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Many moons (Pun definitely intended) have passed and I was perfectly happy to buy a box or two of mooncakes each year during the Mooncake Festival to satisfy my sweet cravings. I had never thought of making them myself as it sounds like a very challenging project, one I would have to invest quite a bit of time into. Besides I would have to make more than a few for it to be worth my while. Now, that would certainly be packing in a lot of calories. Anyway, this “bliss” ended when I saw these spiral beauties on Jeannie’s blog, the Baking Diary. I was totally mesmerized my these green Spiral Pandan Mooncakes with a purple Okinawan sweet potato filling. Talk about color in food…these are beyond striking! I had to check out the recipe but it was not to be found on her blog. A link brought me to the House of Annie.
On closer examination of the recipe, it reminded me of the Shell Curry Puffs my Grandma taught me how to make way back then. While the ingredients and measurements are a little different, both recipes have many similarities. The pastry consists of a combination of two types of dough, a fat and water based dough and another fat only dough to create the layers. The technique though, is different and I was curious to see if Grandma’s method would work just as well. Instead of making 8 or 10 small logs and then slicing each log into half, I used Grandma’s method by making a single rope and slicing it into 16 pieces of dough. From what I can see, the results are slightly different as their method produced more even colored layers while my method yielded more distinct cream and green colored layers.
As for the filling, I had to use a substitute as I have never seen those pretty purple sweet potatoes here. While “chatting” with Nate of House of Annie, he suggested that perhaps I try using beets after reading my recent post on roast beets. Roasted beet mooncakes? I did think of maybe using the juice from the beets to color some paste but in the end I took the easy way out. With squashes coming into season right now, I decided to use the butternut squash that was sitting on my counter. While the color combination is not as strikingly beautiful as the purple sweet potatoes, I am delighted to say that the butternut and pumpkin seeds filling was moist and very tasty. I boiled the cubed squash and so the texture was a little on the soft side. I have adjusted the recipe to steam the squash instead. Do check out the original recipe at the House of Annie and the Baking Diary. Nate and Annie of House of Annie has a wonderful selection of recipes from different world cuisines, many of which I would love to try in the coming days. Jeannie of Baking Diary has some lovely bread recipes and mouth watering Malaysian fare.
This pandan paste is relatively new to me. I had only recently heard of it when I started blogging. During my recent summer vacation to Malaysia and Singapore, this was on the top of my “Things to Buy” list. It is definitely superior to the clear pandan essence. Unfortunately, I have not seen it here in Minnesota. Frozen pandan leaves can be purchased here but you would have to extract the juice using the method found in my post on Pandan Cream Pie. Otherwise, I would suggest substituting the pandan paste with vanilla essence and a few drops of green food coloring or omitting it altogether.
The recipe below was inspired by the House of Annie and the Baking Diary.
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash (about 1¾lbs (800g) in weight)
- ¼ cup (55g) sugar
- 2 tbsp butter
- ¼ cup (60ml) half and half or milk
- ½ cup (30g) toasted pumpkin seeds
- 1½ (225g) cups all-purpose flour
- 6 tbsp (85g) butter
- 3 tbsp (25g) powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2/3 cup (160ml) cold water
- 1 cup (150g) all-purpose flour
- A pinch of salt
- ¾ tsp pandan paste
Instructions
Peel, seed and cut butternut squash into chunks. Put squash in a steaming rack and steam for 10 minutes. Remove and place in a large bowl together with the rest of the ingredients. Mash till you get a smooth paste. Mix in toasted pumpkin seeds. When cool, shape into 16 balls, approximately the size of a walnut.
In a large bowl, add flour, butter, powdered sugar, and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two forks until resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add water and mix to form a soft, non-sticky dough. If dough is a little sticky, add a little more flour. Cover and set aside to rest for 20 minutes.
Place flour in a separate bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour in oil and pandan paste. Mix to form and even colored dough. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour. Cover and set aside to rest for 20 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough a into A circle about 8 inches (20cm) in diameter. Place dough B in the center of dough A. Gather up the sides of dough A to wrap over dough B. With seam side down, roll out dough into a rectangle of about 9-in x 12-in (23cm x 30cm).
