How to make traditional baked mooncakes with a rich durian and salted egg yolk filling, including the homemade golden syrup and thin, soft pastry. A Mid-Autumn Festival favorite.

Prep time: 1 hourCook time: 20 minutesTotal time: 1 hour 20 minutesServings: 12 servingsDifficulty: Hard

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Durian mooncakes with salted egg yolk are a Mid-Autumn Festival treat that is surprisingly hard to find in shops, where the durian filling is usually plain and sweet. This recipe from Aunt Mariah's Kitchen (a well-loved Thai home baker) shows you how to make the whole thing from scratch: the golden syrup, the thin soft pastry, and the fragrant durian filling. Packed in a pretty box, they make a wonderful gift.

The filling is flexible: you can cook down your own durian paste or buy a good ready-made durian filling, and the salted egg yolk is optional if you prefer a purely sweet mooncake.

Ingredients

Mooncake pastry (for 3-inch / 7.5 cm molds)

  • 240 g (2 cups) cake flour (first portion of flour)
  • 250 g (3/4 cup) golden syrup (recipe below)
  • 80 g (1/3 cup) peanut oil
  • 2 teaspoons lye water (alkaline water, sold at Asian grocers)
  • 125 g (1 cup) bread flour (second portion of flour)

Filling

  • 1,500–1,600 g (3 1/3–3 1/2 lb) cooked durian paste (durian filling)
  • 15 salted egg yolks

Egg wash

  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon golden syrup

Golden syrup

  • 1 kg (2.2 lb) unrefined cane sugar
  • 600 ml (2 1/2 cups) water
  • 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
  • Lemon peel (optional)

Instructions

Make the golden syrup

  1. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a pot. Add the lemon juice and lemon peel, then simmer over low heat for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
  2. After an hour, lift a spoonful to check: the syrup should have the consistency of honey.
  3. Turn off the heat, remove the lemon peel, and let cool completely. Pour into a jar and let it rest for at least 1 week before using.

Make the pastry

  1. Combine the golden syrup, peanut oil, and lye water in a mixing bowl and stir until blended.
  2. Add the cake flour (first portion) in two additions, folding gently until just combined.
  3. Cover and rest the dough for 4–5 hours or overnight.
  4. Add the bread flour (second portion) and knead until the dough is smooth. Cover with a cloth and rest for another 30 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, bake the salted egg yolks at 180°C (350°F) for 5 minutes.

Shape the mooncakes

  1. Divide the dough into 45–50 g (about 1.6 oz) portions.
  2. For each mooncake, wrap a baked salted egg yolk in durian filling so the ball weighs about 120–125 g (4.3 oz) in total, and press to seal.
  3. Roll a portion of dough into a thin round, place the filling in the center, and gather the dough up around it to seal completely.
  4. Lightly oil the mooncake mold, press the pattern onto each mooncake, and mist lightly with water before baking.

Bake

  1. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 10–15 minutes. Remove and mist lightly with water to let the surface settle.
  2. Whisk together the egg yolk, whole egg, milk, and golden syrup for the egg wash (the syrup gives the mooncakes a deeper, prettier color).
  3. Brush the mooncakes all over with egg wash and bake again at 190–200°C (375–400°F), top and bottom heat, for 20 minutes.
  4. Let cool completely. The crust will still be firm at this point, so store the mooncakes in an airtight container for about 3 days before eating; the pastry softens as the oil from the filling seeps in.

Tips

  • Do not skip the resting time for the syrup and the dough; it is what gives the crust its thin, tender texture.
  • The finished mooncakes need patience: from syrup to serving takes about 10 days, but the result is well worth it.
  • If you cannot find durian filling, you can substitute lotus seed paste or red bean paste with the same salted egg yolk center.
mooncakesduriansalted egg yolkMid-Autumn Festivalbaking

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