Vietnamese Snow Skin Mooncakes (Banh deo)
Vietnamese snow skin mooncake (Banh deo) is soft-chewy on the outside. You can put any mooncake filling inside it.
Servings: 8 cakes
Calories:
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup water
- 2-3 oz sugar
- 7 oz cooked glutinous rice flour (a bit under 2 cups, this is for both the dough and for dusting)
- 5.5 oz your choice of mooncake filling
Instructions
- Add water and sugar to a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar completely and turn off the stove once the mixture starts to boil and looks clear.
- Pour the sugar syrup into a clean bowl and let it cool down slightly. Gradually add the cooked glutinous rice flour in batches. Stir to combine thoroughly before adding a new batch.
- After you have added about 2/3 of the flour, you will have a clumpy, sticky dough. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle a third of the remaining flour on a clean surface and place the dough on top of the flour. Sprinkle another third of flour on top of the dough.
- Make sure your hands are clean, or put on food-grade gloves. Press down on the dough, then fold in half top-to-bottom and then left-to-right. Press down again and repeat. The dough will gradually absorb the dusting flour, becoming heavier and smoother.
- Once the dough looks smooth, feels heavy and dense (but not hard), press down to flatten it and roll into a log. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions, about 1.4 oz (35-40gr) each. Lightly dust each dough piece and roll into a ball.
- Divide the filling and shape into small balls. Flatten a dough ball and place the filling in the center and then seal. Dust your mooncake mold thoroughly and place the cake inside the mold. Press to shape the cake. Continue with the remaining dough and filling.
- The cakes can be eaten after a few hours, but they will taste better the next day. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, and eat it within 3-4 days for the best taste and texture.
Notes
Cooked glutinous rice flour is not possible to make at home as far as I know. Glutinous rice is puffed up and toasted first, and then processed into fine flour. That's why the flour has a distinct taste and texture compared to the one you make by toasting raw flour at home. You can try to find it at Asian grocery stores.
You can watch the video in the post to see how to prepare the dough. The exact amount of flour may differ, so you may need to adjust according to how the dough looks and feels. With the quantity suggested above, I have about 1 oz (30gr) of flour left to dust the dough balls and mooncake molds.
My favorite filling for snow skin mooncakes is mixed nuts, the recipe for which can be found in my baked mooncakes recipe.
Right after making, you will find that the cakes taste very sweet, but the next day, the sweetness will be more pleasant. Traditional Vietnamese snow skin mooncakes are very sweet. I reduce the amount of sugar significantly in this recipe. 1.5-2oz (42-55g) of sugar is a reasonable level of sweetness for me while 3oz (80g) is plenty of sweetness if you have a sweet tooth. Please note that the more sugar you use, the denser the cakes will be.
This recipe makes about 8 cakes, 60-70gr (2.1-2.5oz) each. The usual ratio of dough to filling for Vietnamese snow skin mooncakes are 1.5:1 to 2:1.