With the short side, fold dough facing you over by a third. Reach over and fold the other side over.
Turn dough 90° and roll out again into a 9-in x 12-in (23cm x 30cm) rectangle.
Again fold dough into third like the first time. Turn dough 90° and this time roll dough into a rectangle of about 14-in x 12-in (35cm x 30cm). With the long side, roll dough up into a rope.
With both hands on the rope, continue to roll until it is about 1¾ inches in diameter.
Cut off ends and slice rope into 16 pieces, each about 5/8 inch thick.
Roll out each piece of dough with cut side up into a circle of about 4 inches (10cm) in diameter. Place a ball of filling in the center. Gather up the edges to wrap around filling. Place seam side down onto a baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of dough and filling.
Bake in a 350°F (180°C) oven for 30 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove and let cool on wire rack.
http://www.rotinrice.com/2010/09/spiral-butternut-squash-mooncake/
That wonderful aroma of the pandan flavor filled the kitchen. I could hardly wait to taste these cakes.
Enjoy…..and have a wonderful day! 
My other blog
Tags: butternut squash, Chinese, mooncakes, vegetarian
they look so beautiful Biren. love these Moon cakes.
Biren, love the spiral color of this mooncake and I never thought of adding butternut squash before – sounds healthy
I had made the spiral mooncake last year with yam filling
(http://anncoojournal.blogspot......_3500.html)” target=”_blank”> http://anncoojournal.blogspot......_3500.html)” target=”_blank”>(http://anncoojournal.blogspot......_3500.html) and I'm going to make again this year because my family loves yam very much.
The mooncakes look amazing… love the green & white color.
I made this last year and failed. Making some this weekend! Wish me luck
Wow…these are beautiful Biren! Stunning…even without the purple sweet potatoes. All I can say is you have more patience than I do..LOL
Dear….I have to read again and again it get the recipe by heart….looks lil bit difficult to me..:(…..the pix aar very helpful though…..looks lovely…..
OMG, your mooncakes are absolutely beautiful!
Hi Biren, here I am:D I must say your method looks so much easier as you need to do the fold and rolling only once! The effect is slightly different but still very beautiful…I think I'll do it this way too the next time I attempt this. And you managed to cut it so neatly! Well done!
lovely steps
delicious
Ok, Biren. you just blew my socks off with these! I have never seen anything like this before, they're stunning! Alex, my four year just saw this picture and said "I want to make those!" Nice work!
Omg Biren, I LOVE everything about these! They look beautiful and sound delicious with the butternut squash. I'm not a big fan of the lotus mooncake but you have just made me look at mooncakes in a whole different way. Thank you! You know what's funny, I was just making a pandan agar agar as I was reading your blog. Coincidence or what right. If you're interested, here's the link. They used the same pandan as you. Thank you fir sharing this delightful recipe!
http://bruleeblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/pandan…
OMG Biren, you're so talented. First time seeing how it's made! I've had similar ones before but not dare to make it haha. They're pretty and so green goddess.
I salute you! Wouldn't have the patience to do it. The result looks very tasty and esthetically pleasing too!
Wow, this is so impressive, I love the colors and I'm sure they are delicious and worth all the effort you've put into them:)
Amazing…These are truly gorgeous
Wow…these look beautiful! You are very creative with the filling….healthy filling
A friend gave us a beautiful box of moon cakes the other day. Now I think I'm lazy to make…haha.
This must be one of those unique mooncakes that I am just talking about in my mooncake post. I tried a mooncake with pandan paste as the filling recently and like it. You are very creative.
These are absolutely gorgeous, Biren! I really love the butternut squash filling too…healthy and delicious!
Biren – beautiful job! I love the filling because it's homemade and unique. Nice color contrast as well.
Thanks for the link back.
