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A twist to the traditional Chinese baked mooncakes with matcha-scented mooncakes filled with matcha-scented sweet mung bean paste and white chocolate. The recipe doesn’t use golden syrup and alkaline water (lye water).
I love the combination of matcha and white chocolate
Baked matcha mooncakes are a perfect representation of modern values, blending tradition with a contemporary twist. I love anything matcha. So it only makes sense that I sneak some matcha into these traditional baked mooncakes. I also flavored the sweet mung bean paste with a bit of matcha powder. Then I thought, what else goes with matcha? my daughter, who is a big fan of matcha desserts, said white chocolate! I have to agree! The slightly bitter matcha is balanced by the sweetness of white chocolate!
No golden syrup and alkaline water (lye)
Traditional mooncakes usually use golden syrup and alkaline water in the pastry. I have many successes making mooncakes without golden syrup. I use honey. In this particular recipe, I did not use alkaline water. Alkaline water is usually used to encourage browning in mooncakes. I want no browning in these baked mooncakes because I want the green matcha powder to shine through. When I added alkaline water to the dough, the green matcha powder color changed to really dark and after baking, the color became dull. Even without the golden syrup and alkaline water, the mooncakes still turn out delicious. The pastry is soft and moist.
Baked Matcha White Chocolate Mooncakes
Ingredients
Pastry dough:
- 100 g cake flour plus more for dusting
- 1 tsp matcha powder ceremonial grade if possible
- 26 g neutral-tasting oil
- 60 g good-quality honey
Filling:
- 250 g mung bean paste
- 1 tsp matcha powder ceremonial grade if possible
- 70 g good-quality white chocolate chips
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Mix honey and oil until combined. Sift in flour and matcha powder stir until combine. Cover and rest the dough for at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours
Divide the dough and filling:
- Add matcha powder to the mung bean paste and mix to combine. Roll the mung bean paste into a round ball. Use your thumb to gently press into the mung bean paste ball. Put the white chocolate chips inside the cavity and roll it back into a round ball again. Repeat with the rest of the mung bean paste and white chocolate chips. Keep them covered to prevent them from drying out
- Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven, 330 F (165 C) for convection oven. I use a 50-gram mooncake mould. So I do 18 grams of the dough. For the filling I do 25 grams mung bean paste and 7 grams white chocolate chips. Please make sure you weigh accurately as the mould can only fit in roughly about 50 grams (+/- within 5 grams should be okay). It can tolerate a bit bigger, but if you make it way bigger than that, the shape will be skewed
Fill and shape:
- This is my favorite way of wrapping. I can get thin skin without much difficulty. Take one dough and divide it into two. Flatten them with your palm. Put the filling on top of one. Then cover with another flattened dough (refer to the video for visual). Gently close the gap between the two doughs around the filling and roll into a round smooth ball without any cracks. The oil on the dough helps to smooth it out. Continue with the rest of the dough and filling
- Dust the mooncake mould with a thin layer of cake flour and shake off any excess. I also dusted the mooncake dough with thin layer of flour and shake off any excess. Put the dough inside the cavity of the mould and then face it down on a flat surface and gently push down the piston down to imprint the pattern on the dough. Gently push the mooncake out and voila, you have just shaped the dough into a mooncake with imprint on top. Repeat with the rest and dusting with some flour on the mould and the dough each time. Place the shaped dough on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper
Baking:
- Mist the top of the mooncake with some water from about 4-inch distance. You don't want to make the mooncake super wet, just mist it lightly to prevent it from cracking during baking. I did not apply an egg wash as I want to preserve the green color
- Put the baking sheet, in the middle of the oven, 3rd rack from the top for my oven. Bake for 14-15 minutes in a preheated oven
Cooling:
- Remove from the oven and let them cool down on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Don't attempt to move them to cooling rack yet as they are very soft and you will break them trying to lift them up when they are fresh out from the oven like this
- After 5 minutes, very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely. The color will darken too as they cool down
Age the mooncakes:
- Baked mooncakes are not made to be consumed on the same day. You will see that the mooncakes appear very dry when they just come out from the oven on day 1. This is very normal. You might think these mooncakes are going to be super dry and not going to be nice, but on day 2 or 3 you will see the oil from the filling has sipped into the dough making it all moist
- After 3 days, you can consume the mooncakes. This is the best time to consume. Keep the rest in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Homemade version will not last as long as the commercial one because we do not put any other preservative and additives
RECOMMEDED TOOLS
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
How to bake matcha white chocolate mooncakes without golden syrup and alkaline water
1. Mix honey and oil until combined. 
2. Sift in flour and matcha powder stir until combined. 
3. Cover and rest the dough for at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours
4. Add matcha powder to the sweet mung bean paste and mix to combine
5. Roll the mung bean paste into a round ball. 
6. Use your thumb to gently press into the mung bean paste ball. Put the white chocolate chips inside the cavity and roll it back into a round ball again. Repeat with the rest of the mung bean paste and white chocolate chips. Keep them covered to prevent them from drying out
7. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven, 330 F (165 C) for convection oven. I use a 50-gram mooncake mould. So I do 18 grams of the dough. For the filling I do 25 grams mung bean paste and 7 grams white chocolate chips. Please make sure you weigh accurately as the mould can only fit in roughly about 50 grams (+/- within 5 grams should be okay). It can tolerate a bit bigger, but if you make it way bigger than that, the shape will be skewed
8. This is my favorite way of wrapping. I can get thin skin without much difficulty. Take one dough and divide it into two. Cover with a plastic wrap and flatten them with your palm. The dough won’t stick to your palm. Put the filling on top of one 
9. Then cover with another flattened dough (refer to the video for visual). Gently close the gap between the two doughs around the filling and roll into a round smooth ball without any cracks. The oil on the dough helps to smooth it out. Continue with the rest of the dough and filling
10. Dust the mooncake mould with a thin layer of cake flour and shake off any excess. I also dusted the mooncake dough with thin layer of flour and shake off any excess. Put the dough inside the cavity of the mould and then face it down on a flat surface and gently push down the piston down to imprint the pattern on the dough. Gently push the mooncake out and voila, you have just shaped the dough into a mooncake with imprint on top. Repeat with the rest and dusting with some flour on the mould and the dough each time. 
11. Place the shaped dough on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper
12. Mist the top of the mooncake with some water from about 4-inch distance. You don’t want to make the mooncake super wet, just mist it lightly to prevent it from cracking during baking. I did not apply an egg wash as I want to preserve the green color
13. Put the baking sheet, in the middle of the oven, 3rd rack from the top for my oven. Bake for 14-15 minutes in a preheated oven. Remove from the oven and let them cool down on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Don’t attempt to move them to cooling rack yet as they are very soft and you will break them trying to lift them up when they are fresh out from the oven like this. After 5 minutes, very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely. The color will darken too as they cool down
Age the mooncakes
Baked mooncakes are not made to be consumed on the same day. You will see that the mooncakes appear very dry when they just come out from the oven on day 1. This is very normal. You might think these mooncakes are going to be super dry and not going to be nice, but on day 2 or 3 you will see the oil from the filling has sipped into the dough making it all moist.
Did you make this baked matcha white chocolate mooncakes recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag it to show me what you’ve made. Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
