These Chocolate Mooncakes with a Sweet Nut Filling are made with all healthy ingredients like almond flour and nuts. It’s a paleo, gluten free recipe that everyone in the family can enjoy, and perfect as a quick snack or dessert.

Here’s another delicious mooncake recipe I’ve developed in my Healthier Mooncakes Experiment post. Made with pumpkin and pecans, this particular recipe is a perfect little treat for the fall season and best of all, it’s gluten-free, vegan, paleo as well as low carb!

The pumpkin in this recipe is very subtle because of the cocoa powder, and can be substituted with mashed bananas or mashed sweet potatoes.

Ingredients Used to Make These Paleo Chocolate 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 🙂}

• Almond flour – I used blanched almond flour. But you can also make your own by blending raw or blanched, slivered almonds in the food processor and sifting them through a sieve.
• Coconut flour – Coconut flour does not substitute well, and I can’t recommend swapping coconut flour with other ingredients unless you absolutely had to (2 Tbsp coconut flour = ½ cup almond flour). Unfortunately, you probably won’t get the same texture or mouthfeel as the original recipe.
• Pumpkin puree – I used canned pumpkin puree, but in this recipe you can also use mashed bananas or mashed sweet potatoes instead.
• Salt – Pink Himalayan salt is what I have at home, so it’s what I use, but you can use any kind for this recipe.
• Sugar – You can use any granulated sugar of your choice. I recommend using coconut, date and maple sugars which are less processed and higher in vitamins and minerals. For the lower carb, lower calorie option, you can use a sugar-free substitute such as monk fruit sweetener or, stevia powder (but you’ll have to convert the amount of stevia according to package directions).
• Coconut Oil – You can use regular coconut oil, but I like to use refined coconut oil, like this one, because there’s less coconut flavor/scent. But for this recipe, you can also try using olive oil, avocado oil, or regular canola oil. You can also use plant-based, dairy-free butter or regular butter instead.

For the Filling You’ll Need

• Chopped pecans – or any other nuts of choice is fine
• Maple syrup – to sweeten the pecans. You can also use agave syrup or honey
• Coconut flour – added to bind the pecans together

Recipes that Also Use Pumpkin

Equipment

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 50g mooncake molds here

Step by Step Guide

More Mooncake Recipes

Recipe Variations and Optional Add Ins:

FIlling Variations

There are so many types of fillings used in traditional mooncakes. Sweet Bean Paste, Lotus Paste, Jujube Paste and Nuts/seeds are just a couple of examples. For a different kind of filling you can also try these ideas below:

Paleo

• Purple sweet potato – mashed, lightly sweetened and rolled into a ball
• Chopped Nut filling – can be peanuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, you name it!

Non-Paleo

• Lotus paste – classic! You can buy these in the refridgerated section in a Asian grocery store, or buy them online (like Amazon, here)
• Shiro-an (sweetened white bean paste) – on Amazon, here
• Koshi-an (sweetened red bean paste) – on Amazon, here
• Matcha paste : 1/2 cup Shiro-an mixed with 1/2 tsp matcha powder; or Matcha Chickpea Filling (recipe here)
• Coffee paste : 1/2 cup Shiro-an mixed with 2 tsp coffee extract (click on the link to see my 2 ingredient coffee bean paste recipe here)
• Cheesecake – it’s just how it sounds like 🙂 Use a mini circular cookie cutter to cut a small circle of cheesecake and use it to fill these mooncakes.
• Nutella paste: 1/2 cup Shiro-on mixed with 1 Tbsp Nutella (or Nutiva)
• Cookie dough: like my healthy chickpea cookie dough made in the food processor (recipe here)

Crust Variations

You can also play around with different Crust variations, too.

• Chai or Cinnamon mooncakes – Omit cocoa powder and try adding a tsp of Cardamom Powder or Chai Tea Powder to the batter with the other dry ingredients.
• Coffee or mocha? Omit cocoa powder and add either a teaspoon of coffee extract or espresso powder.

How to Store Chocolate Mooncakes

• You can store these cakes covered at room temperature for up to 24 hours. For longer storage, you can place them in a plastic freezer bag or airtight container to store in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze up to 4 months.

Final Tips

• I found that these mooncakes taste WAY better the day after they are made. I don’t know how to explain it other than that these mooncake crusts have a better flavor and develop a more fudgier/tender texture when they have a chance to rest in the fridge overnight. So for the best flavor and texture, I recommend that you store these mooncakes inside an airtight container and let them cool in the fridge for at least 8 hours before eating.

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More Vegan, Gluten-Free Mooncake Recipes Coming Up:

Go to my Healthier Mooncake Experiment post to see more ideas!