Moon cakes are the traditional treat passed around during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. They are also one of my favorite pastries. Matt got me a moon cake mold a couple of years ago, and I've made several batches. This recipe is the best yet. I like red bean paste filling, but I'm particularly fond of sweet red bean stuff. You can use other sweet fillings too. When I was in Beijing, my European friends took a couple of months to realize that the brownish stuff oozing out of the pastries in the window was bean paste and not chocolate. This was a serious disappointment for them, but not for me.
Forming the cake without mangling it is tricky.
Moon Cakes
- 2/3 cup corn syrup or simple syrup
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 2 3/4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1/2 can black or red sweet bean paste
- 1 egg
- Mix the first 4 ingredients together to form a soft dough. Divide into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Flatten each ball into a circle using plenty of flour to keep it from sticking.
- Place a tablespoon of into each dough circle and gently place into the moon cake mold. Close the dough over the filling and whack the mold to get the cake out.
- Bake cakes for 15 minutes at 350F.
- Brush with an egg wash made from one beaten egg with 1 Tbsp water and bake another 15 minutes until golden.
Wow, so awesome! Homemade moon cakes sound very challenging. :)
ReplyDeleteYou should make some with chocolate. :-)
ReplyDeleteI feel like if I'm going to make something with chocolate, I should be more serious about it. Like this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.breadsandthreads.com/2010/08/most-ridiculous-cake-youve-ever-seen.html