red bean mooncakes

Su-Style Red Bean Mooncakes, are unique to Zhejiang, Suzhou, and Shanghai. Their uniqueness is in the crust––closer to a multi-layered, flaky pastry.

Su-Style Red Bean Mooncakes (苏式月饼)

recipe sweet red bean paste filling

all-purpose flour ((415 grams))

sugar ((20 grams))

lard ((160 grams))

lukewarm water ((250 ml, about 140 degrees F /60 degrees C))

cake flour ((265 grams))

lard ((140 grams))

Start by making the red bean paste. You can either follow our instant pot red bean paste recipe, or our stovetop version.

Then make the soft dough. In a large mixing bowl, mix together 3 cups of flour and 2 tablespoons sugar. Form a well in the flour, and add ¾ cup of lard. Slowly add 1 cup of lukewarm water in 3-4 batches, mixing with a rubber spatula. Keep folding the lard into the flour with a spatula to form a smooth dough ball. Cover with clear plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

To make the pastry dough, combine 2 cups of cake flour with ⅔ cup lard. Knead and form the dough ball. Cover with clear plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

To assemble the mooncakes: after both kinds of dough have chilled for 30 minutes, take them out and weigh each ball. Take the total weight of both balls of dough (we’ll be combining them), and divide it by the number of balls of red bean paste filling that you have (you will have made these balls of filling when following the recipe for the filling). This will give you the amount of dough needed for each mooncake. I needed 55 grams of dough to make 1 mooncake.

Now transfer the soft dough onto a clean and lightly-floured flat surface. Divide the soft dough as well as the pastry dough into two equal portions, and do the next step in two batches, especially if you don’t have a large surface.

On a floured surface, press the soft dough into a large disc, and add the pastry dough in the middle. Close all sides to form a large ball. Remember to keep flouring the work surface as needed to prevent it from sticking. With a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle shape about ¼-inch thick. Then fold the rectangle shape into a tri-fold. Roll it out again into a rectangle shape that’s about ⅛-inch thick. Roll up the sheet on the long-side into a tube and do your best to roll it tight. Now cut the tube into cylinders, each weighing as much as you calculated with the help of a kitchen scale.

Now take one dough segment and stand it upright so that the swirls are facing up, and press it flat. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 4-inch disc (it should be slightly thinner around the outer edges and thicker in the middle). Add a ball of sweet red bean paste filling in the center, then close all the sides until it’s sealed tight and no filling is visible. Put the seam side down, gently flattening the ball into a round disc that’s 1-inch thick. Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, seam side down, with at least an inch of space on all sides. Repeat until you’ve made all the mooncakes. At this point, you can also stamp the mooncakes with a design using 10 drops of red food coloring mixed with ⅛ teaspoon water. Simply dip your stamp (or a star anise pod) into the "ink," shake off any excess, and stamp the center of the mooncakes).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, with a rack positioned in the middle of the oven. Bake the mooncakes for 15 minutes. Then carefully flip each mooncake, return to the oven, and bake for another 15 minutes. Cool before handling, and eat them with care, as they’re very flaky and crumbly!

While it takes effort to make this classic Chinese mooncake recipe with red bean paste, homemade mooncakes are so much tastier (and cheaper!).

Classic Mooncakes with Red Bean Paste

450 g dried adzuki beans

830 ml water ((4 cups if cooking on the stove instead of an Instant Pot))

vegetable oil

190 g rock sugar ((or 1 cup granulated sugar))

105-160 g maltose

duck

peanut oil ((or corn oil))

Potassium Carbonate solution ((AKA lye water, available at your Chinese grocery store))

385 g all-purpose flour ((plus more for dusting))

water

Rinse the adzuki beans, drain, and add to your Instant Pot along with 3½ cups of water. Close the lid, and set your Instant Pot on the Bean/Chili setting for 25 minutes. (If your red beans are very large or less fresh, increase the cooking time to 30-35 minutes.) Once the cooking time has elapsed, leave the Instant Pot untouched for another 10 minutes. Carefully turn the valve to venting to release the steam (protect your hand with an oven mitt). When the pressure has fully released, open the Instant Pot.

If you do not have an Instant Pot, place the dried beans in a large bowl and cover with 2 inches (5 cm) of water. Soak overnight. Drain the soaked beans and transfer to a medium pot, along with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cover. Simmer for 40-60 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water ¼ cup at a time if the liquid dries up. Cook until the beans are tender enough to be mashed with the back of a spoon.

Carefully transfer the cooked beans and liquid to a food processor, and puree until very smooth. If you have a smaller food processor, puree it in multiple batches as needed. (It’s ok to add a few drops of water if the paste is too thick.)

In a thick-bottomed or nonstick pan over medium to medium-low heat, heat ¼ cup oil over medium heat. Add the bean puree and the sugar. Cook for 30-40 minutes until you have a thick paste, stirring often with a rubber spatula to prevent sticking or burning. Every 10 minutes, add another ¼ cup of oil until you’ve added 1 cup total, ensuring the oil is fully incorporated into the filling before adding more.

