Community Cookbook: Fulgurances Laundromat’s Mooncakes

Chef Scott Murry is in the middle of his residency at Fulgurances Laundromat (132 Franklin St.), a restaurant in Greenpoint known for decadent tasting menus and a rotating repertoire of chefs from all over the world. Chef Murry will be cooking at Fulgurances until November 16.

For this week’s addition to the Community Cookbook, Chef Murry has shared his recipe for Mooncakes. Learn how to make Chef Murry’s Mooncakes below and find last week’s recipe here.

Chef Murry’s Mooncakes

Mooncake Dough

Ingredients 

120 grams (about 1 cup) of mochiko flour

120 grams (about 1 cup) of rice flour

120 grams (about 3/4 cup) of cornstarch

100 grams (about 3/5 cups) of confectioners sugar

350 grams (slightly less than 1 1/2 cups) of milk

55 grams (1/4 cup) of cooking oil

3 vanilla beans, scraped

Directions

1. First, scrape 3 vanilla beans. Place the tip of a sharp knife in the center of the bean just below the curled top of the vanilla bean and slowly cut into the bean holding the top of the bean down, trying to only slice through the top of the bean and not puncturing through the bottom. Slice down the center until you reach the end of the bean. Pull apart the bean and run the knife blade side down from the curled top of the bean to the bottom of the bean scraping the vanilla bean caviar as you run the knife down the bean. (Save vanilla bean pods for the oolong tea custard recipe.)

2. Mix together the milk, oil, and scraped vanilla beans. 

3. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together and sift to make sure there are no lumps. 

4. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients making sure to fully mix it as you go. 

5. After everything has been fully incorporated, strain the mixture to make sure there are no lumps in the batter.

6. In a large pot with a heat proof riser at the bottom, bring 3 inches of water to a boil. 

7. Transfer the mochi batter into a heat proof bowl and place in the pot on top of the riser, allowing ample room for steam to rise around the bowl. 

8. Cover the top of the pot and allow the pot to steam and cook for about 25-35 minutes, or until the dough is completely cooked. (Every 10 minutes, fold the mochi batter on itself to help cook evenly. You will know the batter is fully cooked when there is a pleasant bounce and tender chew, but no raw rice flavor.)

9. Once it’s done cooking, allow it to cool with a damp towel on top of it. 

Oolong Tea Custard

Ingredients

45 grams (about 4 1/2 tablespoons) of cornstarch

160 grams (about 3/4 cup) of light brown sugar

6 large egg yolks 

450 grams (slightly over 1 3/4 cups) of milk

50 grams (about 1/4 cup) of butter

3 vanilla bean pods, (saved from the dough recipe)

8 grams (about 2 teaspoons) of oolong tea (or another aromatic black tea) 

5 grams (less than 1 teaspoon) of salt 

Directions

10. First, bring the milk to just below a boil, add in the oolong tea and scraped vanilla bean pods and turn off the heat. Allow the milk to steep for 15 minutes before continuing with the recipe. 

11. Mix the cornstarch with half the sugar and egg yolks, whisking vigorously to make sure it’s fully combined. 

12. Once milk has been properly steeped for 15 minutes, strain the milk and add in the other half of the sugar. 

13. Bring the milk to below 150 degrees F. Add this warm milk to the whisked cornstarch and egg mixture a little at a time while whisking vigorously. (This is called ‘tempering’ where we are raising the temperature of the eggs so that when it is added to the milk it will not scramble.)

14. Slowly add in the warm milk while whisking the egg yolk and cornstarch until it becomes a loose and thin mixture. Then return all the liquids together into the pot while whisking. 

15. Heat this combined warm oolong milk, cornstarch, and egg mixture on medium heat while using a flat bottom spatula to scrape the bottom of the pot, stirring constantly. Keep cooking and stirring until the mixture starts to bubble. 

16. Once the mixture has boiled for 1 full minute, take it off the heat and add the butter and stir to fully combine. 

17. Once combined, transfer to a bowl and cover with clingfilm, allowing the plastic to touch the custard so that it will not form a skin. 

Final Directions for Mooncakes

18. Roll about 50 grams of the mochi dough into a thin sheet.

19. Place about 35 grams of the oolong tea custard on the sheet of mochi dough and then wrap the mochi dough around and on top of it fully sealing the custard inside of the mochi dough. 

20. Press the mochi in the mooncake mold to seal the shape.