Mother's Day is just around the corner, and what better way to show your love than by making these beautiful and delicious strawberry snow skin mooncakes? The delicate pink color and sweet flavor come from using real strawberries, which are dehydrated and blended into a fine powder. These mooncakes are perfect for any occasion, but they're especially fitting for Mother's Day, as they're a symbol of love and appreciation. With their soft and chewy texture and fruity flavor, these snow skin mooncakes are sure to be a hit with your mom or any special person in your life.
PLEASE NOTE: This snow skin mooncake recipe is based on my original shortcut snow skin mooncake recipe (link here) and does not adhere to most traditional recipes, where the mooncake dough is made using cooked glutinous rice flour, icing sugar, shortening and water. While this recipe may differ from the traditional preparation, it still produces delicious and unique mooncakes that are perfect for anyone looking to try something new. It's also less time-consuming and simpler, so I hope you'll still give it a try!
Here's why I love this recipe
- so easy to make, and no steaming required
- made in the microwave
- only requires a couple of ingredients
- gluten free & vegan
- customizable (so many filling options!)
Ingredients Used to Make Strawberry Snow Skin 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!!!
- Strawberry powder - I made my own strawberry powder by blending dehydrated strawberries (usually found with the dried fruits and nuts section) in a small blender. This powder will be adding flavor and color to our snow skin mooncakes.
- Water
Filling Ingredients
- I used the sweetened white bean paste leftover from making the snow skin dough as my mooncake filling, but you can also fill these mooncakes with lotus paste, mung bean paste or red bean paste.
For more filling ideas, check out my Ultimate List of Mooncake Filling post, here!
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 Strawberry Snow Skin Mooncakes
STEP 1
Prepare the filling: roll the sweet white bean paste or other filling of choice into 1-2 Tablespoon sized balls. Freeze until ready to use.
NOTE: You can also use other mooncake fillings of choice like white bean paste. Check out my ULTIMATE LIST OF MOONCAKE FILLINGS post for more ideas!*
STEP 2
In a microwaveable glass bowl (like Pyrex), mix the sweetened white bean paste (shiro an) and sweet rice flour with the strawberry powder
STEP 3
Mix until the white bean paste has been well incorporated into the flour.
STEP 4
Add water and whisk until smooth.
STEP 5
Microwave the mixture for 1 minute
STEP 6
Use a SOLID METAL spoon (wooden spoons can 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. The resulting dough should be hot and slightly translucent.
STEP 7
Stir again, and pour the snow skin mooncake dough onto a lightly greased baking pan. Flatten with a rolling pin or gloved hands (dough will be hot!)
STEP 8
Cut the snow skin dough into 6 pieces using scissors or a plastic dough cutter
STEP 9
Fill with prepared sweetened white bean filling.
STEP 10
Fit the filled pieces into a lightly greased mooncake mold and press into shape.
STEP 11
For the best texture, let cool in the freezer for 20-30 minutes before eating. Enjoy!
Filling Variations for Snow Skin Mooncakes:
For this upcoming Mother's Day, I tried making one with a white chocolate fudge filling (pic below). To make the fudge: melt 1 cup of white chocolate chips and stir in ½ cup of sweetened condensed coconut milk (or regular sweetened condensed milk). Pour into a parchment lined square container and cut into squares to be used as mooncake fillings.
There are many types of fillings used in snow skin mooncakes. Here are some ideas below:
- Lotus paste – classic! You can buy these in the refrigerated section in a Asian grocery store, or buy them online (like Amazon, here)
- Shiro-an (sweetened white bean paste) – on Amazon, here, or here's a Shortcut White Bean Paste Recipe I make when I’ve run out of Shiro An
- Koshi-an (sweetened red bean paste) – on Amazon, here
- Mung Bean paste - sweet and delightfully yellow, homemade mung bean paste is a perfect mooncake filling for those who are looking for a healthier bean paste alternative. Here's my 2-Ingredient mung bean paste recipe here
Final Tips for Making these Strawberry Snow Skin Mooncakes
- Pre-freeze the filling 1-2 hours before making the snow skin dough. Wrapping the filling with the dough will be so much easier (and less messier) if the filling is frozen.
Strawberry Snow Skin Mooncakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Snowskin Mooncake Dough
- 150 g sweetened white bean paste (shiro an)
- 50 g mochiko flour, sweet rice or glutinous rice flour
- 1 Tbsp dehydrated strawberries , finely crushed to powder
- 57 g water
Mooncake Filling
Instructions
Prepare the filling
- Prepare mooncake filling by rolling 1-2 Tablespoons of sweetened bean paste into balls.
- Keep the filling in the freezer until ready to use. Wrapping the filling with the dough later will be much easier if the filling is pre-frozen.
- NOTE: You can also use other mooncake fillings of choice like white bean paste. Check out my ULTIMATE LIST OF MOONCAKE FILLINGS post for more ideas!*
Make the Mooncake Skin
- In a sturdy microwaveable glass bowl (like Pyrex), mix the sweetened white bean paste (shiro an) and sweet rice flour until the the bean paste has been well incorporated into the flour.
- Add the 1 Tbsp of dehydrated strawberry powder.
- Add water and whisk until smooth.
- 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 again until all cooked and uncooked parts of the dough are mixed evenly.
- Scrape the cooked mooncake dough onto a lightly greased baking pan
Shape the Mooncakes
- Cut the snow skin dough into 6 pieces using scissors or plastic dough cutter
- Take each piece of the cut dough and fill with the prepared filling.
- Fit the filled pieces into a lightly greased mooncake mold** and press into shape. I used a 75 g mooncake mold for this recipe, but you can also use any mold size you have at home. TIP: these mooncakes sometimes don't hold their original shape since they're made while the dough is still warm. For the best shape, you can let the mooncakes cool in the freezer for 20-30 minutes and re-press the mooncakes back into shape using the mooncake mold.
- Enjoy!
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