Mooncake 月饼

Hello Everyone! 中秋快乐! Today is the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival, or the Mooncake Festival, 中秋节. I've decided to post today, because of the special holiday. Every year for the Mid Autumn Festival, we all eat mooncake. It's a tradition. Mooncakes are delicious, but are a rare treat unless you make them yourselves. Chinese stores usually only sell them during the Mid Autumn Festival season, making them a rare treat. However, there are bakeries that probably sell them year round. There are so many different types of mooncakes, with different fillings, and different types of crust, including the regular baked crust or the snow skin mooncake. I personally like the regular baked crust better. I really like the lotus seed filling and red bean filling, without the yolk. Others like the yolk, but I don't. There are also other fillings like green tea, winter melon, and nuts, but I don't care for those. My favorites are lotus seed  (or white lotus seed) and red bean. So, here's a recipe for mooncakes. Enjoy. :) 


Ingredients: 

Dough: 

A

• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2    cup powdered milk
• 1/2    tablespoon baking powder   

B

• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4  cup melted butter 

Filling

• 4 cups Lotus Seed Paste or Red Bean Paste 
• 20 salted egg yolks (optional, if you like egg yolks in mooncakes. I don't). 

Directions: 

1. If you are using egg yolks, preheat the oven to 350 F and bake them for 10 minutes. Divide the red bean into 20 portions, and add 1 yolk to 1 portion of red bean. Roll it into a ball until the red bean covers the yolk. 
2. In a bowl, sift together A. 
3. In another bowl, mix together the B. Slowly add the A to the B and lightly mix. Divide the dough into 20 pieces. 
4. Preheat the oven to 400 F. 
5. Roll a piece of dough into a ball and flatten it to form a 4 in circle. Put one piece of the filling in the center and wrap the dough to enclose the filling. Pinch the edges to seal them and roll it into a ball. If you have a mooncake mold, place it in and then gently tap it out. If not, then, you can use a cookie cutter to make the mooncake into a circle or any shape. 
6. Do this with the rest of the dough and filling, Then, if you want to, brush the top of the mooncakes with egg yolk. 
7. Bake them for 30 minutes. 
8. Take them out and enjoy.