Make these Honey Fruit Tea Agar-agar Jelly Mooncake this Mid Autumn Festival! They are so easy to make and healthier than classic mooncakes. The combination of flavours are similar to Honey Lemon Tea and it goes very well with fruits.
Healthier Version – You can make a healthy version by reducing sugar or you can also replace the sugar with honey.
Mooncake is a traditionally eaten during Mid Autumn Festival. Classic mooncake is baked with pastry skin and filled with lotus paste or red bean paste. Making these classic pastry type mooncake can be quite time consuming. So in recently years, jelly mooncake has become a popular trend.
Flavour inspiration from @Little Duck’s Kitchen
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Agar-agar?
Agar-agar is extracted from seaweed and is plant-based. It works like gelatin and is often used to make jelly, especially in Asia. Being plant based, it has become very popular amongst vegetarians or vegans as a substitute for gelatin. It is odorless and does not contribute much taste to the jelly, perhaps just a slight hint of fragrance.
Agar-agar comes in powder form or strips. You can substitute agar-agar powder with agar-agar strips if preferred.
My jelly texture is too soft/firm, can I change the texture?
Yes, you can. The texture of the jelly is based on the ratio of water/liquid to agar-agar powder. So if you prefer softer texture, reduce the jelly powder or vice versa.
Why does my jelly not set?
Not enough agar-agar powder used. Different brand of jelly powder have different liquid to agar-agar powder ratio. Generally the ratio is 1g powder = 100ml liquid but may differ from brand to brand.
Agar-agar starts to activate its gelling properties when the liquid is heated above 80-90°C. So it is necessary to make sure the liquid is cooked until it is boiling. Then leave to cool to room temperature. It will start to solidify below 40°C.
What is the texture of agar-agar?
Agar-agar texture is more stiff compared to gelatin. Hence it is not so jiggly and springy.
Why did you add Konnyaku Jelly Powder?
Konnyaku Jelly Powder makes the jelly more springy. Also as agar-agar tend to release water after unmoulding, Konnyaku Jelly Powder helps to retain water thus the jelly will release less
water after unmoulding. If you don’t have konnyaku powder, you can replace with agar powder
Troubleshooting – My jelly did not set, what can I do about it?
Step 1 – If it is your first time trying the recipe there is a test you can do. Before pouring into the mold, just scoop up a small portion of the liquid into a small saucer. Place it into the fridge to set. It should take about less than 5 minutes. Check the texture of the jelly. If you are happy with it, the proceed to pour into the mold. If it did not set, add more jelly powder (before adding the powder, dilute it in some room temperature water first), pour into the existing jelly liquid and heat up the liquid again. Redo the test and once you are happy with the texture, pour into the mould
Vice versa, if you find the texture of the jelly is too stiff/hard, add more water into the existing jelly liquid and heat up the liquid again. Redo the test and once you are happy with the texture, pour into the mould
Step 2 – If you have already poured into the mold and eventually find out that it did not set. Don’t throw it away! You can always fix it. Just simply place the liquid into a pot, add jelly powder, mix well and reheat again. Then repeat the above step 1 to test the jelly.
Honey Fruit Tea Agar-agar Jelly | 水果茶燕菜果冻月饼
Ingredients
- 5 grams agar-agar powder 燕菜粉 5克
- 1 gram konnyaku powder 水晶蒟蒻果冻粉 1克
- 600 ml water, room temperature 水，室温度 600毫升
- 70-90 grams sugar 糖，70-90克
- 1 teabag 茶包 1包
- 1 tablespoon honey 蜂蜜 1汤匙
- Few drops lemon 几滴柠檬
Tools
Instructions
- Oil the jelly mould. Set aside.
- Prepare fruits, cut into desired shape and sizes.
- In a bowl, add sugar, agar powder and konnyaku powder. Mix well so that there will be no lumps when you cook it.
- In a pot, add in water, then the mixed sugar and jelly powder. Mix well. Place on the stove and cook on low heat until it boils. Stir often while the cooking to avoid lumps from forming.
- When the mixture boils, off the stove. Add tea bag, honey and lemon. Gently mix until the tea flavour steep into the jelly mixture. Once you are happy with the strength of the tea flavour, remove the tea bag.
- Pour the jelly mixture into the moulds up to 2/3 height. Keep the remaining liquid hot by placing it on the stove. Switch on lowest heat to keep it hot.
- Add in the fruits. Fill up the remaining mould with jelly mixture if necessary.
- Fill up other moulds with leftover fruits and jelly mixture.
- Place in the fridge to chill for 2 hours. Remove from mould and serve. To remove from mould, gently press the sides and top of the mould.
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