Golden Yolk Puffs 蛋黃酥 & Mandarin Pair Puffs 鴛鴦餅
Golden Yolk Puffs (蛋黃酥) and Mandarin Pair Puffs (鴛鴦餅, the mandarin pair as in a pair of mandarin ducks, represented by the combination of a dark-coloured and light-coloured fillings, also one salty and one sweet – a yin and a yang) are both Taiwanese-style mooncakes. They are the Chinese puff pastry typed mooncakes with red bean paste fillings combined with salted duck egg yolks (for Golden Yolk Puffs) or rice-cakes (for Mandarin Pair Puffs). Once wrapped up and baked, the combined fillings represent a bright moon (the yolk or the rice-cake) shining in a clear night sky (the red bean paste).
Mooncakes are eaten during the ‘Mid-Autumn Festival’ (中秋節) by the Chinese, the festival falling every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month (it falls on September 18th this year) in the Chinese calender. The mid-autumn signifies the harvesting of grains in the Chinese history, and also the gathering of family during the harvest, represented by the full moon (a complete family or 團圓 in Chinese) on the day.
Then there is the legend of Chang-E (pronounced as chang-eh) and her ascension to the moon (嫦娥奔月). There are a couple of different versions to the legend, but the popular one goes like this. Once upon a time, there appeared 10 suns in the sky, shining down on earth and drying everything up. A hunter by the name of Hou-Yi shot down 9 suns to rescue the earth and became a hero. He then married a girl by the name of Chang-E and lived happily for a while. One day Hou-Yi met a priest while hunting and the priest, being thankful for him shooting down the 9 suns, offered Hou-Yi an immortal pill. Hou-Yi in turn gave the pill to his wife for safe-keeping. However one of Hou-Yi apprentices decided to steal the pill for himself. He forced Chang-E to produce the pill while Hou-Yi was out hunting one day. In desperation and unable to fight him off, Chang-E swallowed the pill to prevent the evil apprentice from getting it. She became immortal and rapidly ascended into the sky towards the moon. It happened on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. Hou-Yi would then worship the moon every year on the day in remembrance of his wife. It is said that every year on this day, if you look carefully at the moon, you would see the image of Chang-E there. This romantic legend passed down generation by generation and the moon became associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Traditionally, Chinese celebrated the day not only by eating mooncakes, but also activities like moon viewing (賞月), moon worshipping and offering (祭月﹑拜月), and lantern display (賞燈). Todays, mooncakes come in many different guises, from the Cantonese-style in the south to the Beijing-style towards the north. The most popular would have to be the Cantonese styled baked mooncakes, which could be square or round in shapes. The baked puff pastry styled is the new variant of the mooncakes from the Su-Zhou (蘇州) and Chao-Zhou (潮州) regions, of course traditionally would be pan-fried or deep-fried rather than baked. Then the newest incarnation of the mooncakes is the snowskin mooncakes, which only appeared as recently as ten or twenty years ago.
Adapted from the recipe ‘蛋黃酥’ in ‘精緻點心DIY’ by 游純雄 and 王志雄, published by 暢文出版社, 1998 (2002 reprint edition), and from the recipe ‘鴛鴦餅’ in ‘中式點心DIY’ by 沈鴻典, published by 暢文出版社, 2000 (2003 reprint edition).
Makes 20 puffs (10 of each).
[Ingredients]
Chinese Puff Pastry – Water Dough:
225g plain flour
pinch salt
80g ghee, lard or shortening
50g icing sugar
120ml lukewarm water, or adjust as necessary
Chinese Puff Pastry – Short Dough:
170g plain flour
40g cornflour
100g ghee, lard or shortening
For Golden Yolk Filling:
250g Red Bean Paste
5 salted duck egg yolks
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
For Mandarin Pair Filling:
250g Red Bean Paste
Rice-Cake:
35g reduced-salt butter, melted
50g icing sugar
35g cooked glutinous rice flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
10g (1 tablespoon) milk powder
60ml water
To Finish:
1 egg yolk, beaten for glazing
1 tablespoon black or white sesame seeds, for sprinkling as topping
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
For Golden Yolk Filling:
1. Toss salted duck egg yolks in rice wine then steam for 10 minutes. Cool and cut each egg yolk in half.
2. Divide the red bean paste into 10 equal portions.
3. Wrap each half of the yolk inside each portion of the red bean paste. Cover and chill until ready to use.
For Mandarin Pair Filling:
1. Mix all the rice-cake ingredients together. The dough will be very wet in the beginning, stir vigorously with a spoon until it comes together and forms into a soft dough. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions.
