I have created a special mooncake – Black Rice Five Nuts Mooncake. Inspired by the popular Black Gold mooncakes of the season, the ingredients include 110g inverted sugar syrup, 4g lye water, 55g peanut oil, mixed with 170g medium-gluten flour and 40g self-milled black rice flour. The syrup, lye water, and oil are first mixed evenly, followed by the addition of flour and black rice flour. After mixing with a spatula and then kneading the dough by hand, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for about half an hour to relax the dough.
For the filling preparation, I chose 30g white lotus seed paste mixed with peanut oil and meat floss. Unfortunately, there was a small mistake in adding the meat floss. For the dried fruit part, I creatively added orange peel dices, mango dices, and cranberries, adding a rich fruity aroma to the mooncake. In terms of nuts, besides cashews and almonds, other varieties were ground into pieces and mixed with the dried fruits by hand, divided into fillings of 40g each and pastry of 30g each.
When wrapping the mooncakes, I skillfully used the “tiger-mouth” technique to carefully wrap and ensure a tight bottom. Fortunately, my husband assisted in this process, omitting a few steps. He is good at molding and shaping, placing the mooncakes on a baking sheet, and initially baking them in a preheated oven at 180°C for 5 minutes.
After the initial baking, I lightly brushed the surface of the mooncakes with a layer of egg wash, then returned them to the oven, lowering the temperature to 160°C, and continued baking for about 10 minutes until they reached a perfect color.
When my husband is at home, making mooncakes has almost become his exclusive pleasure. He briefly worked in a mooncake factory, mastering professional egg wash brushing techniques. Although this time the gloss effect was not ideal due to slightly excessive heat, he was tirelessly enjoying it. We tried new recipes, but eventually reverted to my familiar old recipe because it always brings more satisfactory results.
