Recipe(tried): Variations on Chinese Mooncake

Mooncakes

Mooncakes are enjoyed during the Moon Festival. The traditional pastry has a flaky skin with a lotus seed paste and a whole egg yolk in the center (to symbolize the moon). However, lotus seed is very expensive so red bean paste is often substituted. The red bean paste is quite labor intensive taking several days to make, so typically these mooncakes are purchased at Asian markets and bakeries. Today, one can find many variations on the stuffing including nuts, fruits, sweet potatoes, and melon.

Here is a recipe for you to try made with a nut and fruit filling.Moon Cakes

pastry:

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
6-7 tablespoons cold water

filling:

1/2 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup coarsely chopped raisins
glaze
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Combine dates, marmalade, walnuts, coconut and raisins in medium bowl; set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and sugar.
Slowly beat in corn syrup and oil.

Add eggs, one at a time.

Add a little of the cold water, use just enough to hold dough together.

Roll out dough between two pieces of wax paper until 1/8" thick.

Carefully remove the top sheet of wax paper.
Cut out 4" rounds.

Place about 2 tablespoons of filling in the center of each round.

Gather the edges of dough, pinch together to seal in the filling.

Form pastry into a ball shape and place about 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet, seam side down.

Slightly flatten balls to flatten tops.

Make the glaze by whisking together the egg and milk.

Brush tops and sides of the pastry with the glaze.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden browned, don't overbake.

Let cool on cookie sheet 1 minute then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
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MOONCAKES

The Traditional Recipes350g fine white soft wheat flour from Hong Kong (sold in some Chinese provision stores) or good quality top flour

200 g Golden syrup

4 1/2 tbl vegetable oil

1/2 tbl alkaline crystal water (available from shops selling cake ingredients or from Chinatown

10 salted egg yolks

1 egg

1 1/2 kg lotus seed paste (called Ling Yong) 1. If you buy whole salted eggs, discard the whites and steam salted egg yolks for 3 minutes. Cool.

2. Sieve the flour onto a table. Make a well in the centre. Add the syrup, oil and alkaline water into the centre and slowly incorporate the flour into the mixture from the outside in.3. Mix till a soft dough is formed and knead well for 1 minute till the dough does not stick to your hands. Leave to rest for 15 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F).4. This dough will make 12 to 14 large mooncakes. Shape the dough into a roll and cut into 12 equal pieces.


5. In the meantime fill the mould with lotus seed paste - Remove it and weigh. Subtract the weight of a single portion of dough and the egg yolk and you will get the weight of the lotus seed paste that you need for each mooncake. Weigh the filling for each mooncake.


6. Enclose an egg yolk into a portion of lotus seed paste, shape into a ball. Flatten 1 portion of dough and place the lotus seed ball on the dough and then shape the dough around the ball.


7. Press the dough ball into a well floured mould and press it to fill the mould completely. Turn the mould over and hit it hard three times against the side of a table. On the third hit, the mooncake should pop out of the mould.


8. Put the mooncake on a well oiled baking tray. Sprinkle more flour into the mould and continue making till all the dough and filling is used up.


9. Brush some tap water onto the top of the mooncake. Bake in the centre of the oven for 5 minutes, remove, brush water once again over the top, bake a further 5 minutes before brushing beaten egg over the top. Bake 3 minutes.


10. Turn heat up to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F) and bake a further 20 minutes till the cakes are a deep golden brown.


11. Remove and cool overnight, turning the cakes upside down so that the oil from the lotus seed paste will seep to the top, making the pastry shiny. Turn the cakes back to the right side again. The cakes can be eaten on the second day.

LOTUS SEED PASTE

600 g dried lotus seed, washed and drained
450 g sugar
2 tbl Chinese treacle called Ma Ah Thong available at Chinese provision stores in Chinatown
2 1/2 to 3 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbl alkaline crystal solution 1. Put the lotus seeds in a large container, sprinkle 1 tbl alkaline water over the top and stir well to mix. Pour over enough boiling water to immerse the seeds and leave 1 hour.


2. Drain, knead the seeds to break them up. Wash seeds till clean, drain and add the remaining alkaline water. Mix well. Steam for about 1 hour till the seeds are very soft. Put into a food processor to make a fine paste.


3. Heat a wok (non stick will be ideal for beginners), add 4 tbl oil and half of the sugar. Cook till the sugar melts and caramelises into golden brown. Add mashed lotus seeds, REMAINING SUGAR and OIL and stir fry till sticky and thick. Add Chinese treacle and stir fry for a further 45 minutes till the mixture is very thick. Use a medium heat.


4. The paste should look shiny. Keep for 3 days before using. This can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 months.
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Chinese Moon cakes (home-style)

This simplified version of the traditional moon cake recipe is adapted from "Festive Food of China" by Deh-Ta Hsiung (Kyle Cathie Ltd., London, 1991).

4 cups flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening or lard
2/3 cup water (approximately)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 pound sweet red bean paste (available at Chinese markets)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease two baking sheets.

Put 1 1/2 cups flour into a bowl or food processor and cut in half the shortening. Knead till smooth. Set aside.

Cut the remaining shortening into the remaining 2 1/2 cups flour. Work in the water, then the sugar and salt. Knead till smooth. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a sausage and divide into 24 pieces. Roll each into a round ball and flatten into circles with a rolling pin.

Repeat with the flour-and-shortening-only dough, making slightly smaller circles. Place these on top of the larger circles and fold four edges of the bottom pastry over the top one to make a square. Roll out gently into a rectangle. Fold the two ends into the center to make a square again and then lightly roll out into a circle, fairly thin.

Divide the red bean paste into 24 pieces, rolling each into a ball and flattening slightly. Place one in the center of each pastry and pull the edges together to enclose the paste, brushing with water if necessary to stick. Press a design into the top, if you like.

Place on the baking sheets and bake 20 minutes, till golden. 24 cakes.