2. Divide the red bean paste into 10 equal portions.
3. Wrap each portion of the rice-cake inside each portion of the red bean paste. Cover and chill until ready to use.
Chinese Puff Pastry – Water Dough:
Mix all ingredients to form a soft dough, you may need to adjust the amount of water depending on the water absorbency of the flour used. Knead until smooth. Wrap in cling film and set aside for 15 - 20 minutes before using.
Chinese Puff Pastry – Short Dough:
Mix all ingredients to form a soft dough. Knead until the dough has approximately the same pliability/malleability as the Water Dough.
To make Chinese Puff Pastry:
Divide the Water dough and the Short Dough respectively into 20 equal portions. Take one portion of the Short Dough piece and wrap it inside a Water Dough piece. Roll the combined dough piece out into a thin flat sheet using a rolling pin. With your hand, roll the thin sheet up, Swiss-roll styled, into a short cigar shape. Turn the cigar 90° so that one of the round ends faces you. With the rolling pin, roll it out into a flat sheet again. Then roll it up Swiss-roll styled again. Round the roll-up dough piece into a ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces until you get 20 combined dough balls.
To make Puffs:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Roll out or press each dough ball into a round flat disc, with the outer edges slightly thinner than the centre. Wrap each portion of the filling inside each portion of the flat dough. Seal up tightly by pressing the edges together to enclose the filling. Place the puff, seal side down on a baking sheet. Glaze with egg yolk wash. Sprinkle a little sesame seeds on top of the Golden Yolk Puffs (to differential them from the Mandarin Pair Puffs). Repeat with the rest until finished. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until golden in colour.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
Mooncakes are eaten during the ‘Mid-Autumn Festival’ (中秋節) by the Chinese, the festival falling every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month (it falls on September 18th this year) in the Chinese calender. The mid-autumn signifies the harvesting of grains in the Chinese history, and also the gathering of family during the harvest, represented by the full moon (a complete family or 團圓 in Chinese) on the day.
Then there is the legend of Chang-E (pronounced as chang-eh) and her ascension to the moon (嫦娥奔月). There are a couple of different versions to the legend, but the popular one goes like this. Once upon a time, there appeared 10 suns in the sky, shining down on earth and drying everything up. A hunter by the name of Hou-Yi shot down 9 suns to rescue the earth and became a hero. He then married a girl by the name of Chang-E and lived happily for a while. One day Hou-Yi met a priest while hunting and the priest, being thankful for him shooting down the 9 suns, offered Hou-Yi an immortal pill. Hou-Yi in turn gave the pill to his wife for safe-keeping. However one of Hou-Yi apprentices decided to steal the pill for himself. He forced Chang-E to produce the pill while Hou-Yi was out hunting one day. In desperation and unable to fight him off, Chang-E swallowed the pill to prevent the evil apprentice from getting it. She became immortal and rapidly ascended into the sky towards the moon. It happened on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. Hou-Yi would then worship the moon every year on the day in remembrance of his wife. It is said that every year on this day, if you look carefully at the moon, you would see the image of Chang-E there. This romantic legend passed down generation by generation and the moon became associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Traditionally, Chinese celebrated the day not only by eating mooncakes, but also activities like moon viewing (賞月), moon worshipping and offering (祭月﹑拜月), and lantern display (賞燈). Todays, mooncakes come in many different guises, from the Cantonese-style in the south to the Beijing-style towards the north. The most popular would have to be the Cantonese styled baked mooncakes, which could be square or round in shapes. The baked puff pastry styled is the new variant of the mooncakes from the Su-Zhou (蘇州) and Chao-Zhou (潮州) regions, of course traditionally would be pan-fried or deep-fried rather than baked. Then the newest incarnation of the mooncakes is the snowskin mooncakes, which only appeared as recently as ten or twenty years ago.
