Making Moon Cakes

This was our first Moon Festival together as a family and I thought making moon cakes would be a fun afternoon activity with the girls who love to help me cook and make "dough". I also needed to make them for our FCC potluck which is on Saturday and our chairwoman let me borrow a mold to make them. The girls really loved helping and I read them a great moon festival book beforehand. It is also wonderful that it coincides with Sukkot, another harvest festival where you sit outdoors and look up at the sky. Perfect! And that also includes the amazing fall weather we've been having, too!

Here's the moon cake recipe I used. I typed the recipe as it was given to me and made notations as to what I did. Also, my forms were smaller so a single recipe would make 12 of those moon cakes. I doubled the recipe for the dough and made a single recipe of the filling, which was perfect and I still had filling left over. Moon cake molds can be purchased at the Wok Shop in San Francisco and online (http://www.wokshop.com/). The one I was given to use goes for $10.

Moon Cakes

Makes 6 cakes;   Recipe from "Favorite Dim Sum" by Lonnie Mock (book is out of print)

Dough:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Instant nonfat dry milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter or margarine

Filling: Mix together
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (I omitted since it was for an FCC event and in case anyone had nut allergies)
1 cup lotus nut paste or red bean paste (I used sweetened red bean paste)
2 Tablespoons softened butter

Mix:
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Grind dry milk in a blender or food processor to make the granules into a finer powder. Place flour, dry milk, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Beat egg with sugar until sugar is dissolved. Gradually add egg mixture and butter to the dry ingredients. Mix well with 2 knives or pastry blender to get a dry dough similar to pie dough. Roll out the dough to about 1/16" thickness. Cut a piece of dough large enough to line the bottom and sides of the moon cake mold (or a tart pan). Gently press into place. Spread and press filling over dough, leaving enough room at the top for a layer of crust. cut another piece of dough to cover the filling; gently press it into place. Remove excess dough and return it to the bowl. Firmly but gently press all over the cake to get a good impression and smooth surface (this will be the bottom) Holding the mold, cake facing down, in one hand, give it a whack against a hard edge (such as the table edge or the center divider of the sink), catching the cake with the other hand as it is released from the mold. Place cake on baking sheet. Repeat until all cakes are made. Brush tops and sides with yolk mixture. Bake at 350° in the center of the oven until the bottom is golden brown - 18-22 minutes. Turn heat dial to broil. Open oven door partially and watch until the cake tops turn brown (about 30 seconds or so). As soon as the tops have acquired the desired brown color, remove cakes from oven and transfer to racks to cool. Store container at room temperature or refrigerate or freeze for longer period. Moon cakes are rich; cut into slices before serving.

Variations: There is an endless variety of moon cakes. Cakes can be filled with lotus nut paste, red bean paste, any sweet filling having a somewhat thick consistency, or even a filling with chips of preserved meat.

My Notes: Flour the forms first! I rolled the dough into a ball and used my finger to press dough into forms and created a hole for the filling. I did roll out the dough for tops of moon cake (which really is the moon cake bottom).