taiwanese taro mooncake // 芋頭酥

 

中秋節快樂！Happy mid-autumn festival! The best holiday celebrates fall, the moon, and delicious pastries (three of my favorite things). 

Today I’m sharing a recipe for one of my favorite mooncakes. These taro pastries are popular in Taiwan. They always remind me of the bittersweet feeling of leaving Taipei because they sell boxes of these at the duty free store in the Songshan airport (with lots of free samples…) 

This recipe is not technically difficult but is time consuming due to the multiple steps and rest periods. You can save yourself some time by preparing the taro paste filling ahead of time and storing it in the refrigerator until needed. And trust me, the time it takes to prepare these is worth the end result. 

 

            

 

Taiwanese Taro Mooncakes

Recipe adapted from Carol 自在生活

The recipe yields 12 pastries. Like all mooncakes, these are meant for slicing and sharing with friends and family. 
For these pastries you will make three different components: taro paste, a flour dough (white) and an oil dough (purple). 

 

Taro paste

500g taro

80g granulated sugar (you can adjust this amount based on personal preference)

30g unsalted butter 

1. Peel the taro and weigh out 500g
2. Cut into cubes and steam for 20 minutes
3. The taro is cooked when you can cut it easily with a fork or knife without resistance
4. Mash the taro with a fork while it is still hot
5. Add sugar and butter and mix until combined
6. Let the paste cool (if your kitchen is hot you can refrigerate it)  

 

Flour dough (white)

200g all purpose flour

15g powdered sugar

70g ghee 

105g cold water

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk powdered sugar and ghee together until smooth and homogenous
2. Add all purpose flour and mix
3. Add the cold water and knead by hand for 5-6 minutes until smooth and soft
4. Cover dough and let rest for 40 minutes

 

Oil dough (purple)

160g cake flour

80g ghee

Purple color (optional): A few drops of taro extract OR 2 teaspoons of purple sweet potato powder OR a few drops each of red and blue food coloring

1. In a mixing bowl, mix cake flour, ghee, and purple potato powder or food coloring together (The color is purely for aesthetics, it will still taste delicious if you do not color the dough).
2. Knead until smooth. Be careful not to knead for too long because you want to prevent gluten development in the dough.    
3. Cover and place dough in refrigerator for 15 minutes. This will make the dough easier to handle. 
   

 

Assembly 

1. Remove oil dough (the purple one) from the refrigerator and divide it into 6 pieces (about 40g each) and roll each into a ball.
2. Divide flour dough (the white one) into 6 pieces (about 65g each) and roll each into a ball
3. Take one ball of flour dough and gently flatten with your fingers. Take a rolling pin and roll the dough into a flat circle. 
4. Place one ball of oil dough in the center of the flour dough. Bring the edges of the flour dough up around the oil dough and pinch to seal at the top. Repeat with all six pieces. 
5. Place a wrapped dough ball seam side up, smooth side against the counter. Gently flatten and then roll out into an oval. Starting from the top of the oval, roll the dough up into a long cylinder shape. Repeat with all six pieces.
6. Cover and let the dough rolls rest for 10 minutes. 
7. After 10 minutes, take a roll of dough and place it seam side up, smooth side against the counter. The roll of dough should be perpendicular to the edge of the counter, with the short side closest to you. Flatten the dough slightly, then roll it flat so the cylinder now looks like a long, thin rectangle. 
8. Starting from the short side of the rectangle, roll the dough up so it forms a short, fat cylinder shape. Repeat with all six pieces.
9. Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for 20 minutes
10. In the meantime, take your cooled taro paste and divide it into 12 equal portions (45g each), shape each into a ball. 
11. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 340 degrees F (170 C). 
12. After 20 minutes, take a cylinder of dough and cut it in half with a knife. Take one half and place it cut side down. 
13. Roll into a flat circle about 10 cm in diameter.
14. Place one ball of taro paste in the center of the dough. Bring the sides of the dough up and seal the dough at the top. 
15. Place the ball seam side down and shape into a sphere. Place the finished pastry onto your prepared sheet pan.
16. Repeat steps 12-15 with the rest of the dough. 
17. Bake the pastries for 25 minutes until you can see a clear circle pattern on the top of the pastry, and the bottoms are lightly golden.