Chinese Mixed Nut Mooncakes

Chinese Mixed Nut Mooncakes are a traditional Cantonese-style mooncake filled with a combination of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. The nutty filling is bound together with honey or maltose syrup, which gives it a chewy, sticky texture that contrasts beautifully with the tender, baked pastry skin.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Asian, Cantonese, Chinese

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 25

Total Time 2 25

Servings

Calories 202kcal

Author Michelle

Equipment

1x 50g mooncake mold

Ingredients

Mooncake dough:

60 g golden syrup
25 g peanut oil
2 g (¼ tsp) lye water
100 g all-purpose flour

Egg wash:

1 egg yolk + ½ teaspoon water

Mixed nut filling:

40 g walnuts roasted, chopped
40 g almonds roasted, chopped
40 g pumpkin seeds
20 g white sesame seeds
20 g black sesame seeds
40 g candied winter melon chopped
30 g candied orange or dried cranberries chopped
30 g (4) thin slices prosciutto ham
20 ml peanut oil
4 ml sesame oil
40 ml honey
2 teaspoon brandy
60 g cooked glutinous rice flour koh fun
30 ml water adjust if needed

Instructions

Make the mooncake dough:

In a glass bowl, mix together golden syrup, peanut oil and lye water.
Add in all-purpose flour and gently mix until well combined, do not over mix.
Cover the dough with cling wrap and let it rest for 1-2 hours or overnight, in the fridge.

Make the mixed nut filling:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/177°C.
Roast the walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds and prosciutto ham on 2 different baking pans, lined with parchment paper.
Roast the nuts and seeds for 8-10 minutes and let cool.
Flip the ham over and to bake for 16-18 minutes or until dry and slightly crisp.
Chop the nuts and ham coarsely.
Add the walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, candied winter melon, candied orange, and prosciutto together in a glass bowl.
Mix together peanut oil, sesame oil, honey and brandy in another glass bowl and whisk until emulsified.
Combine the wet mixture into the nuts and seeds mixture and stir together.
Sprinkle cooked glutinous rice flour (koh fun) into the nut mixture gradually in small batches. Mix well with your hands.
Then add water little by little until the nut mixture holds together when squeezed in your palm.
Measure out 35g of mixed nut filling in a bowl, and use a piece of plastic wrap to enclose and twist tightly into a firm ball.
Repeat with the remainder.

Assemble:

Divide the mooncake dough into 12 even portions, about 15g each. Form into balls.
Use a rolling pin to flatten a piece of dough into a very thin sheet (covered in between plastic wrap).
Place a ball of filling in the middle, and use the plastic wrap to enclose the filling inside.
Roll it into an oval shape.
Lightly dust the oval in a small dish with one teaspoon of flour. Brush off any excess flour.
Insert into a 50g mooncake mold and push the pastry into the mold with one end of a rolling pin.
Gently press the pastry with your thumbs to fill in the corners of the mold.
Invert the mold on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Press the plunger 3-4 times firmly, and then release it out of the mold.
Repeat with the remainder.

Bake:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/177ºC.
Lightly spray the mooncakes with water just before baking.
Bake the cakes at 350ºF/177ºC for 10 minutes. Remove out of the oven and let cool for 15 minutes.
Brush egg wash very thinly on the cakes, not on the indented area (to retain design).
Wait for 2 minutes to allow them to dry before brushing another thin coat of egg wash again.
After 15 minutes, return the mooncakes back into the oven for 15 more minutes, until golden in color.
Remove cakes out of the oven and let them cool completely on a rack.
Store the mooncakes in an airtight container, lined with a parchment paper.
Let the mooncakes sit for 2 days at room temperature for the “oil return” (回油) process before serving.

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