Daring Bakers Challenge: Macarons!

I've completed my first ever Daring Bakers challenge this month. The challenge was macarons. Indeed, they were quite temperamental ~ when you thought you had them right, they would do something unexpected.

I started out with a first batch of macaronage that looked promisingly like magma, as prescribed by the other blogs and members of the Daring Bakers, which I then patiently divided into two ~ one with extra cocoa and the other plain. The plain one turned out flat like lengua de gato and the chocolate ones looked quite more macaron-like but they didn't develop 'feet' and were very much perforated on top, like wafer.

After closely observing pictures of different successful macarons, I realized that they probably have to air dry before baking, so that the top forms a membrane, which would prevent rising air from perforating the macarons while they’re cooking; and also, as the dry macaron top separates from the rest of its wet body, a ‘foot’ would form.

My second batch saw some measure of success, but I feel I may have caramelized the macarons too much because my oven was too hot. I was quite sure that had I had the courage to incur David’s (the landlord) wrath by noisily grinding more almonds into almond flour for my third batch, I would have learned very much by then and would have achieved the pinnacle of macaron-dom indeed; instead, I shall leave that third testing to you.

To make Burnt Sugar Macarons filled with Chocolate Almond Mazapan, simply follow the recipe below, but crank up the oven temperature by 20C or so and bake the macarons until light brown. For the chocolate almond mazapan, mix 1/2 cup of toasted almond meal with 21/2 T of heavy cream and 1/2 cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate. If you use half a tablespoon of filling for each pair of macaron, you should be able to fill about thirty-five sandwiches.

Basic Macaron Recipe by Claudia Fleming

Preparation time: Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make.

Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen

Leche Flan Cake

For those of us who are substantially impoverished, a few staples in the cupboard are essential to survival ~ flour, eggs, milk, and lots and lots of sugar! These are all cheap and would make a variety of filling, frugal meals. What is most important, though, is being able to whip up fancy desserts to combat depression from these very same ingredients.

I celebrated my partner’s birthday with a homemade cake that will not break the bank. It is divided into two components ~ one being leche flan; and the other, sponge cake. If its twin, crème caramel, is not familiar to you, leche flan is a rich egg yolk custard topped with a caramel that is tinged with a hint of bitterness, sort of like a more solid creme brulee without the burnt sugar.

The cake was exceptionally delicious where the bittersweet caramel soaked through. It tasted almost alcoholic.

The following recipe will yield exactly the same cake as the one in the picture, although my own preference is a thicker layer of leche flan. I feel that the smooth, rich texture of the leche flan does not shine through with such a thin layer of it. Next time, I will double the quantity of leche flan and halve the quantity of the sponge cake.

If you prefer just leche flan without the cake, you can double the leche flan recipe and cook this in a smaller pan, so that the mixture comes to about 2-2.5 inches thick. You can steam this on low heat or bake in a bain-marie at 200F for as long as it takes to set.



Leche Flan Cake

1 c Sugar
7 Egg yolks
1 c Evaporated milk
¾ c Condensed milk
2 t Vanilla / Grated lemon zest

¾ c Sugar
2 c Cake flour
1 T Baking powder
2 t Salt
3 Egg yolks
¼ c Oil
1/2 c Water
5 Egg whites
¾ c Sugar

Melt 1 c Sugar until it caramelizes. Be careful not to burn it and make sure to watch it closely as it melts. It could very, very rapidly turn from pale to burnt. Pour this into an 8-inch square pan. Combine the 7 egg yolks, milks, and vanilla. Strain this into the pan with the caramel.

Combine the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the yolks, oil, and water into it. Mix until smooth. In another bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. While beating, add the sugar in a thin, steady stream until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the flour mixture into the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour this on top of the custard. DO NOT STIR or agitate. Bake in a bain-marie at 350F for about 1 hour. Cool. Serve chilled.

