The mid-autumn festival is just around the corner. Last week, I made my first trip to Kwong Cheong Thye and was awe to see so many types of lotus paste for making mooncakes. This place is highly recommended as the lotus paste is not so sweet compared to those which I have bought in the past from other baking supplier shops.

You will find many interesting flavours like red wine cranberry lotus paste, low sugar green apple lotus paste, low sugar passionfruit lotus paste, HK pearl milk tea lotus paste, green tea dried longan lotus paste, red date longan lotus paste, etc. (too many to name all, don't you feel spoilt for choice? :p) You even get to sample the paste if you visit their retail outlet at Aljunied. The price for the more unique flavours is $18 for a one kilogram pack. You can request the staff to cut the portion into half and buy at 500g if you think one pack is too much for you. That's what I did and I could buy more flavours. :)

After getting the lotus paste, I decided to make some shanghai mooncakes which is on my to-bake list since last year. I have adapted the recipe from blogger Cheah's No-frills recipe and made some changes to it. I have replaced the shortening with butter as you know being a health conscious me, I avoid using this unhealthy ingredient if I can.

The Shanghai mooncakes turned out well and are very fragrant. The pastry is similar to the pineapple tart which uses the rub-in method when making the dough. For this first attempt, I have made it specially for my good friend Emily. I was meeting her for lunch that day and got up at 5am to do the baking before my little one woke up, I am glad that she likes it and the feedback I got from her is the mooncakes are very delicious and the paste is not too sweet, just right! I think the lotus paste has played an important part here, don't you think so? I will stick to Kwong Cheong Thye from now on if I want to get lotus paste. So if you are thinking of making some homemade mooncakes for your loved ones and friends, why not make a trip down to KCT and grab some interesting flavours? :)

(Note: I am not related to Kwong Cheong Thye nor paid for promoting their products. Just purely sharing something which I find good with all.)

Shanghai Mooncakes 上海月饼

Ingredients 材料: (makes about 11 大概做11粒)

Pastry Skin 外皮
300 gm Plain Flour 普通面粉
40 gm Custard Powder 卡士达粉
1 teaspoon Baking Powder 泡打粉
80 gm Icing Sugar 糖霜
1 Egg, lightly beaten 鸡蛋，打散
150 gm Unsalted Butter 无盐牛油
1/4 teaspoon Salt 盐
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 香草精
Some Pumpkin seeds or Almond Flakes for decorations 一小撮瓜子，装饰用 (I used black/white sesame seeds 我用黑白芝麻）

Filling 内陷:
605g of lotus seed paste 莲蓉 (I use assorted flavours bought from Kwong Cheong Thye 我用在广祥泰买的不同口味莲蓉包裹）
Salted Egg Yolks 咸蛋黄
1/4 tsp sesame oil 麻油

Egg Glaze 蛋液:
1 Egg yolk 蛋黄
1 tsp milk 牛奶

Method 做法:
1. Sift the flour with the baking powder, custard powder, and salt into a mixing bowl.
1。在一个钢碗，筛入普通面粉，泡打粉，卡士达粉和盐。

2. Sift in the icing sugar and mix well into the flour mixture.
2。再筛入糖霜，混合均匀。

3. Cut in the unsalted butter, rub in till resembles bread crumbs. (I used my Wilton pastry cutter to do the job.)
3。牛油切小块，搓入面粉混合成碎屑状。（我用Wilton糕点切刀）

4. Make a well in the centre and add in the lightly beaten egg, combine into a soft dough without kneading it. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
4。中间挖个洞，加入稍微打散的蛋拌匀，混合成团状。休面30分钟。

5. Meanwhile, wash the salted egg yolks, add in 1/4 tsp sesame oil, roll into the egg yolks, steam for about 2 minutes. Leave aside to cool.
5。把咸蛋黄洗干净，加入1/4小茶匙麻油，蒸两分钟，待凉备用。

6. Divide the lotus paste into portions of 55 grams each, roll into balls. Wrap the salted egg yolk in the centre of the lotus paste ball.
6。莲蓉馅平均分成每粒55克，搓圆。咸蛋黄包裹在莲蓉馅中间。

7. Divide the dough into portions of 60 grams each, roll into balls.
7。把面团分成每粒60克，搓圆。

8. Wrap in the filling and shape into a dome. Arrange them on a lightly greased baking tray.
8。包入馅料，搓圆，放在铺了烤纸的烤盘上。

9. Decorate with some sesame seeds, and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celcious top/bottom heat for about 10 minutes. Take them out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.
9。用瓜子或芝麻装饰，放入预热后的烤箱以180摄氏度上下火，烤约10分钟，取出放一旁待冷5分钟。

10. Brush them with egg glaze and return to the oven to bake for another 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

CT2
Mid-autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival is just three weeks away and you can find mooncakes on sale everywhere. Today I’m going to share with you this full of buttery fragrance, with a slight crispy crust and much more easy to make than the traditional baked mooncake ~ Shanghai Mooncake

Here is the recipe                                             

(A)   140g Butter
         80g Shortening/Crisco
         50g Sugar caramel syrup/golden syrup
         1/4 tsp Salt
         1/4 tsp Lemon yellow colouring

(B)    1 Large eggs

(C)     220g Plain flour
          150g Top flour
          1/4 tsp Baking powder

(D)     550g Lotus paste (store bought)  with one handful of melon seeds

Method:

Pour ingredient (A) into cake mixer and beat till creamery. Scrape bowl and add egg with 2 tbsp of flour (from ingredients C), beat well.
Pour in ingredients (C) with 2 tbsp ground almond into egg mixture and use a rubber spatula roughly mix the mixture together. Texture should looks crumbly with flour on it.
Wrap dough in a plastic bag ~ flatten it and put in freezer for 20 minutes.
Measure 550g lotus paste with one handful of melon seeds into it and knead to smooth. Divide  lotus paste into 18 pcs (about 30g each) and roll into a round ball. Cover with a cling wrap and set aside
Take dough out from freezer and knead dough to smooth. Divide dough into 18 round balls.
Flatten dough with a roller pin and wrap up the lotus paste filling into it and shaping it like an egg shape then place on baking tray with baking sheet below.
Lightly brush the surface with beaten egg and add some melon seeds on top.
Bake at preheated oven at 180C for 20 minutes.
Leave Shanghai mooncake to cool and store in an airtight