葵花酥(Kuihua Su)is one of my favorite traditional chinese shortcrust pastry and it is easy to make. Because it looks nice, usually, we eat it during the festivals.
葵花(Kuihua: Sunflower) 酥(Su: Shortcrust pastry / pastries)
Let me share with you the recipe!
To make it pastry, we need special dough2 (You Su) which is made from flour and butter / pork fat only.
*when we mention pork in Europe, many people refuse touching it, even not mention pork fat. People think it is unhealthy. Actually, pork fat is quiet popular in China, it makes dish more delicious and it is healthy (of course, we cannot use it as normal oil, just a little bit (20g/day) is enough). It contains vitamin A, vitamin D, less fat than butter and it helps on body moistening, detoxification and so on. After eating the dishes with pork fat, please drink black tea to reduce the fat from body.
The recipe below is for 12 Sunflower shortcrust.
Dough1
- all purpose flour 90g （中粉）
- butter / pork fat 40g （黄油/猪油）
- water 40g （水）
- powder sugar 20 （糖粉）
Dough2 (You Su) （酥油皮）
- all purpose flour 90g （中粉）
- butter / pork fat 45g （黄油/猪油）
Filling （馅）
Red bean 180g （红豆馅）
*it is easy to get from any Asia shop.
Decoration
- black sesame (for Stamens)
- one Egg yellow
Process:
Step1: mix all four materials from dough 1, knead dough for 3-5min, make it to round and keep it in the folio for 40 mins.
Step2: mix flour & butter, knead dough 2 as step 1 and keep in folio for 40mins as well.
Step3: After 40 mins, separate dough 1 and dough 2 to 12 pieces. (each of them into 12 pieces, total 24 pieces).
Step 4: grap a piece of dough 1->make it to a ball -> press it to flat and enlarge it. Put a piece of dough 2 in the middle of dough 1 and wrap it to a ball, then press it to flat slowly to dough12. Usually, we can use rolling pin, but for me, hands are better than rolling pin. they are warm to make dough 2 soft. If the dough is too sticky, please use some oil on both the mat and hands.
Step5: separate red bean into 12 pieces as well. Grape one of them to the middle of the dough12, warp it, make it to a ball and flat it again and enlarge it slowly.
Step 6: cut the border with scissors to 6 pieces, and carve each piece with knife. Then pinch each of them to the petal.
Step 7: dig some egg yellow in the middle of ‘flower’ and put 3-4 sesame on top of it. Then one ‘sunflower’ has been done. Please re-peat the same steps to finish all 12 flowers.
Step 8: set oven to 170°C, preheating for 3 mins, then bake all flowers for 20 mins.
Step 9: Enjoy it.
Marsha Studio 