Lotus Flower Pastry, or "Hua Sheng Su," is a breathtaking and delicately flavored dessert from Chinese cuisine. Shaped like a lotus flower, this pastry features flaky layers that bloom during frying, evoking the beauty of a lotus in full bloom.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword puff pastry, lotus flower pastry
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Servings 10
Ingredients
Coconut Filling
1eggyolk
3/4cupsweetened shredded coconut
4tspunsalted butter
Dough # One
Fewdropspink food coloring
2tbsp water
3/4cup cake flour
1tbsp sugar
2tbsplard
Dough #Two
1/2cupcake flour
3tbsplard
Vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
Coconut Filling
Combine sweetened shredded coconut, egg yolk, and butter in a bowl.
Divide the filling into ten equal portions, and roll it into balls.
Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until the other two pastry dough's are ready.
Dough # One
Color the water with a few drops of food coloring.
Combine flour, sugar, lard, and colored water and knead until the dough is soft.
Roll them into ten equal-sized balls.
Rest for 20 minutes, covered to avoid drying.
Dough # Two
Combine flour and lard in a bowl.
Knead until the dough is soft.
Roll the dough into 10 equal-sized balls.
Flower Petals
Roll pastry dough # 1 with a rolling pin or flat with your hands.
Take pastry dough# one cover with it pastry dough #two completely, and roll it into a smooth ball.
Take one ball out and press it down with the palm of your hand to squeeze it, then roll the dough out into an oval shape and do a three-fold.
Repeat the same with all the dough balls.
Rest for 15 minutes.
Repeat the same process again with all the dough balls roll and a three-sided folding again.
Rest the dough for another 15 minutes, covered.
Flowers
Roll the folded dough into a round shape.
Take the coconut filling and wrap it with the rolled dough.
Take a sharp knife and make petals by making equal incisions, making the center deep and leaving 1cm at the bottom sides.
Lightly press the top portion to give a complete flower shape.
Heat the vegetable oil over low to medium heat. ( 120°-140°C )
Check the temperature of the oil with the thermometer or dip a wooden chopstick and see the bubbles coming when the oil is ready with the right temperature.
Use a chopstick to wave slightly so the petals can slowly unfold during the frying process.
When the pastries are cooked they will start to float to the surface.
Use a colander to take the fried pastries out.
After pastries cool down, the petals will become very crisp.