Some Passionfruit mooncakes I sampled at a mooncake fair inspired these wonderful Snowskin mooncakes. Every year, it is a tradition for my mother and I to make mooncakes and give them our to our friends, neighbours and family. There are 2 main types of mooncakes we make- the baked mooncake and the pandan Snowskin mooncake with white lotus paste. 

This year, I managed to persuade my mum to try out some new flavours like this Passionfruit mooncake. Next up, will be lavender snowskin mooncakes with dark chocolate lavender truffle, earl grey snowskin mooncakes with dark chocoate earl grey truffle, and matcha snowskin mooncakes with red bean filling. And of course my super cute baked piggy mooncakes! 

This passionfruit mooncake is nothing but a traditional snowskin mooncake recipe with fresh Passionfruit juice and a white chocoate Passionfruit filing. I simply replaced all the water with fresh Passionfruit juice I obtained from straining the pulp of 2 passionfruits, giving the mooncakes a bright, yellow colour without any food colouring! The filling is white chocolate ganache, replacing some of the milk and cream with the same Passionfruit juice. Refreshing and tasty! 

I'm not an expert at mooncakes, but through the past few years, I've learnt a lot more about snowskin mooncakes and how to get the perfect balance of skin, lotus paste and filling. I prefer a thin skin with less sweet white lotus paste in mini form, though my mum prefers the large ones with egg yolks. Either way, I hope you will try making mooncakes at home, with your family and friends. It isn't all that difficult! 

Here are my top 5 tips you need to know to make the perfect snowskin mooncakes:

A stickier, softer dough would allow your mooncakes to stay soft and slightly chewy. Even if the dough sticks to your hands a little, don't worry! A slightly sticky dough, with a higher ration of liquid to kao fen would yield softer snowskin mooncakes.

Rolling the dough in between 2 pieces of plastic wrap would ensure an even, thin layer of skin, and also reduces the amount of flour you put into the mooncakes. Wrapping the skin over the lotus paste filling also makes it easier for you to cover up cracks in the dough. 

Before using your mooncake moulds, ensure you flour it. Put some kao fen into the wooden moulds, and then tap out all the flour onto your work surface. There should be a light coating of flour on the mould, just to ensure the mooncakes come up smoothly. 

Since most of us only make mooncakes once a year nearing the mid-autumn festival, you need to "season" your wooden moulds with oil before they are ready to use. The night before you make your first batch of mooncakes, pour some oil into the moulds such that they are about half filled with oil, and leave them to soak overnight. The next day, before you begin, pour the oil away and rinse and dry the moulds. 

Sounds simple, but really important. Making mooncakes require some preparation and planning. What I usually do is to make the skin first, chill it in the fridge, then measure out the fillings and lotus paste. Weigh out every ingredient accurately so you will get evenly sized, perfectly shaped mooncake. Use a electronic scale to measure the weight of the skin and fillings to ensure every mooncake is the same. 

Snowskin:

75g kao fen 

125g icing sugar

25g shortening / crisco 

70ml Passionfruit juice 

190g white chocolate, chopped

30ml heavy cream

60ml Passionfruit juice 

500g white lotus paste

In a large bowl over simmering water, place the white chocolate and heavy cream and stir until just melted. Fold in the Passionfruit juice and leave to cool before letting it chill for 3 hours or overnight. 

In a large bowl, mix the shortening, kao fen, icing sugar and passionfruit juice until a smooth, soft and slightly sticky dough is formed. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill while you measure out the other ingredients. 

Divide the lotus paste into equal sized balls. A large mooncake requires about 150g of lotus paste whole a medium sized requires 35g. Roll the measured lotus paste into a smooth ball, and using your fingers, shape it into cup by pressing the centre of the ball down to form a "crater". Spoon about 1 1/2 tbs of white chocolate filling into the centre and seal. 

Remove the snowskin from the fridge and divide into equal sized balls. The large mooncake requires 50g of skin and the medium one requires 15g. Roll the skin in between some plastic wrap and wrap the lotus paste in the skin. 

Press into the well-floured mould and tap the mould hard to release the mooncake.