Snowskin Mooncakes with Purple Sweet Potato and Cream Cheese Filling
In this recipe I divided the snowskin dough into 3 portions and added matcha powder and purple sweet potato powder and left one portion as is for flavour and colour variations. The flavour of matcha tastes wonderful, as does the sweet potato; the plain snowskin is a great canvas for other flavours. The crust of this mooncake is a cooked/steamed dough and pretty easy to make. The dough is sticky but easy enough to handle as long as you use plastic gloves; if that's not available, use plastic wrap to roll each piece. I tweaked the filling recipe a bit, added cream cheese and reduced the oil to half. The filling was so delicious I had to stop myself from eating it all — it tastes a bit like sweet potato ice cream, the added cream cheese is the culprit, I think. Makes 15 pieces snowskin mooncake at 50 grams each.
Ingredients
| 200 g | Steamed purple sweet potato (filling) |
| 30 g | Brown sugar (filling) |
| 40 g | Evaporated milk (filling) |
| 20 g | Water (filling) |
| 25 g | Cornstarch (filling) |
| 20 g | Vegetable oil (filling) |
| 80 g | Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature (filling) |
| 15 g | Brown sugar, for cream cheese (filling) |
| 60 g | Glutinous rice flour (dough) |
| 40 g | Rice flour (dough) |
| 15 g | Cake flour (dough) |
| 10 g | Wheat flour (dough) |
| 50 g | Granulated sugar (dough) |
| 250 g | Milk (dough) |
| 30 g | Condensed milk (dough) |
| 25 g | Vegetable or olive oil (dough) |
| 8 g | Green tea (matcha) powder |
| 8 g | Purple sweet potato powder |
| 30 g | Glutinous rice flour, for cooked coating flour |
Instructions
Purple sweet potato with cream cheese filling:
- Mash steamed sweet potato together with the brown sugar. If using a blender or food processor, place the mashed potato, evaporated milk, water and cornstarch into the blender and blend until smooth. To do it by hand, mash sweet potato and sugar, add the milk and water, and strain the mixture through a fine sieve, pushing it through with the back of a spoon (be patient). Add cornstarch and mix well.
- In a nonstick pan, add oil and the sweet potato mixture. Turn heat to medium and stir until oil is absorbed and mixture is thick, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool 5 minutes. Meanwhile combine cream cheese and the 15 g brown sugar in a bowl and mix until well combined. Add cream cheese to the sweet potato mixture and mix thoroughly. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before using.
- Lightly coat hands with vegetable oil, weigh filling into 25 g portions and roll into small balls, coating hands with oil as needed. Set aside.
Snowskin dough (recipe adapted from am 730 HK):
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the 4 flours (glutinous rice, rice, cake, wheat) and sugar. Pour in the milk, condensed milk and oil, whisk until smooth. Strain the mixture into an 8-inch baking dish or shallow heat-proof container. Cover with foil and steam over medium heat for 20 minutes.
- Take the dish out and stir the steamed dough with a chopstick / wooden spoon or silicone spatula; don't worry if it still looks lumpy. Weigh dough into 3 portions; add green tea powder to 1 portion and purple sweet potato powder to another, stirring until well combined. Let cool about 10 minutes, then with a plastic glove knead each until the powder is absorbed. Leave 1 portion plain and knead until smooth. Wrap each portion in plastic and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
- With a plastic glove, divide/weigh dough into 25 g portions on a plastic-wrap-lined sheet and roll into small balls.
Cooked glutinous rice flour for coating: pan-fry 30 g of glutinous rice flour over low heat for 10–15 minutes; let cool completely before using.
To make a snowskin mooncake (makes 15 at 50 g each):
- Roll a piece of snowskin dough between gloved hands and flatten to about a 2½-inch round. Place the potato filling in the middle, stretch dough to wrap completely over the filling and gently seal the edges. Roll the filled dough into a small ball, sprinkle cooked flour all over. Coat the inside of the mould with some cooked flour, tapping out excess. Gently insert the filled dough, smoothing out the bottom. Press the mould down onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the rest.
- For a tricolour mooncake, weigh small amounts of matcha, purple sweet potato and original flavour dough to make a 25 g skin, combine and flatten into a round.
- Place mooncakes into the freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Let mooncake stand at room temperature 5 to 10 minutes before consuming.