Dubai Chocolate Mooncakes

5 from 2 ratings

These Dubai Chocolate Mooncakes are a unique, modern take on traditional mooncakes. They include a sweetened pistachio filling paired with a rich, decadent chocolate mooncake skin. It's the perfect balance of sweet, salty, and bitter flavors. Get all my tips and tricks in the blog post on how to successfully replicate these beautiful pastries.

Prep Time20

Cook Time12

Resting Time45

Total Time1 17

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese

Diet: Vegetarian

Keyword: dubai chocolate mooncake recipe, dubai chocolate mooncakes

Servings: mooncakes

Calories: 244kcal

Author: Becca Du

Equipment

Ingredients

Chocolate Mooncake Skin

84 g golden syrup ¼ cup
25 g vegetable oil 2 tbsp
7 g lye water 1 tsp
117 g all purpose flour
7 g cocoa powder

Pistachio Filling

Egg Wash

1 egg yolk
3 tbsp whole milk

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prep the filling and mooncake skin

Melt 3 tbsp of unsalted butter over medium heat. Add 3 oz of the kataifi and toast until light brown.
Once brown, turn off the heat. Add 7 oz of pistachio butter, 1 tbsp of tahini, and ¼ tsp of salt. Mix until the kataifi is coated in the pistachio butter.
Lastly, add ¼ cup of all purpose flour and mix until just combined. Pour the pistachio filling into a container and let it cool in the freezer for 45 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, combine 84 g of golden syrup, 25 g of vegetable oil, 7 g of lye water, 117 g of all purpose flour, and 7 g of cocoa powder. Mix until a brown dough forms. Cover and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Forming the mooncakes

Once the ingredients are cool, take out your ingredients. This should include the filling and the mooncake skin dough.
Using a scale, weigh out the ingredients for each mooncake. Place 30 grams of pistachio filling and 20 grams of mooncake skin on the scale. Combined, they should weigh 50 grams.
After you have weighed out the ingredients for 1 mooncake, form the mooncake. Roll the pistachio filling into a ball. Then roll the mooncake dough between your hands to form a ball. Roll it out until it becomes a flat, 3.5 inch disc. I like to do this between 2 pieces of parchment paper to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
Place the pistachio ball in the center of the mooncake skin disc and enclose filling with the skin. The skin won’t completely enclose the filling, so you’ll need to gently press the outside of the ball to stretch the skin over it. The motion you want to make is similar to how you would put a rubber band onto a ball or a cylinder. You roll your fingers over the rubber band until it reaches the position you’re aiming for. Once you get skin around the filling, roll between your hands to form a smooth ball.
Repeat this process for every mooncake until you run out of filling or dough. Now it’s time to put them in the molds! Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with parchment paper. Make sure to have your molds ready.
Coat the mold with a light layer of flour. Shake out the excess. This will help the mooncake to release easily from the molds.
Place each mooncake into the molds and press down firmly onto the baking sheet. Next, lift the mooncake a little bit and push it out of the molds. Repeat this for every mooncake. Make sure to brush off excess flour from the tops of the mooncakes.
Let the mooncakes cool in the fridge for 10-20 minutes. I like to cool mine for an hour. The purpose of this step is to make sure the pattern on top holds in the oven.

Baking the mooncakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
Bake the mooncakes for 5 minutes.
Make the egg wash by combining 1 egg yolk and 3 tbsp of whole milk. Whisk until smooth.
Take the mooncakes out and brush them lightly on top with the egg wash.
Put them back in the oven and bake for another 7 minutes.
Cool them for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then on a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the best results, put them in the fridge to rest for 24 hours before eating.

Video

Notes

For the most consistent results, use weights (grams) when making the mooncake skin.
If the pistachio filling is still really sticky, add a little bit more flour.
Store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Note that when you take them out from the fridge, they will be hard. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes to soften to the right texture.

Nutrition