk until smoooth. Add butterfly pea extract
- Microwave the mixture for 1 minute
- Use a SOLID METAL spoon (wooden spoons might break!) to stir the cooked mixture so that the cooked and uncooked parts are evenly mixed
- Microwave the mixture again, this time for 1 minute
- Stir briefly, and pour the cooked glutinous rice dough onto a lightly greased baking pan
Shape the Mooncakes
- Cut the glutinous rice dough into 6-7 pieces using scissors
- Fill with prepared sweetened white bean filling.
- Fit the filled pieces into a lightly greased mooncake mold** and press into shape. I used a 75 g mooncake mold, but you can also use any mold size you have at home
- For the best texture, let cool in the freezer for 20-30 minutes before eating.
- Enjoy!
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