Crab Shell Pastry (Xie Ke Huang)
Crispy golden crust with a soft red bean filling. This beloved Jiangnan tea snack gets its name from its crab-shell-like appearance.
Ingredients
9 items- All-purpose flour (for water dough) 200 g
- Lard (for water dough) 70 g
- Icing sugar (for water dough) 15 g
- Water (for water dough) 90 g
- Cake flour (for oil dough) 150 g
- Lard (for oil dough) 75 g
- Red bean paste filling 300 g
- Egg yolk (for glazing) 1
- White sesame seeds 30 g
Nutrition
Steps （7 steps）
Sift the all-purpose flour and icing sugar into a bowl. Add lard and water, knead for about 10 minutes until smooth. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
Mix the cake flour with lard, rub with palms to form a uniform oil dough. Cover and set aside.
Divide the water dough and oil dough each into 12 portions. Flatten a water dough piece, wrap an oil dough portion, and seal tightly.
Roll each ball into a 15 cm long tongue shape, roll up tightly from the top, cover, rest 15 minutes. Repeat the rolling once more.
Take a rolled piece, fold both ends toward the center, flatten, roll into an 8 cm round. Wrap 25 g red bean paste, seal well and place seam-side down.
Slightly flatten each bun, brush with beaten egg yolk, coat generously with white sesame seeds. Arrange on a lined baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 20-25 minutes until golden and flaky. Let cool on a rack before serving.
Tips
The water dough and oil dough should have similar softness to avoid cracking during rolling. Do not skip rest periods, or the dough will shrink back.
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