Fruit Jelly Mooncakes

This Fruit Jelly Mooncakes recipe is a delicious and easy way to enjoy mooncakes and celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

What are mooncakes?

Mooncakes are beautiful pastries that are usually filled with red bean paste and egg yolks or nuts and seeds. The filling is thick and somewhat sweet. The pastries are always stamped with a beautiful design. Chinese desserts are never as sweet as American desserts. Given my American tastes, I find them to be surprisingly good. If you like Chinese desserts, try this Chinese Coconut Pudding recipe. It's also refined sugar free.

My sister can make the traditional pastry mooncakes, but they contain gluten, sugar, beans, eggs, and dairy. All the things I can’t eat. I recently fell down the rabbit hole that is Pinterest and discovered snowy mooncakes and jelly mooncakes, which are made with mochi and agar agar. I’ve never seen these in stores, so I was excited to give it a try using ingredients that I can tolerate.

What is a traditional mooncake flavor?

One of the most traditional flavors is the salted egg yolk. Yep, there’s a giant egg yolk in the center of the mooncake! For my American palate, it was a little shocking at first as I was expecting something much sweeter. But there are other popular flavors like red bean and nuts (it’s kind of like a pecan pie filling but less sweet). In recent years, snow skin mooncakes have become more popular. They are slightly sweeter and have a mochi exterior. Popular flavors include matcha and fruit. If you’d like to check out popular mooncake flavors here’s a great article.

What are some non-traditional flavors of mooncakes?

Chocolate, custard, ice cream and savory mooncakes are some unusual flavors that I’ve seen. Jelly mooncakes are still unusual but becoming more popular in the home. They are easy to make using agar agar and fruit.

What is agar agar?

Agar agar is very similar to gelatin. However, it’s suitable for vegans as it’s made from seaweed. And handles differently than gelatin. One of the major differences is that it firms up rather quickly and at room temperature. I’ve never seen agar agar at my local grocery store. I’ve only found it at stores like Whole Foods, Ranch 99 (or other Asian markets) and online. It’s still considered a specialty item to American grocery stores but it’s gaining in popularity.

You can’t use a traditional mooncake mold since this isn’t a pastry. It’s best to use a flexible mold to make removing the mooncake easy. I used this mold. Even though it’s not the traditional design, it still looks beautiful. It’s also made of food grade, bpa free plastic.

Why do we eat mooncakes?

Mooncakes are traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although they can be eaten other times of the year like around the Lunar New Year (here's a great New Year's recipe). However, it will be hard to find outside of these holidays.

The tradition of mooncakes came from ancient times where they were an offering to the moon. Round mooncakes are a reminder of the full moon during the fall. And a full moon and mooncakes have meaning in Chinese culture. Together they symbolize family and togetherness which is why families celebrate the mid-autumn festival together and share mooncakes. [Source]

All cultures that use the lunar calendar celebrate the mid-autumn festival. And while everyone has a different way of celebrating the holiday, it seems like family, togetherness and mooncakes are all important. [Source]

Ingredients

• Agar Agar Powder
• Honey
• Mango Puree: You’ll need about 2 mangoes.
• Coconut Milk: Coconut milk in a can that has no gums or additives are preferred. Such as this brand.

How to make Fruit Jelly Mooncakes

1. To make the filling, combine the agar agar powder, honey and mango into a small saucepan over medium low heat and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 1 minute.  Then set aside. Take care to stir often and turn down the heat if necessary. This will help prevent the sugars from burning.

2. Next, make the outer layer by combining the agar agar powder, honey and coconut milk in a saucepan, then stir to combine. Bring the coconut milk mixture to a boil over low heat and then let boil for at least a minute.

3. Immediately fill about 1/3 of the moon cake molds with the coconut milk.

4. Let the moon cake molds sit for about 5 minutes so that the coconut milk will cool and firm slightly. They should be firm enough that the mango doesn’t fall through the coconut milk. The coconut milk should be firm enough to create a barrier. The remaining coconut milk should be tacky and still warm. Don’t let it sit any longer, as the mixture will get firm fast and become impossible to pour. When the coconut mixture has cooled and firmed slightly, next you can add the mango filling. The coconut milk should be firm enough to create a barrier.

5. Stir the remaining coconut mixture to make sure that it’s still smooth and warm. You don’t want any lumps, or it won’t pour smoothly. Next spoon the coconut mixture over the mango filling in the moon cake molds. Make sure the coconut mixture fills in any open spaces. Let the moon cake mold sit at room temperature until they are no longer hot and then transfer them to the fridge to chill. They can be served at room temperature but prefer them chilled.

Tips to making the BEST recipe for jelly mooncakes

• Make sure to set aside a time where you won’t be interrupted. If you start pouring the coconut milk and then step away for what feel like only a few minutes, you may come back to a saucepan filled with solid coconut milk instead of liquid coconut milk. There’s no coming back from something like that.
• Since the agar agar firms up quickly, this process goes fast. I’d make sure to have all your ingredients ready to go.
• You’ll need a mold to create these mooncakes not a traditional mooncake stamp. The exact mold we used is no longer available however, these are a great substitute.
• You’ll need powdered agar for this recipe. Try this brand.

If you like this recipe, try these Asian desserts

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Helpful Info for All Recipes

• I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise.
• I always use Himalayan sea salt or Celtic sea salt, unless otherwise noted.
• The majority of my recipes are core AIP or include notations for modified AIP and reintroductions. However while I make every effort to label non-AIP ingredients and recipes sometimes they slip past me. If you have questions, check out this post regarding 'What is the AIP diet?' or ask in advance.

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