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.

You may also like to check on the baked mooncakes recipes posted in previous years by clicking on the images 

请在照片上按一下就可以看到以前的食谱了

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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烤红曲月饼

      材料：

      125克 普通面粉

      5克 红曲粉

      85克 糖浆

      25克 花生油

      1/2茶匙 碱水

      360克 莲蓉馅 （我用红枣龙眼莲蓉馅）

      材料：

• 把糖浆，碱水和花生油混合均匀。
• 将面团和红曲粉一起过筛在大碗里，中间挖个同，倒入混合好的糖浆。用橡皮刮刀拌成软面团，盖上保鲜纸放置一旁静置30分中。
• 然后将面团分成11-12份，每份20克，搓圆压扁，包入莲蓉馅（30克）。
• 再搓圆，粘上少许粉，压入月饼模，扣出排放在烤盘上（底部铺纸）。
• 放入预热烤箱摄氏170度，烤约10分钟，取出待冷15分钟，再放入烤箱，烤10-15分钟即可。
• 待月饼完全凉后，可以马品尝或装进盒子里；等月饼回油后（约3天），就可以切块享用了。