Traditional Moon Cake

Moon cake is traditionally made during Mid autumn festival in China. This is where it all started. The Chinese people would celebrate it by making lanterns and making moon cake and i think there is a story behind this celebration. Something about a lady in the moon. :)

Well here it goes!!

Ingredients

(1) 300 ml Golden syrup

7 tbsp peanut oil *

1tsp Alkaline water

2 tbsp flour

(2) 500g flour

Method

Mix (1) in in a small bowl and set a side overnight to rest.

Sift flour in to a bowl and make a well(can be done on the table) pour (1) in the well and knead till it all comes together.

Cover with a wet towel(plastic wrap) and rest 30 min. then divide the dough in to portion according to your mold size. ratio filling to dough 60%:40% or 3:2

Anyway i portion this 40g per portion and 6 portions of 26g.

The filling I didn't make this time around but i bought it in(saves time)

made 3 types of filling for this traditional moon cake

Filling (1)

1 can of red bean paste (510g each)

Sunflower seeds(toasted)

Filling(2)**

100g walnuts (toasted)

100g almond (toasted)

100g melon seeds

100 sunflower seeds

2 pcs candied mandarin orange (finely chopped)

100g candied winter melon strips( finely copped)

seasoning

50g caster sugar

6 tbsp groundnut oil*

3 tbsp sesame paste(tahini)

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbsp ice water

100 g roast glutinous rice flour

1 tsp brandy

1/4 tsp pepper

Filling (3)

2 cans lotus paste(510g each)

sunflower seeds(roasted)

Filling(1)

Place red bean paste in a stainless steel pot and cook it out for 15-20 min to get the excess moisture out, add seeds mix thru and set a side to cool. Once cooled portion to 40g each.

Filling (2)

combine all into a bowl and mix till it comes together portion in to 60g each

Filling (3)

Place lotus paste in a stainless steel pot and cook it out for 15-20 min to get the excess moisture out, add seeds mix thru and set a side to cool. Once cooled portion to 60g each.

Egg wash

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

50ml milk

To put it together

Roll out the dough in to a round shape place the filling in the middle (60g filling:40g skin, 40g filling: 26g skin) bring the skin up and seal the filling in. Place the moon cake in a flour dusted moon cake mold(if you just want to make it for your self and don't have the mould its ok, the main thing is the taste:D). knock it out and there you have your first moon cake. Repeat the process till finish. ( for the red bean paste filling i used a smaller mold). keep the moon cakes under a damp tea towel till your all done.

Glaze the moon cake with egg wash using a brush.

In a pre heated oven of 230C, place the moon cakes in the oven for 10 min and take it out to cool for a bit and re-glaze it again with egg wash and back in to the oven to bake for another 10 min. Then cool on a wire rack.

Best to be eaten a few days later. This is to allow the oils to come out to develop the flavors (lets say 2-3days would be best but minimum of 1 day)

* now days many people are intolerant to peanuts, normal vegetable oil would do. traditionally lard was used.

** 100g chinese bbq dried chicken cut finely, i didn't use this because it is hard to find it where i live. Just switch the pork to chicken breast. some recipes use the pork ones. :)