Mooncake Biscuits / Kong Chai Peng 公仔饼

Hi there, this is the very first posting of my newly created blog, Baking For Cowboys; created especially for  me by my dear sons, Kai Phin and Kai Yann. A big, big thank you and kisses to both of them.

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival is just 2 days away, so I have decided to post a recipe related to this great festival, the traditional Mooncake Biscuit, or Kong Chai Peng 公仔饼  . Most of the mooncake biscuits in the old days were in the shape of piggies and they were all kept and sold in the cute colour plastic basket.

 Kong Chai Peng in Plastic Pig Basket

I have adapted the recipe from Ann Low of Anncoo Journal. I did not have any Hong Kong flour or super fine flour at home, so I have modified to mix the plain flour or all purpose flour with some cake flour instead. 

Usually a traditional Chinese wooden carving mooncake biscuit mould is used for this type of biscuit. I have yet to get one for myself, so I have improvised to use an egg mould for hard boiled egg instead and they came out perfect and cute :) Happy, Happy :)........

Wooden Carving Mould

Hard Boiled Egg Mould

(Note: Hong Kong flour is super bleached white flour and has a little less protein or gluten content than your usual all purpose flour but a little more than cake flour. So adding a little cake flour to regular all-purpose flour would make the gluten content about the same as Hong Kong flour.)

Slideshow of the procedures

Recipe adapted and modified from Ann Low of Anncoo Journal

Mooncake Biscuits 公仔饼

Ingredients:

For Biscuits:

• 300g Plain flour or All Purpose flour (sifted)
• 150g Cake flour (sifted) 
• 270g Golden syrup
• 9g Alkaline water
• 115g Peanut Oil

For Egg Wash:

• 1 Egg yolk + 1 tbsp milk, mix and strain (diluted egg yolk is easier to apply to the biscuits)

Method:

• Mix golden syrup, alkaline water and peanut oil together until all combined. 

• Add in the sifted plain flour and cake flour and mix with a spatula to form a soft dough. Cover with cling film and let it rest for 2 to 3 hours.

• Lightly knead the dough on pastry mat or table with some flour until smooth (do not over knead).

• Measure the dough according to the size of your mould and roll it into a ball. 

• Dust some flour into the mould and tap away the excess flour.

• Press firmly into the mould.

• Unmould the biscuit by tapping the mould on the table and place it on the lined baking tray.  

• Decorate the eyes with your selected choice of beans (if required). I used black beans as the eyes for the bear biscuits and red beans for the rabbit.

  

• Baked in the pre-heated oven at 160C for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before applying the egg wash (for even colour). 

• Bake for another 15-20 minutes after the egg wash or until golden brown.

• Place on the rack to cool completely before storing them in a container. The biscuits are not ready to be eaten as they have to be kept for at least 1-2 days before they soften, what we call hui you 回油.

Happy Mooncake Festival! 中秋节快乐！

HAPPY BAKING AND COOKING!