Snow Skin Mooncake with Salted Egg Ice Cream Filling

Mash the salted egg yolks until fine and leave aside for later.

Note: Make sure they’re cooked through. You can buy them pre-cooked or just steam them yourself.

Combine the egg yolks, condensed milk and vanilla extract in a bowl.

Pour the milk, cream and mashed salted egg yolks in a small saucepan, then bring it to a gentle simmer. As soon as a film forms on top, take it off the heat.

Pro Tip: Make sure the liquid doesn’t boil, otherwise the milk will start to curdle.

Add 1/2 cup of the hot liquid into the egg and condensed milk mixture and stir until combined. Pour the remaining mixture in very slowly while stirring until well incorporated. Doing this in parts will prevent the eggs from cooking.

Transfer the combined liquid back into the saucepan and cook it on a low-medium heat until it begins to thicken up. You want it to leave a clean streak when you run your finger across a rubber spatula.

When thickened, take it off the heat and in mix the cheese and butter until melted. Pour it into a freeze-safe bowl and let it cool for 5 minutes, then wrap the custard using plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic touches the custard so there’s no room for ice to form.

Leave it in the freezer for 3 hours or until firm enough to scoop.

Before you shape the filling, keep in mind that different molds come in different shapes and sizes, so it’s best to measure the height and width of the one you have to ensure each of the wrapped mooncakes fit inside.

Keep the filling and snow skin about 80% of the size of your mold so that when you press down, everything stays in place.

When firm, take the ice cream out and divide it into 10 equal portions (or as many as you can make using the size of your mooncake mold). Wrap them in plastic wrap and form each into balls, then twist the top to seal them in.

Put everything back in the freezer to hold shape while you work on the mochi.

Combine the corn starch, sugar, 100g (0.22 lb) of the glutinous rice flour, milk and condensed milk in a bowl. When mixed well, stir in the oil.

Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap, leaving a small opening for air to escape.

Microwave the batter for 2 minutes, then take it out and stir the mochi to distribute the heat and liquid evenly.

Put the bowl back in and microwave for another 1-2.5 minutes until it forms a thick and springy mochi.

Note: If you don’t want to microwave it, put the mixture in a steamer for 20 minutes or until it has reached the consistency of mochi.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 1 hour to firm up.

Put 40 g (0.09 lb) glutinous rice flour in a saucepan and toast it on a low heat for 4 minutes or until it begins to turn yellow.

Use the cooked flour to dust your workspace. Take the cooled mochi out and dust your hands before squeezing it into a long log. Cut the log into the same number of pieces you made your filling (i.e., if you had 10 ice cream balls, divide the log into 10 equal pieces).

Roll each piece into a circle roughly 20 cm (8″) wide or large enough to wrap around the filling. Alternatively, roll them until they’re 5mm (0.2″) thick.Pro Tip: Lightly dust the surface of the mochi and the rolling pin so it doesn’t stick to each other.

Keep each flattened piece separate using plastic wrap.

When all the dough has been rolled, take the ice cream out. One at a time, take the plastic off the filling and wrap it using the mochi skin. You want to encase the whole ball tightly with no air bubbles.

Pinch the top firmly to seal, then cut off any excess dough.

Place the wrapped ball inside the mooncake mold, pinched part facing the opening. Press the mold against a flat surface, hold down firmly and push the handle down until there is resistance. Gently pull the mold up while still pressing down on the handle.

This will separate the mooncake from the mold.

Put the mooncakes back in the freezer to firm up for 30 mins, then serve cold as is!