ORANGE & POPPY SEEDS SNOWSKIN MOONCAKES

Today is Mid-Autumn festival and I ran out of mooncakes to serve.  I only have time to make snowskin mooncakes as they can be eaten tonight contary to the baked mooncakes where they have to "rest" for 3 days before consuming.

Off to the shop to top up on cooked glutinous rice flour and icing sugar....there aren't many choices of filling left, I opted for lotus paste.  It is versatile as I can turn it into other flavour for my other bakes.

Got this idea from "Mooncakes" by Alan Ooi.  I used the recipe from Happy Home Baking.  Used freshly squeezed orange juice instead of water and added 3 tsp poppy seeds. I did not have orange essence in hand so I omitted it.  The mooncakes do not taste like orange, just slightly tangy.

HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL!!

Here's the recipe again.

Ingredients:
Snowskin
75 gm cooked glutinous rice flour
50 gm icing sugar
3 tsp poppy seeds                     
25 gm shortening
A few drops of orange essence                        }
A few drops of orange colouring (optional)  }  Mix together
90 ml cold orange juice (from 1 orange)       }

Filling
360g lotus paste
some roasted melon seeds (optional)

Method:
(Copy and paste from http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.my/2011/09/mid-autumn-fest.html)

1. Sieve together cooked glutinous rice flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Rub the shortening into the flour mixture with fingertips until a crumbly mixture forms. Add cold water to the mixture and knead for a couple of minutes to form a soft dough. Do not over work the dough.
2. Leave dough in the fridge for about 15 mins. (You may skip this step.)
3. At the mean time, divide the lotus paste into 30g portions and shape into balls. (Note: I used a ratio of 40% dough to 60% filling for my 50g mooncake mould.)
4. When ready, divide snowskin dough into 20g pieces. Shape each dough into a ball. For each dough, place it on palm and flatten with fingers to form a round dough about 5cm in diameter. Wrap the dough skin around the filling and shape it into a ball. Seal the seams.
5. Dust mooncake moulds (diameter 4cm, for 50g mooncake) with some cooked glutinous rice flour. Place the wrapped dough into the mould and press the mooncake out. Make sure the surface of the dough in contact with the patterned-face of the mould is smooth. Store mooncakes in fridge for up to 1 week. Leave it under room temperature for about 15mins for the skin to soften before serving.