Yunnan Ham Mooncakes
How could Mid-Autumn Festival be complete without our Yunnan ham mooncakes? I already wanted to share this recipe before last year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, but I was too busy and only wrote half of it, and kept putting it off until this year. I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe!
Ingredients
Steps
Take 1/4 of the flour and mix it evenly with the sugar, honey, ammonia powder, and water. Use a stand mixer fitted with a K-beater on high speed to beat until gluten develops and the dough becomes stretchy and thread-like. This step is to make the finished skin smooth. If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a whisk and beat quickly (for a small amount, mix 15–20 minutes; for a larger amount, mix about 30 minutes).
After the gluten has developed, add the remaining 3/4 of the flour and the lard. Mix with the K-beater for 2–3 minutes until the dough is smooth with no small lumps.
After kneading, cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 1 hour, then divide it. After dividing, roll each piece into a ball and let rest for about 10 minutes before wrapping the filling. After wrapping, roll each mooncake into a ball and place it directly on the baking tray. Do not press it flat, as it will spread and flatten naturally during baking.
Bake at 230°C top heat and 130°C bottom heat, on the lower-middle rack, for about 27 minutes (test your oven temperature beforehand and adjust as needed). Place the baking tray on the bottom rack to bake.
Bake until the color looks like the photo. I prefer a slightly deeper color; it tastes better that way.
After baking, let the mooncakes cool completely, then seal them in packaging. They keep for about 15 days at room temperature.
The texture is fragrant, crisp, and delicious.
For the ham, I use Yunnan Xuanwei ham. You can choose the fat-to-lean ratio according to your preference.
Cut the ham into large chunks, steam until cooked through, then dice it.
Mix the diced ham with honey and marinate overnight.
Before using the marinated ham, mix in sugar, cooked flour (adjust the amount depending on the consistency), and lard until evenly combined, then set aside.
Ratio of mooncake skin to filling: For 30 g mooncakes: 20 g skin, 15 g filling For 50 g mooncakes: 30 g skin, 20 g filling For 80 g mooncakes: 50 g skin, 35 g filling For 100 g mooncakes: 60 g skin, 40 g filling You can adjust these ratios to your liking.