Finally, stir in the maltose. The red bean paste is done once it can hold its shape. Let it cool to the touch before handling. If you pre-make the filling, store it in a clean, air-tight container after it has cooled completely. It will last in the refrigerator for about 1 week.

Make red bean paste:

Buy pre-made, pre-cooked salted duck egg yolks, and bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 350°F/175°C for 10 minutes to release their oils. Cool completely.

Or buy raw salted duck eggs, and separate the yolks from the white. Gently rinse the yolks under a small stream of running water to wash off any residual egg white. Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Dip each yolk briefly in baijiu (白酒, a clear Chinese liquor) or whiskey just to coat it, then put the egg yolks on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, let them cool completely, and they are ready to use.

Alternatively, buy whole cooked salted duck eggs, and extract the yolks. These are ready to use. No baking needed.

Prepare the salted duck egg yolks (optional):

In a mixing bowl, combine the golden syrup, oil, and Potassium Carbonate solution together with a rubber spatula. (If using cups for measuring, make sure you get almost every last drop of syrup/oil from the measuring cups into the bowl!)

Then add the flour to the mixture, and use the spatula to combine everything into a soft dough. Do not overwork it. This step should only take 1-2 minutes. Cover the dough in an airtight container or with an overturned plate. Let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Make the dough:

While the dough is resting, start preparing the filling. Separately weigh out twenty-four 55g scoops of red bean paste filling. With lightly oiled hands, shape each portion of filling into a smooth ball.

If using salted duck egg yolks, make a deep well in the middle of each ball, and insert the yolk. Alternatively, shape the filling into a flat disc, place the yolk in the center, and then close the paste around it. Re-shape the red bean paste into a ball and repeat with the remainder of the ingredients. Cover tightly and refrigerate until you’re ready to assemble the mooncakes.

Once the dough has finished resting, divide and weigh the dough into twenty-four 28-30g pieces, plus 1 smaller dough ball for scraps/mending. Shape each piece into a ball, and keep in a covered container to chill in the fridge. You’ll only be working with a couple dough balls at a time.

It’s time to prepare the mooncake mold. My mold came with four pattern plates––one plate should be attached to the mold itself and locked in place. Dust the inside of the mold with plenty of flour and shake off the excess. You’ll need to do this before pressing every mooncake to avoid sticking.

Take one dough ball, lightly dust it with flour, and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a 4-inch/10cm round. Use a thin, flat spatula to lift up the dough, and place it on top of a ball of filling. Gently press out the air bubbles around the filling. Now turn the opening facing up, and slowly press the dough together to close the opening, keeping the dough distribution as even as possible. The dough will crack easily, but it’s also easy to squish back together or patch with an extra scrap of dough. The chief goal here is to close the dough around the filling without capturing air inside. Roll between your hands to create a smooth ball.

Now, lightly dust the assembled ball with additional flour. Place it on a lightly floured work surface, then press the mooncake mold onto the ball until the base of the mold makes contact with the work surface. Firmly press down on the spring until you feel resistance. Lift the mold and gently press the mooncake out of the mold.

If any dough gets stuck in the mold or you have areas where the filling is peeking through the dough, get a small piece of the scrap/mending dough to patch up the area. Then clean the mold (a toothpick helps get dough out of any nooks and crannies in the mold) and dust it well with flour again. Then gently press in on all sides of the mooncake to make it smaller, so it can go back in the mold for reshaping. Use more flour for dusting if this becomes a persistent issue.

Place the mooncakes on a baking sheet about 1 inch (2.5cm) apart as you make them. Repeat until you&#39;ve assembled all the mooncakes. (Note that they will not change size during baking.)

Assemble the mooncakes:

Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C when you’re almost finished assembling the mooncakes. Right before baking, gently mist the mooncakes with a food-grade spray bottle (if you have one) filled with water. You can also dip your fingers into a bowl of water, and fling the water on your fingers onto the mooncakes a couple of times. This prevents the dough from cracking.

Immediately put the mooncakes in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. (Remember to set the timer!) Now prepare the egg wash by whisking the egg yolk and 3 tablespoons of water together.

After the mooncakes have been baking for 5 minutes, take them out of the oven and immediately lower the oven temperature to 300°F/150°C. Very lightly brush each mooncake with egg wash (preferably using a natural bristle pastry brush), being careful not to allow any egg wash pool in the nooks and crannies of the mooncakes. Put them back in the oven, and bake for another 15 minutes.

When the mooncakes first come out of the oven, the dough will look a bit dry, and not oily like what you are used to when opening packaged mooncakes. This is normal. Cool completely, and then store the cooled mooncakes in an airtight container for 1-2 days, and the outside will get that nice shiny sheen you recognize!

Bake the mooncakes:

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/jy98yM31.mp4

Assembling a mooncake with red bean paste filling, but this applies to making mooncakes with other fillings as well!

How to Assemble a Mooncake

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Su-Style Red Bean Mooncakes (苏式月饼)

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Su-Style Red Bean Mooncakes (苏式月饼)

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