Adapted from the recipe ‘蛋黃酥’ in ‘精緻點心DIY’ by 游純雄 and 王志雄, published by 暢文出版社, 1998 (2002 reprint edition), and from the recipe ‘鴛鴦餅’ in ‘中式點心DIY’ by 沈鴻典, published by 暢文出版社, 2000 (2003 reprint edition).
Makes 20 puffs (10 of each).
[Ingredients]
Chinese Puff Pastry – Water Dough:
225g plain flour
pinch salt
80g ghee, lard or shortening
50g icing sugar
120ml lukewarm water, or adjust as necessary
Chinese Puff Pastry – Short Dough:
170g plain flour
40g cornflour
100g ghee, lard or shortening
For Golden Yolk Filling:
250g Red Bean Paste
5 salted duck egg yolks
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
For Mandarin Pair Filling:
250g Red Bean Paste
Rice-Cake:
35g reduced-salt butter, melted
50g icing sugar
35g cooked glutinous rice flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
10g (1 tablespoon) milk powder
60ml water
To Finish:
1 egg yolk, beaten for glazing
1 tablespoon black or white sesame seeds, for sprinkling as topping
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
For Golden Yolk Filling:
1. Toss salted duck egg yolks in rice wine then steam for 10 minutes. Cool and cut each egg yolk in half.
2. Divide the red bean paste into 10 equal portions.
3. Wrap each half of the yolk inside each portion of the red bean paste. Cover and chill until ready to use.
For Mandarin Pair Filling:
1. Mix all the rice-cake ingredients together. The dough will be very wet in the beginning, stir vigorously with a spoon until it comes together and forms into a soft dough. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions.
2. Divide the red bean paste into 10 equal portions.
3. Wrap each portion of the rice-cake inside each portion of the red bean paste. Cover and chill until ready to use.
Chinese Puff Pastry – Water Dough:
Mix all ingredients to form a soft dough, you may need to adjust the amount of water depending on the water absorbency of the flour used. Knead until smooth. Wrap in cling film and set aside for 15 - 20 minutes before using.
Chinese Puff Pastry – Short Dough:
Mix all ingredients to form a soft dough. Knead until the dough has approximately the same pliability/malleability as the Water Dough.
To make Chinese Puff Pastry:
Divide the Water dough and the Short Dough respectively into 20 equal portions. Take one portion of the Short Dough piece and wrap it inside a Water Dough piece. Roll the combined dough piece out into a thin flat sheet using a rolling pin. With your hand, roll the thin sheet up, Swiss-roll styled, into a short cigar shape. Turn the cigar 90° so that one of the round ends faces you. With the rolling pin, roll it out into a flat sheet again. Then roll it up Swiss-roll styled again. Round the roll-up dough piece into a ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces until you get 20 combined dough balls.
To make Puffs:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Roll out or press each dough ball into a round flat disc, with the outer edges slightly thinner than the centre. Wrap each portion of the filling inside each portion of the flat dough. Seal up tightly by pressing the edges together to enclose the filling. Place the puff, seal side down on a baking sheet. Glaze with egg yolk wash. Sprinkle a little sesame seeds on top of the Golden Yolk Puffs (to differential them from the Mandarin Pair Puffs). Repeat with the rest until finished. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until golden in colour.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
Labels: Asian Pastries, Mooncakes
posted by SeaDragon @ 15.9.05
4 Comments:
very nice puffs and your scroll is beautiful.
Very pretty puffs you made SD. Didn't know you know Mandarin too!
祝你中秋节快乐！！
Thanks Edith, lol, I dug it out of the closet just for the photo...
Little Corner of Mine,
Thanks, yes, I was lucky my mum insisted I learned Chinese when I was in primary school...
Hi Doreen,
謝謝妳的祝福... 遲了一點， 不過希望妳也過了一個快樂的中秋！妳做的月餅很漂亮喔！
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