Lotus Seed Paste

I browsed a good half dozen sites on how to make lotus seed paste and tried to adapt a balance between convenience and tastiness. As much as I would love to have "traditional" or "most flavorful", a complex recipe usually means it never gets made, and I like my lotus seed-flavor way too much to miss out on a chance of having it in homemade mooncakes.

• 12 oz dried lotus seeds
• for a softer paste: 1/4 cup neutral oil, such as vegetable or canola
• for a stiffer paste (such as for mooncakes filling): 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 to 3/4 cups sugar

1. Rinse lotus seeds and soak in a bowl of water until softened, at least 4 hours or overnight.
2. Split each seed in half and remove the small bitter sprout/germ in the center. (Note: Some dried seed packets will have already done this for you - the ones I got had been pretty thorough. There had been only a handful of seeds in which I found the germ still inside. I went through all of the seeds for the sake of thoroughness, but it's not clear to me that the few that still remained would have made that much difference.)
3. In a large pot on the stove, cover lotus seeds completely with water and bring to a boil. Then lower heat to a simmer until tender, adding water if necessary to keep seeds covered (about 1.5 hours).
4. Reserve 1 cup of the lotus-seed cooking water. Drain the seeds and set aside to cool (if you wish to speed up the process, put the pot they're in into an ice bath). Transfer seeds to a food processor or blender. Process to a smooth paste (adding a splash of the reserved lotus-seed cooking water when necessary). Optionally, for a finer texture, press the paste through a fine sieve.
5. In a non-stick pan, combine lotus-seed paste and oil and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until oil is incorporated. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar and stir until incorporated. Taste, and add more sugar if you wish, one tablespoon at a time. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Note: For using in mooncakes, the paste has to be dry enough that it can more or less retain its shape when it is cooled, or else it will become a mess when you try to mold the cake around it. Continue to stir and let the heat dry out the paste for an additional five minutes on the stove. Also, I find that the paste should be made slightly sweeter than I prefer in order to compensate for the neutral flavor of the cake portion.