My Family’s Favourite Durian (& Yam) Snowskin Mooncakes

It’s all gone. The durian snowskin mooncake that I took pains to knead and roll and mould. My goodness, how is it possible that everyone around me (with just one exception) loves durian so much?

I have already made snowskin mooncakes a couple of times before. It was with a totally different recipe using the cold water and kneading method as well as with the more common white lotus paste. This time, I decided to try something totally different. I wanted to make durian snowskin mooncake and as such, I needed a recipe that could ensure that the snowskin remains soft even after chilling and freezing. I did a lot of research on this, and that was how I came across Anncoo Journal’s recipe. Her recipe uses a totally different way to make the snowskin using a boiled mixture of sugar and shortening to create a batch of very nice translucent dough. In fact, this seems to be a rather common way of making snowskin, one which I did not know before.

I’m sold. The snowskin is perfect. Soft. With an injection of pandan fragrance. Addictive texture with every bite. The snowskin softens quickly even after days of freezing. Lovely. Just what I need.

I made a promise to everyone that next year, my durian snowskin mooncakes will be better. With black snowskin. With some gold glitters perhaps. With Mao Shan Wang durian pulp. Can’t wait for the next mid-autumn to come!

Ingredients: (Durian & Yam Paste Filling)

  • Gelatin: 45g + 8 tbsp water
  • D24 fresh durian pulp: 800g
  • Icing sugar: 4 tbsp + 4tbsp
  • Yam paste: 800g

Ingredients: (Snowskin dough)

  • Kao fen (fried glutinous rice flour): 100g
  • Redman snowskin premix flour: 960g
  • Water: 600g
  • Pandan leaves, 3 leaves, knotted
  • Icing sugar: 100g
  • Crisco: 92g
  • Food colouring (red, yellow, green etc): 2 – 3 drops

Method: (Durian Paste)

  1. Soak gelatin in water for a while. Then place mixture onto a double boiler. Stir till gelatin dissolves. Set aside but continue to keep warm.
  2. Blend together durian pulp and 4 tbsp icing sugar.
  3. Mix in half of gelatin mixture and stir till evenly combined.
  4. Cut out 32 pieces of cling wrap film. Place a film onto a weighing scale. Scoop 50g of durian pulp onto film wrapper. Wrap it into a small ball. Repeat for remaining durian to form altogether 16 balls.
  5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for yam mixture to form altogether 16 balls.
  6. Leave balls of paste to freeze and set in the freezer for 2 hrs.

Method: (Snowskin dough & assembly)

  1. Sift kao fen and premixed snowskin flour into a mixing bowl. Set aside.
  2. In a pot, bring water to a boil with the pandan leaves in it.
  3. Add icing sugar and crisco and bring to a boil. Stir till crisco dissolves.
  4. Pour hot liquid into flour mixture. Use a spatula to stir till evenly combined. Leave to cool down.
  5. Divide dough into as many portions as you’d like to have different colours for the snowskin. I divided mine into 3 portions and added food colouring to two of them so that I can have: (1) original translucent white of the dough (no colouring); (2) yellow, with 2 drops of yellow food colouring; and (3) pink with 2 drops of red food colouring.
  6. Knead the dough till smooth, adding more kao fen if it gets too sticky.
  7. Weigh about 40g dough for each mooncake. Dust with kao fen and roll out to flatten into a circle.
  8. Remove durian and yam paste from freezer (in batches if you’re making a lot).
  9. Remove cling film and place durian filling in the center of the dough. Wrap dough around filling.
  10. Dust with some kao fen, then press it gently into the mooncake mould. Gently press it out of the mold.
  11. Repeat for remaining durian and yam mooncakes. Place in ziploc bag to ensure that it is airtight before freezing or chilling.
  12. Remove from freezer half an hour to one hour before slicing up to serve.

Tricks:

  • Placing the mooncakes in airtight containers or ziploc bags will ensure that the snowskin stays moist and soft and does not harden. This will allow the mooncakes to keep in the freezer for at least two weeks.
  • Freezing the pastes before wrapping them in the dough will ensure that the shape of the paste balls stays. This makes it a lot easier to wrap them as well – especially the durian!
  • Be careful not to press too hard on the skin when wrapping the durian filling within the dough. The skin breaks so easily, I have had quite a few episodes of durian oozing out from it!
  • If using fresh durian pulps, remember to blend it first so that the pulp becomes a smooth paste. Otherwise it will be very fibrous and not as appealing in texture. I bought both of my pastes off the shelf from Phoon Huat (their frozen D24 and yam) so that helped to save me some efforts. Next year, I’ll be back with a vengeance – with Mao Shan Wang durian!

Disclaimer:

  • This recipe was kindly adapted from Anncoo Journal’s recipe ‘Durian Snowskin Mooncakes‘. Her mooncakes look soooo neat and well-patterned – how does she do that at all?

Serving:
About 35 – 40 medium-sized mooncakes

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