Almond Milk

What an exciting adventure we’ll have with what, until now, has been a cherished secret recipe. It is a beverage that is a wonderful way (because it is utterly delicious) to treat a whooping cough, but like absinth, is tinged with drama and danger.

Now, to make it sound truly magical… here are the three vital ingredients: xin ren or apricot kernels, water, and time. Xin ren is the name for almonds in Chinese and it is strange that they are NOT almonds, but instead, are apricot kernels. Regardless of this nominal confusion, it does smell sweetly like strong almonds and, as an aside, I suspect that Gabriel Garcia Marquez was referring to bei xin ren when he wrote about bitter almonds in Love in the Time of Cholera.



In Chinese traditional medicine, xin ren is used as a tonic for the lungs ~ it has warming properties (yang principle), soothes the lungs, relieves dry cough, and lubricates the large intestines. There are two kinds, which must be used in tandem, to make your potion potent. There is the bei xin ren (literally, northern apricot kernels or bitter almonds, which is the smaller bag on the right) and the nan xin ren (literally, southern apricot kernels or sweet almonds, which is the larger bag on the left).

Here is the dark, mysterious part. Be careful when using bei xin ren. It contains (deep breath!) cyanide(!) and may be mildly toxic, even when cooked properly, which you should, at all cost. As a precautionary rule, I do not give this to children or pregnant women, but I have found it generally safe for the consumption of courageous gourmands like myself.

While it simmers, the perfume of xin ren will waft out of the pot, drift from your kitchen to fill your entire home with an incredibly sweet scent, much to the envy of the excluded kids and women with child. I add a little rice powder to thicken the milk and just a tad of sugar to mildly sweeten it.



Almond Milk

100g Bei xin ren (northern apricot kernels or bitter almonds)
200g Nan xin ren (southern apricot kernels or sweet almonds)
1.5 L Water plus extra for rinsing
½ to 1/3 c. Sugar
1/3 c. Rice flour (NOT glutinous / sticky rice flour) dissolved in 2/3 c. Water

Rinse the apricot kernels to make sure they are clean. Soak the rinsed apricot kernels in 2 cups of water overnight. With a powerful blender or grinder, grind the apricot kernels and some of the soaking water to a smooth, fine paste. Put this paste, along with the soaking water and 1 L. of water, into a saucepan. Bring this to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours. Add sugar, to taste. While stirring the pot continuously, pour in the rice flour solution. Keep on stirring the almond milk over the heat until it thickens like a cream soup. Serve hot to preserve its efficacy.

Crepe-Style Hotcake 3

Small success ~ crepe-pancake, our journey ends here.

You will remember our many problems with the previous batches. In focusing on obtaining a lacy pattern (which I thought was also indicative of the texture), I remembered a lacy Algerian pancake made with semolina ~ baghrir. Baghrir is leavened with yeast, which makes multiple holes while the pancake is cooked. Hmm… yeast… so I decided to give this a try, coming up with a cross between the recipe of baghrir and Liege waffles (which also use yeast as leavening).

I tried to use butter generously while frying, but although this gave the crepe-pancake its characteristic uneven edges, it neither formed a properly lacy patter nor crisp as much as when it was cooked in a lightly greased pan.

The crepe-pancakes smelled deliciously of waffle cones while on the stovetop. They were thin and soft, and especially delicate and lace-like on the edges. (Check out one of the pictures I took of the lacy edge! You can actually see through to the background.) I may add a tad of semolina to make the texture a bit denser next time.

Without further ado, here is the recipe.



Imitation Pamela’s Diner Crepe-Style Hotcake

2 t. Yeast
¼ c. Water, warm (the temperature of milk you’d bottle-feed to a small infant)
1/3 c. Sugar
2 c. Milk
2 c. Flour
4 pcs. Eggs
2 t. Vanilla
1/3 c. Butter, melted (plus extra for the pan)

In a large bowl that could hold more than twice the volume of the batter, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Leave it for 5-10 minutes. If it shows signs of life by frothing up a bit, proceed with the recipe; if not, throw it out and start anew with fresh yeast. Add all the rest of the ingredients. Whisk the batter until there are no more lumps. Cover and place in the fridge for about three hours or until double in volume. Whisk again to deflate the batter. Place back in the fridge until the volume doubles up once again (You’re better off leaving this overnight, so you could stop fretting while waiting for the batter to rise). The batter will be bubbly. See the montage.

