Mia's Review: Crystal Jade & My Bread Mini Snowskins & Konnyaku Mooncakes

Yes, the Mooncake Festival (AKA Lantern Festival) is literally around the corner. 

And this year, I do have a couple of bakeries to go through, hence doing a 2 part mooncake review for 2014! 

Just from Crystal Jade, I have 2 boxes to savour this year. 

Assorted Mini Snowskin Mooncake - $42

Flavours include: Red Bean Paste with Cashew Nut, Almond Paste with Almond Flake, Cranberry Paste with Red Wine, Red Date Paste with Dried Longan & Pine Nut.

And I love the Cranberry Paste with Red Wine one most. 

And nope, it's not entirely because it's pink. 

While the others are really just delectably sweet (I can't say for the Almonds because I dislike almond paste and hence I didn't even try any), this pink cutie has successfully combined the sweeten, tangy flavour of cranberry with the distinctive earthy, solid and slightly tannic-bitter fragrance of red wine. I have no idea why, but the snowskin of this pink cutie, albeit more on the thicker side, is also the softest of the lot, perhaps due to the fact that its filling is more moist and gooey as compared to the rest. 

This is definitely something worth trying from the mid-market snowskin range, for individuals, like me, who used to shun from snowskins due to the overpowering sweetness and thick skin of play dough consistency. 

Another point to note is that, these snowskin doesn't really harden up badly in the fridge. Our family (my mother) doesn't really ship snowskins mainly because they harden up considerably while stored in the cooler and need to be thawed before consumption. But for Crystal Jade's minis, it's just a grab, cut, eat in matters of 10 seconds. 

Well, you can shorten it to 5 or even 3 seconds if you don't need to halve them. 

Floral Effulgence (Floral Tea Konnyaku Mooncakes) - $22

There are 5 flavours available: Roselle & Hawthorn, Chrysanthemum Honey, Osmanthus & Plum, Rose & Red Date, Snow Lotus. 

And while I was at My Bread, they ran out of Rose & Red Date, so naturally I got the other 4 flavours in my assorted box. 

Clockwise from top left: Roselle & Hawthorn, Chrysanthemum Honey, Snow Lotus, Osmanthus & Plum. 

Frankly speaking, I was totally drooling (and lusting) for the Osmanthus & Plum, with the idea of the light and sweet taste of all those osmanthus cake/jelly I've tried before at different dim sum places. 

But this was kind of disappointing. The fragrant, refreshing sweetness of osmanthus was hardly tasted, if any at all, for it was totally overpowered by the salty-tangy taste of plum. The taste of those preserved plums bits scattered among the konnyaku was so strong and distinctive, that it might be better to just call this Preserved Plum instead. 

There's nothing unpleasant about the taste, but I was just sorely disappointed with the serious lacking of Osmanthus fragrance. 

And so, what emerged as the most delectable of the 4 turned out to be Roselle & Hawthorn, It has to be this, for the flavours of both Roselle & Hawthorn was exceptionally well combined to have both pretty strong flavours to complement each other pretty well. The tangy flavour of the roselle will first greet you before the distinctive sweetness of the hawthorn washes over. 

The other two flavours were pretty decent, going by the safe route of a 'sweeten jelly' taste. 

Even though these aren't truly mooncakes at all, but really just konnyaku made in mooncake moulds, I believe that this Floral Effulgence range will be pretty popular among the ladies (like me!) who wishes to escape from the high calories of the fattening mooncakes and yet, still felt that the yearly Mooncake Festival will be incomplete without biting into some mooncakes. 

This shall be your perfect cheat. :) 

For more information on availability and card promotions, visit their website HERE

Do stay tune for part 2 on Baker's Well Mini Snowskins, Thye Moh Chan Teochew mooncakes and Tai Chong Kok baked skins. 

Till then,

Mia Foo