Dubai Chocolate Mooncake
This Dubai Chocolate Mooncake is a gorgeous No Bake chocolate moonie, filled with delicious pistachio kunafa. Crisp, crunchy and oh-so chocolatey.
Ingredients
Mooncake filling
- 100 g kunafa pastry
- 1/2 cup pistachio cream
Chocolate Mooncake Dough
- 150 g dark biscuit (no cream)
- 70 ml milk
Equipment
- 25 g round hand plunger mould
- 30 g square hand plunger mould
Instructions
Mooncake Filling
- Cut 100g frozen kunafa pastry into 1-inch strips. Transfer to a lined baking tin and separate the strands until they are light and fluffy and not clumpy. Lightly toast the kunafa pastry in the oven for 10-15min @ 160C until golden brown.
- Halfway through baking, remove from the oven and using a spoon, separate and mix the strands for a more even bake. Return to the oven @160C and toast till golden. Cool completely.
- Once the kunafa pastry is cooled, mix in 1/2 cup pistachio cream and combine well into a creamy moldable filling. Measure and divide the kunafa filling into 12-13g portions and roll into a ball. This recipe makes ~14 portions. Freeze for an hour or more for the filling balls to be frozen and easy to handle for assembly.
Chocolate Mooncake Dough
- Place 150g black biscuits in the blender and blitz until fine crumbs. Add 70ml milk into the oreo crumbs and pulse till it comes together as a smooth dough (See Note #1).
- Remove the dough unto parchment and round it into a ball (*no kneading required*). Wrap with the parchment and chill for 30min to let the dough firm up.
Assembly
- Whilst the kunafa filling is freezing, divide the chocolate dough skin into 14 equal portions (~15g each) and roll into balls. Once the kunafa filling balls are frozen hard, you can start assembling.
- Roll or press out the mooncake dough skin into an ~ 3cm round. Place in the kunafa filling and gently wrap the mooncake skin around and seal well. Once sealed, gently roll into a smooth round ball.
- Place the mooncake mould over the filled dough ball and press firmly (I like to use 3 firm taps) to shape the mooncake. Gently push and lift the mooncake plunger to release the moulded mooncake onto the work surface or into your hand. Repeat with the other filled dough balls. (Note: After a couple of plunges, small dough bits may get stuck in the crevices of the mould. Where required, clean out the stuck dough bits to get pristine and beautiful lines on your mooncake.
- *Optional: Once moulded, for a glam effect, gently brush on some gold or sliver edible dust to bring out the beautiful designs of the mooncakes.
- Transfer your beautiful Dubai Chocolate Mooncakes into an air tight container and chill in the fridge for an hour. Enjoy.
Notes
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#1 Chocolate mooncake skin
All are equal but some are more equal than others. If you are using Oreo black biscuits with cream that has been bought quite a while back, be aware that they could have absorbed moisture from the air, the cream (especially in humid environment) and may be soft and not crisp anymore.
Using such softened oreos may require less liquid to form the dough skin. In this case, I would recommend to ADD THE MILK GRADUALLY and stop once the mooncake dough forms and is nice and malleable.
This was my experience trouble-shooting with a good friend who made my Ridiculously Easy Oreo Mooncake which uses the same mooncake dough. Hers could not form and was too liquidy with the recipe’s 100ml milk. To save the dough, in the end we added more oreo crumbs to balance out the liquid and she still got a delicious dough skin and made her mooncake in time for Mid Autumn 🙏🏻😊
One way to avoid this problem? Taste your oreo cookies before using .. if they taste soft and not crisp, chuck them and buy fresh ones!
#2 Kunafa filling
The kunafa filling (once measured and rolled into balls) must always be frozen before moulding. I tried to assemble the mooncake when the filling was only chilled firm (and not frozen) and it was a FAIL!
When we handle the mooncake, heat from our hands (even if you wore gloves) will soften the mooncake dough making it difficult to seal the filled dough ball if the filling is also softened, too malleable and loses its shape easily.
Hence, always assemble this Dubai Chocolate Mooncake with frozen kunafa filling.
#3 Making the mooncake
I used a 25g round hand plunger and a 30g square hand plunger to make this Dubai Chocolate Mooncake.
When using moulds of different sizes, I would broadly apply the 50/50 rule – which is half mooncake skin and half filling. In this case, my overall mooncake mass was ~28g (in between my two mould sizes) consisting of 13g filling and 15g chocolate dough.
#4 How to get clean sharp edges
For clean pristine sharp edges, I like to clean out the mooncake mould after a couple of plunges as small dough bits may get stuck in the crevices of the plunger
These remnant pieces if they remain, will affect the moulding of the next mooncake therefore take a minute to remove them. This little effort will give you success in getting those nice pristine sharp edges and a beautiful mooncake.
#5 Make Ahead
I usually make the kunafa filling, measure and shape into balls one day ahead as they need to be frozen hard for moulding. On the day of gifting or consumption, I simply whip up the mooncake skin, assemble the mooncake and gift them freshly made to family and friends.
#6 Storage
This Dubai Chocolate Mooncake is best consumed within 2-3 days and stores well air-tight and chilled in the fridge. When serving, let the mooncake sit out at room temperature for a couple of minutes before serving and it should be nicely firm and perfectly creamy!