Heat a pan until it is smoking, lightly grease this with butter. Pour in about 3 tablespoons of the batter and swirl the pan around so the batter spreads out to a thin crepe-pancake. Place this back on the stove. Tiny little bubbles will rise up on the pancake. When the edges turn golden-brown and the surface is dry, carefully flip the pancake. Cook the other side until it acquires a golden lacy pattern. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup or stuff with fillings like custard and fruit.

Vanilla Bavarois

Bavarois ~ one of many divine incarnations of basic items in your pantry deftly combined with air and fire (and ice!)

It is rich and creamy, but light at the same time, like a mouthful of cloud, due to aeration from the whipped cream. Heavenly!

Here are the permutations of 1 basic equation + subtle additions and subtractions.


1. Milk + Sugar + Egg Yolks + Vanilla = Crème Anglaise

2. Crème Anglaise + More Egg Yolks + Caramel = Crème Caramel
3. Crème Caramel + Torch = Crème Brulee
4. Crème Anglaise + Flour or Corn Starch = Crème Patissiere
5. Crème Anglaise + Cream = Vanilla Ice Cream
6. Crème Anglaise + Whipped Cream = Vanilla Parfait

7. Crème Anglaise + Whipped Cream + Gelatin = Crème Bavaroise

8. Milk + Cream + Gelatin + Vanilla = Panna Cotta

For bavarois, you will need ONE(1.) and SEVEN(7.)

A few hours prior to preparation, freeze a clean empty bowl and the whisks of an electric mixer.

Creme Bavaroise


3 Egg yolks
1 c. Milk
1/3 c. Sugar
1 t. Vanilla
3/4 t. Gelatin
1 c. Cream

Separate three large eggs. Reserve the whites for another use. Break up the 3 egg yolks in a bowl and set aside. Warm 1 cup of milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and ¾ teaspoon of gelatin in a saucepan until the sugar and gelatin dissolve. While whisking the egg yolks, pour ¼ cup of the warmed milk mixture in a thin steady stream into the yolks. *Do not pour a lot of the warm milk into the yolks at once or they will cook and turn into breakfast.* Now that the egg yolks have been tempered, pour the yolk-milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the warmed milk. Whisk continuously over low heat until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Congratulations! You have crème anglaise (+ gelatin).

Either plunge the pot into a basin of ice water or transfer the crème anglaise into a cool bowl. Allow this crème to cool until it no longer emits even the faintest whisper of heat when you whisk it.

Pour 1 cup of heavy cream into the chilled bowl that you threw into the freezer earlier. Using the frozen attachments, beat the cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently, fold the whipped cream into the cooled crème anglaise. Be careful not to deflate the cream.

Pour the bavarois into a lightly oiled mold. Chill until set. This could take anytime between 1 hour and overnight. Serve plain, with coulis, fudge, or fruits (or sauce and fruits).

Crepe-Style Hotcake 2

Oh my! So I couldn’t deep-fry the crepe-pancakes. The batter would not spread properly on the pan, but floated and slid along with the little lake of butter. (See the first picture from the left below.) The pancake turned out thick and completely soggy with grease ~ not at all crisp, as I’ve hoped it would be. Never mind that I turned up the heat really high; that did not help one bit.
Then, I went overboard ~ I did not grease the pan and turned the heat really low. What happened was the batter did spread beautifully thinly and crisped up to an even golden brown over the gentle heat, but they became like smooth crisp crepes, which is not what we are trying to do. But it’s a learning experience; and each time we learn something new. Just look at the third picture. I came up with a range of textures from a single batch of batter by progressively adjusting the quantity of butter and intensity of heat.



