Chocolate Mooncakes

When my friend Lena told me that her family loved these chocolate mooncake, i had to get the recipe from her and with some tweaking, got to make some of these cuties. I used the moulds that are meant for hard boiled eggs and they turned out so well.

Ingredients:

100 ml water

70 gm brown sugar

10 gm cocoa powder

40 gm unsweetened dark chocolate

20 gm shortening

1/2 tsp chocolate emulco

60 gm koh fun

2 tbsp wheat starch(tung mein fun) add 2 tbsp of hot boiling water

2 tbsp of steamed cake flour

Filling:

300 gm lotus /red bean/mung bean paste

60 gm melted unsweetened dark chocolate

1/2 tsp chocolate emulco

Method:

Put 100 ml water and 70 gm brown sugar in a bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir to dissolve sugar.

Pour a little at a time to the cocoa powder and mex well.

Put chocolate and shortening in a bowl. microwave for 1 minute, stir and if chocolate is not totalling melted, microwave another 30 seconds.

Using a bigger mixing bowl, mix the wheat starch with the hot boiling water and stir well. Add iun the koh fun and steamed flour. Mix to combine.

Add in the sugar/cocoa powder mixture and mix.

Add in the melted chocolate and chocolate emulco. Knead well until dough does not stick to the fingers.

Leave covered while you mix the filling.

Filling:

Mix all the ingredients for the filling until well combine.

To make the mooncakes.

To fit the hard boiled moulds - weigh 20 gm filling and 15 gm chocolate skin.
Serves

Twisted Fried Pretzels

This must be one of the oldest chinese snacks that i know of. It used to be sold as an everyday snack but now i think they only appear on the supermarket shelves during the chinese new year. It is not diffiult to make and the ingredients are few but it is tedious as it has to be twisted one at a time.

Ingredients:

600 gm all purpose flour

4 Tbsp rice flour

100 gm cooking oil

280 ml water

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Instant yeast

1 tsp double action baking powder

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Sugar syrup(optional):

1 cup coarse sugar

160 ml water

2 - 3 tbsps all purpose flour

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for the plaits together and rest for 20 mins

Cut dough into tiny pieces and using the pasta machine, roll the dough out flat at the thickest (no. 7) and repeat with the rest of the dough pieces.

Change to the fetucinne size cutter and cut rolled dough. Cut one strip to measure 10 inches or smaller and use it as a guide for the other strips.

To twist - Roll a strip to a round rope shape and press down one end , using the other hand, push rope forward so that it gets twisted, as twisted as possible. Let the 2 ends meet and then fold in half again. pinch the ends or thread one end into the loop of the other. If it has been twisted well, it will form a plait by itself.

Deep fry the twisted plaits in hot oil until golden brown.

If you like it to be sugar coated, cook the sugar and water till thick, almost crystalise and then add in the fried plaits, sieve flour onto the plaits and fry till sugar crystalised

Dish up, leave to cool.


Serves