I will have to try the yam flavor next. I love the color too and I can get yam over here
Yes, the effect is slightly different but I think yours is equally if not more stunning with the purple sweet potato filling.
I used a very sharp knife to cut so that I get a nice, clean edge.
Thanks Jenny! They are really quite fragrant and tasty. I think you will like them as they are not overly sweet.
Thanks Nate and Annie for your inspiration! I had fun making these. Best of all, my hubby and boys loved it. All gone now. May have to make another batch
Thanks Julie! Alex is so cute. He will have fun rolling out the dough
Ooops, everything finished uh? Aisey, thought of asking U for some cakes…sooooo lovely! I'm drooling
Those look gorgeous!! So beautiful
These are so beautiful with the green & white spiral!
Kudos to you! I love your take with butternut squash for the filling – healthy and delicious, and you can eat more! Looks so good too. Thank you for sharing.
These are gorgeous! I love the colors and also that they're jam packed with nutrition!
Thanks DongXing! The family really enjoyed it and it's all gone! May have to make another batch this weekend. Mooncake Festival is on Spet 22nd and so there is still time
You have made me want to make some mooncakes too. They look very pretty.
Biren~ What a cool recipe! I'm now bowing in front of my computer in reverence!
LOLOLOL!!! Sommer you are too funny! You made me laugh so hard and I really needed that
oh wow!! awesome..awesome…looks so delicious..
Wow! These look beautiful and really quite easy to do! You've inspired me to try it though I usually don't have the patience to do such intricate things
I bet they tasted wonderful. I really like the contrasting swirls of beige and green pastry. Imagine if the filling was purple!!!
Wow…never seen so unique moon cakes before.They look really beautiful!
Sinfully Spicy
Thanks Denise! The mooncakes are striking with the purple sweet potatoes. You should be able to get some of those potatoes should you make these cakes
These turned out great Biren! And they're so pretty. Love the filling too!
looks mouth watering and amazing!
These are beautiful beyond words Biren!
And you went to such great lengths to make these. Fantastic. I wish I had what it took to make these myself
Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
Oh Devaki, thank you for your kind words. I had fun making these and the satisfaction of seeing loved ones enjoying them
Wow…you made it look so easy but my mind still says it's a difficult dish. I love the color you have in there. Many thanks for sharing this with us. I still don't think I'll attempt it, but they're gorgeous to look at.
These are fascinating! I have never heard of them before. Love the color and the ingredients.
I made these twice before but failed. Saw it on Jeannie’s blog which linked to Annie’s blog, must try this. Yours look so yummy and original!
I love anything green! And these just captured my attention! Wonderful fillings as well. Must be very sweet and scrumptious. Thanks for sharing and have a nice day.
Cheers, Kristy
I love the green spiral and they look so pretty. I didn’t get any mooncakes this year and I am so tempted to try this one out.
Do give it a try Gertrude. The pandan paste gives the crust a really nice fragrance. I am not buying any mooncakes this year and so I will probably make some of these.
That’s beautiful! Love the spiral effect and the green colour and a healthy filling….something new to me. I wish I can just have a few to enjoy without putting in the effort to make
Mooncakes here are very expensive. It’s the same back home. One of my friends just complained about it.
It seems that everywhere I look I’m seeing gorgeous examples of home made moon cakes. Yours are particular inspiring, I will have to try them out!
Thank you for the compliment! Homemade is really the best as it is fresh and a little less sweet. I do hope you will give them a try.
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Wow, so much work and dedication! But they look absolutely wonderful! Amazing mooncakes!
I just left a comment, but I think it was blocked. I wanted to say that I am really amazed by this recipe
.
Thank you for both your comments. Sorry it misbehaved towards you. The spiral pastry is easier than it looks.
Dear Biren, Thanks for giving everything in detail as many just stated 1 butter squash !! or 1 pk of rice flour !
These moon cake really unusual and I’m sure everyone will be delight to eat it !! Will try it one day !!
Hi Rebecca! Thanks for visiting and commenting. I am glad to hear you find the detail instructions useful. I hope you get to try the recipe soon.