I realized that if I could meld qualities from the different batches, I could actually have something right; ergo,

Lacy pattern + Soft Center + Crisp Edges + Crisp Surface =
Hot Butter (but just a smidgen to froth up the bottom of the pan) + Swirl the batter in the pan so the edges are thinner than the center + Lower the heat for longer exposure to heat to crisp the crepe up without burning it (whew!)

What did I do differently from yesterday as far as the batter goes? As promised, I did not beat the egg white as much; by this, I mean I doubled the recipe, beat one egg white to stiff peaks, and left the other one to rest with the unleavened batter in the fridge. The pancakes were thinner this time, but still not as lacy as Pamela’s. I may actually add leavening next time or even club soda. But that would be AT LEAST one week from now. I am actually getting tired of crepe-pancakes for dinner.


Look at the pat of butter above. That is just about what you need to fry the batter in. Note the spread of the batter below. It is as messy as what Pamela's might have looked like ~ neater than a pan with too much butter; but messier than a pan without (consult the first two pictures in the second set of pictures above). The turned over crepe has a lacy pattern, but not as distinctive as what we might have liked. Also, I am not sure if it is my heating element that does not heat up evenly or my too small pan, but the browning on the crepe is not consistent. Overall, this batch was closer to the real deal than the last, so I am giving myself a pat on the back.



ECSH: Second Attempt

2/3 c. Flour
1 t. Salt
1 c. Milk
1 t. Vanilla
2 T. Butter (melted)
2 Eggs (1 separated)
2 T. Sugar
2 T. Butter

Mix flour, salt, milk, vanilla, butter, one whole egg, and one egg yolk until smooth. Chill for at least 2 hours. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, pour sugar slowly in a steady stream until egg whites form stiff peaks. Fold whites gently into the batter.

Heat a non-stick pan over high heat. Add just enough butter to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. When the butter froths, pour about 1/3 c. of batter into the pan. Turn the heat to medium-low. Swirl the pan to spread the batter thinly. Cook until the top is dry and the edge starts to brown. Turn the crepe over. Cook for a further 1-2minutes. It should be golden on both sides. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter, melting a little butter each time before crepe batter is poured into the pan.

Be careful of heat control. It is almost a painful science. The butter, at first, has to be quite hot. After you swirl the pan of batter, it must not be placed on very high heat. Turn your stove to medium-low. Temperature adjustment could take some time if you are using an electric stove, so just leave your crepe on a neighboring hot plate, while your stove cools down a bit.

From left: 1. Stove too hot 2. Temperature and timing just right 3. Stove too low / turned over too soon

Crepe-Style Hotcake 1

We're not quite there, but we will be.

You will be seeing a lot of crepes / pancakes in The Makeshift Table in the next few days. My sister’s curiosity was piqued by crepe-style pancakes served at Pamela’s Diner in Pittsburgh. Not one of us has tasted it; but from its appearance, we had conjectured it to be quite thin, sweetish and soft on the inside, and with a crackly-crisp crust and edges. Working in reverse from this objective (the taste and texture we’re aiming for), I thought we’d need a very liquid batter, more than the usual quantity of eggs, lots of very hot butter to fry in (as opposed to the griddle gently brushed with butter used in cooking ordinary crepes and pancakes), and perhaps, stiffly beaten egg whites for a lacy pattern to form on the crepes’ surface.

This is my first attempt. I am happy to say that it is already a little bit different from ordinary crepes or hotcakes. The product is heady with butter, very tender and has a mildly sweet custard-y flavor; however, it is a little bit too fluffy for this specific project. I think, next time, I won’t beat the egg whites as much. I would also use more butter to sort of deep-fry the crepes and achieve a cracklier crispness. These crepe-pancakes were quite nice eaten while hot sprinkled with cinnamon and confectioner’ sugar. And oh, hold the extra butter!

