Peach Blossom Mooncake Pastry

Course: Pastry

Cuisine: Chinese

Prep Time: 1

Cook Time: 22

rest the dough:: 30

Total Time: 1 52

Servings: pieces

Calories: 188kcal

Author: Marvellina

These Peach Blossom Mooncake Pastries are delicate, flaky, and filled with sweet bean or seed paste. Shaped into pretty flower designs, they’re a stunning way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and make a thoughtful homemade gift.

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Ingredients

Water dough:

114 g all-purpose flour
23 g powdered sugar
2 g salt
43 g unsalted butter softened
36 g water or more as needed

Oil dough:

74 g all-purpose flour
50 g unsalted butter softened
Gel food coloring

Filling:

300 g lotus seed paste

Instructions

The filling:

You can use red bean paste, mung bean paste or lotus seed paste as the filling. I use lotus seed paste and portion into 25 grams dough balls and keep them covered in the fridge until they are ready to be used

Prepare water dough:

Add flour, sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl. Whisk to mix together. Add the softened butter.
Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour mixture. It would resemble some coarse crumbs. Add the water and gently knead into the dough. You may need more water or you may not.
The dough is not going to be smooth but it should be soft. Your bowl should be clean.
Wrap with a cling wrap and set aside to let it rest for 15 minutes

Prepare the oil dough:

Add flour and softened butter to the same mixing bowl.
Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour until you can form a non-sticky dough. This dough has no gluten development because there's no water.
Divide into two equal pieces and put gel-food coloring on each one
Knead it to distribute the colors evenly
Divide each color into 6 pieces
Then each piece into another two, so you get a total of 24 (12 for each color). Put one purple and one pink together. You have 12 pieces total
After resting the water dough, divide into 12 pieces (about 18 grams each). Round each one into a dough ball. Lightly dust your work surface with a bit of flour if necessary

Put the two doughs together:

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven at 350 F (180 C). I have a conventional oven with bottom heat only. If your oven has both bottom and top heat, you may want to lower the temperature by 15 C/ 20 F
Lightly flour your work surface. Take one water dough and flatten it into a round with your palm and use a rolling pin to roll from center to the edge to form a disc, about 3 inches. Put the the colored oil dough on top
Wrap the water dough around it.
Pinch the seam to seal tightly and roll it between your palm to form a nice round dough ball
Repeat with the rest. Cover them with a cling wrap

Shaping:

Lightly flour your work surface and work with one dough at a time and keep the rest covered
Roll the dough from the center and outward into an oblong shape, about 5 inches long.
Fold 1/3 down
Fold the other 1/3 up
Repeat with the rest of the dough
Rotate the dough 90 degrees
roll it out again to about 5-6 inches long (the measurement doesn't have to be super precise here, just roughly)
Do the same fold again, for 1/3 down, and the other 1/3 up
Repeat with the rest and keep them covered
Use a rolling pin to roll it out from the center and outward to form a circle about 5 inches wide and slightly thicker at the center.
Place the filling on the center
Gather the dough around it to seal and pinch the seams to seal. Roll it between your palms to form nice round dough balls. Keep them covered all the time to prevent the dough from drying out
Take one dough and flatten with your palm or you can use a rolling pin to gently roll it back and forth to form a disc, about 4-5 inches wide
Use the blunt side of the chopstick to make an indentation at the center of the disc

To make the classic peach flower shape:

This is the classic one that most people make for flower mooncake pastry
Use a bench knife or a sharp knife to make 6 cuts, leaving the center uncut. You can also do a 5 petals, 7, 8 petals, or even 12 petals
Use a bread lame or a very sharp razor to make some shallow cuts to create some designs on the petal if you want
Use your fingers to pinch the petals to create some shape
This is a 6-petals peach flower
Use a bench scraper/knife to help you pick up the pastry and put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

For heart shape:

Use a bench knife or a sharp knife to make 8 cuts, leaving the center uncut.
Gently twist each petal to face upward, revealing the filling

For chrysantemum:

Use a bench knife or a sharp knife to make 12 cuts, leaving the center uncut.
Twist each petal to face upward, revealing the filling

For 3D flower shape:

Use a bench knife or a sharp knife to make 12 cuts, leaving the center uncut.
Make another cut on EVERY OTHER PETAL, so you skip one petal, cut the next one into two, skip the next one, cut the next one. You get the idea I hope!
Bring the uncut petal up, and pinch the petals on its left and right together
So I make 4 different shapes for the 12 mooncakes
Put a bit of egg yolk at the center of the flower and sprinkle with some white and/or black sesame seeds

Baking:

Put the baking sheet in the oven, middle rack and bake for 22 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let them cool down completely on the pan. Each petal is fragile if you handle the pastry too early when they are still warm

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