Baked Red Yeast Mooncakes 烤红曲月饼 ～ 2015

Red yeast rice powder or red yeast powder (红曲粉 hongqu fen in Chinese) is getting popular among Chinese food bloggers as a food colouring for baking and cooking like char siu and peking duck. Red yeast rice is a substance that's extracted from rice that's been fermented and it's been used in China and Asian countries for centuries as a traditional medicine. (as referred from 'here').

I've added about a teaspoon of red yeast powder into this mooncake recipe. It gives a nice red colour to the cake without any egg wash and glaze like the traditional mooncake. Pretty and presentable as a gift for the coming Mooncake Festival.

Baked Red Yeast Mooncakes

      Ingredients:
      125g plain flour
      5g red yeast powder
      85g sugar syrup
      25g peanut oil
      1/2tsp alkaline water

      360g lotus paste filling (I used red date longan lotus paste)

      Method:

• Mix sugar syrup, peanut oil and alkaline water together thoroughly.
• Sift plain flour and red yeast powder in a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in sugar syrup mixture. Use a rubber spatula to mix and form to a soft dough. Cover with a cling wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Divide dough into 11-12 portions, about 20g each and roll into balls. Wrap the dough around the lotus paste filling (30g).
• Roll it into ball and dust with some flour. Press firmly into mould, unmould and place on a lined baking tray.
• Bake at preheated oven 170 deg C for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and rest mooncakes to cool for about 15 minutes. Then bake the mooncakes again for another 10-15 minutes.
• Leave mooncakes to cool down completely before storing into an airtight container. This mooncake can be eaten immediately after baked or wait for about 3 days for the mooncake skin to soften (回油) before consuming.
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