Please do let me know if you have suggestions on how to bring the next batch closer to the goal. Your contribution would be much appreciated!



Evolution of the Crepe-Style Hotcake (ECSH): First Attempt

1/3 c. Flour
½ t. Salt
½ c. Milk
½ t. Vanilla
1 T. Butter (melted)
1 Egg yolk
1 Egg White
1 T. Sugar
2 T. Butter

Mix flour, salt, milk, vanilla, butter, and egg yolk until smooth. Chill for at least 2 hours. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, pour sugar slowly in a steady stream until egg whites form stiff peaks. Fold whites gently into the batter.

Heat non-stick pan until it is very hot. Add ½ T. butter. Swirl until the bottom of the pan is thoroughly coated. Heat butter until it sizzles, being careful not to burn it. Pour about 1/3 c. of batter into the hot pan. Swirl the pan to spread the batter thinly. Cook until the top is dry. Turn the crepe over. It should be golden on both sides. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter, melting and heating ½ T. of butter each time before crepe batter is poured into the pan. Serve hot sprinkled with cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar.

Makes about 4 8-inch diameter crepes

Snow Skin Mooncake

Growing up, this time of the year (but usually, in September) was usually referred to as Mooncake Festival among my siblings. Not quite having the privilege of all four seasons in Manila, Philippines, my family did not stick too close to the traditions of a Mid-Autumn celebration. What we did have was a plenitude of mooncakes sent over from HK every year. I hated those things and remembered enjoying a novelty one particular year --- Snow Skin Mooncakes! The name itself glows with fanciful pleasures. Now, that was truly a long time ago and I hardly remember anything about them except that they were the first mooncakes I have ever enjoyed.

My partner, in the meantime, was feeling like a little orphaned puppy for being isolated from his family in Ecuador, with whom he had spent many, many mid-autumn nights ‘staying home, eating mooncakes and fruits, and staring up the full, round moon’. (sound of howling wolves here) At his whiny behest for a repeat of the snow skin mooncakes I made a month ago (filled with white chocolate ganache) on Mid-Autumn Festival, which is today, (‘but this time with a fruity filling’), I came up with three flavors (originally four, but since I did not have enough containers to make the peach mousse, I settled for three).

The ones I made are filled with summer berry mousse, berry and peach cheesecake, and cookies n’ cream. Mooncake molds (which I’d probably use just this once), being the same price as roughly 1.1 month’s worth of gym fees, were dispensed with. I settled for a little cup that has shallow grooves running down the sides. I am writing all this to justify the plainness of my mooncakes.

I experimented with recipes for the snow skin found in blogs by Yochana and She Bakes, She Cooks. I managed to come up with more than decent ones, but The Partner found the texture too grainy. With a few tweaks, I did come out with a softer, smoother dough. The secret is in the quantity of cooked water and starch solution, I suppose. Anyway, give this a try, you will find that it is not a daunting task at all.

You can fill it with almost anything you like. Jalea de ube with Macapuno or Yema balls (a la egg yolks) would have been nice, too.

You will need lots of bowls / containers and at least overnight for the filling and skin to set properly.

Snow Skin

2 c. Glutinous rice flour
½ c. Rice flour
½ c. Cake flour
1 c. Full cream milk
½ c. Water
3 T. Wheat starch
1 T. Vegetable oil

Transfer the glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and cake flour to a shallow dish and bake in 180C for 30 min. Cool completely. Reserve 1/3 c. of flour.

Mix the milk, water, and wheat starch in a bowl until the starch is completely dissolved. Microwave this on high for 30 SECONDS (not minutes). Stir until smooth. Microwave for another 30 seconds. Add the oil, stir until completely smooth, and set aside to cool completely.

When both mixtures are cool, mix the starch mixture into the flours gradually (not all at once). Knead with your hands until you come up with a pliable dough, that is about 3 steps away from being squishy and wet. You may have excess starch solution that you can store in the fridge for immediate future use. Do not force the flours to take in more moisture than what is right. You should have a very malleable play dough softness; any harder, then you should add more starch mix, any softer then you’d be in trouble if you didn’t have any more flour on hand. Next, wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge overnight.



Filling:

Basic Cheesecake:

250 g. Cream cheese
1 c. Whipping cream
½ c. Sugar
2 t. Lemon juice
2 t. Vanilla
1 T. gelatin dissolved in ¼ c. boiling water (I intentionally added more gelatin powder to harden the filling. You can use less for a proper cheesecake.)

Mix everything but the gelatin solution with a mixer until light and fluffy. While the mixer is running, pour the gelatin solution in a thin stream. Continue beating until all the ingredients have been incorporated properly. Chill the mixture overnight.

Summer Berry Mousse

2 c. Mixed berries (or you can opt for just one kind, washed and drained properly)
½ c. Water
2 t. Gelatin
1 c. Sugar
1 T. Lemon juice
1 c. Cream
1 c. Egg whites

Puree the berries and put into a saucepan with the water, gelatin, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook over low heat until the consistency of syrup has been achieved. (At this point, you may opt to reserve a couple of tablespoons of this mixture for the cheesecake. Just do it. I will explain later.) Cool and chill. When it’s good and cold, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add the cream to the berries and mix with an electric mixer until it is thick and creamy. Gently, fold the beaten egg whites into the berry-cream mix. Chill overnight. (This is also good as a dessert poured into glasses with sponge fingers in them.)

To Assemble

The reserved tablespoons of berry-gelatin mix without the cream and egg whites, sliced into small pieces
Peaches (balled with a melon baller like faux egg yolks) or cubed (any other fruit may substitute), chill uncovered to dry them out a bit

Oreos, some crushed, some cut into chunks, mixed with 2 T. milk to soften slightly

1. Fruit cheesecake - Roll out the skin and spoon some basic cheesecake into it. Add a couple of peach balls and a small spoonful of the berry-gelatin (sans cream and egg whites) mix. Wrap, mold, and chill overnight.
2. Cookies n’ cream - Mix some of the basic cheesecake mixture with the crushed oreos. Wrap, mold, and chill overnight.
3. Summer berry mousse. Bundle the mousse into the skin. You may add fruits. Wrap, mold, and chill overnight.

Wrapping Technique



Please refer to the montage on right for the proper wrapping and sealing technique. I came up with it after being left feeling disappointed by the thick undersides of the mooncakes with the traditional wrapping (or system-less manner of wrapping) technique. Short of using precisely measured shapes for the skin and pre-molding the filling, I found this gives the thinnest possible skin all throughout the cake.

Roll out about a third of a cup of dough into an oval (not round). Lay the skin on your palm, which you should cup slightly. Arrange the filling so it is distributed fairly evenly on the oval center of the oval skin. Do not mound it into a round shape in the very middle of the skin. Now, fold the lengths of the skin towards the center of the filling. The edges of the skin should touch, so do not overfill. Next, bring the widths of the oval towards the center. Starting on the outer edges, start crimping the skin inward until you have fitted the skin precisely to the filling. Cut away the excess skin (crimped edges).

This is a process of elimination. You start with a large piece of skin to make wrapping easier and work your way to a smaller (precisely fitted) pouch, while pushing and cupping the filling into a round shape as you crimp. Trim the excess skin. Roll the pouch in the reserved flour and pat into your mold. Press it gently, so that it doesn’t burst, but press it firmly enough so that the patterns would show up distinctly on the skin. Turn out. Chill overnight. If you have been careful in achieving a soft pliable dough, then you shouldn’t have too many problems about the skin tearing while you wrap with them; but if you do get little tears and holes, do not worry, just patch them up with little bits of dough.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Or Happy Mooncake Festival!