Make Your Own Mooncakes: Some of Beijing’s Best Kitchen All-Stars Put Their Own Spin on the Divisive Mid-Autumn Festival treat

Make Your Own Mooncakes: Beijing’s Kitchen All-Stars Put Their Spin on the Divisive Mid-Autumn Treat

Kyle Mullin | Sep 14, 2016 4:00 pm | Add a comment | 2956 reads

Ahh, mooncakes: the chewy, Mid-Autumn Festival pastries beloved by the Chinese. Unfortunately, many foreigners are averse to the typical bean paste, green tea, or sometimes meaty fillings of these time-honored treats. But fear not! Some of Beijing’s best kitchen all-stars are here to show you how to make mooncakes for a range of palates.

A SWEET TREAT

Who: Jonathan Ellis of Big Bear Baked Goods
His Take on Mooncakes: The “Moonkie”
Why You Have to Try This Recipe: Ellis says: “Being a cookie aficionado, I have decided to attempt to amalgamate (Western sweets and Chinese mooncakes) into a kind of Cookie Mooncake or a Moonkie!”

Component A: Ingredients for the surface (a thin layer of cake dough with chocolate chips):
100g all-purpose flour (sifted)
28g vegetable oil
60g golden syrup
1/2 tsp alkaline water (add 1/8 Tsp (600 mg) baking soda to 8 oz. (0.237 liters) water)

Steps:
1. Mix the alkaline water mixture with the vegetable oil and golden syrup for 3 minutes or until you get an even thick paste.
2. Mix in half of the sifted flour a spoonful at a time.
3. Once you’ve mixed in half, fold in the other half with a spatula.
4. Once the mixture is even, transfer to wax paper or cling wrap and roll out until about 1/10 of an inch thick.
5. Cover with cling wrap and store in the refrigerator for 40 minutes.

Component B: Ingredients for the filler (a mixture of peanut butter, spices, and sugar):
100g peanut butter
10g oil (vegetable)
30g brown sugar
10g golden syrup (or maple syrup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt 80g flour

Steps:
1. Mix everything together except the flour.
2. Once the mixture is smooth, add in flour until thick and holds its own shape well.

Component C:

Steps:
1. Roll the filler into golf ball sized balls (the mixture should yield 3-4 balls).
2. Place a piece of dark chocolate (Dove dark chocolate bars are a good reference for the size) in the middle and press firmly, having the filler engulf the chocolate completely.
3. Remove the refrigerated dough and roll it out a bit thinner than you found it (4-6 rolls should be sufficient).
4. Divide into however many pieces you want to wrap around the filler balls that you’ve made, and wrap them around.
5. Get another piece of dark chocolate and, with a knife, shave some off and sprinkle on the surface to make a chocolate chip dough.
6. At this point you can shape it with a press or cookie cutter, or whatever design or shape you want.
7. Make an egg wash by beating one egg and a tsp of water together, and using a brush or paper towel to dab on the top and sides of the moon cake.
8. Bake at 180 C for 10-14 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for 15 minutes and enjoy.

Quantity: Good for three medium sized mooncakes

THE MEATY VARIETY

Who: Micku Murgolo of The Meatball Company
Her Take on Mooncakes: Meaty new-school mooncakes
Why You Have to Try This Recipe: Since opening The Meatball Company in Gulou in the spring of 2015, this fledging restaurateur has served up one delicious protein rife dish after the next. We’re excited that she’s kept the ball rolling (pardon the pun) by innovating a pastry for this recipe.

Component A: Ingredients for the filling:
1/2 kilo of ground meat (use a mixture of Australian beef and fat for extra juiciness)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1-2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp sugar 1-2 green onion or scallion finely chopped 2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp minced ginger Black pepper or chili flakes to taste (optional)

Component B: Ingredients for the pastry dough:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup lard or Crisco shortening Egg wash and sesame seeds (optional)

Steps:
1. In a large bowl, mix and combine all the ingredients for the meatball filling. Cover and refrigerate while you work on the dough.
2. For the pastry dough: combine all ingredients and knead until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 mins.
3. Divide dough into roughly 1-inch pieces, then roll into balls. With a rolling pin, flatten balls into round disks. Add 1 tbsp of meatball mix to the center of the disk, then seal tightly using a similar technique as closing a dumping.
4. Place all mooncakes on a lined baking sheet seam-side down.
5. Optional: brush all mooncakes with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
6. Bake at 180 C for about 10 mins on each side (do not use the top rack).

Quantity: 20 small mooncakes

THE TRADITIONAL ROUTE

Who: Shuqiang “Mike” Lu of Cookie Mama Bakery
His Take on Mooncakes: Cantonese-style mooncakes
Why You Have to Try This Recipe: Lu loves this recipe because it’s not too sweet, meaning you can feel less guilty about eating more.

Mooncake filling:
270g red beans
20g pastry flour
240g sugar
120g peanut oil

Pastry dough:
100g corn oil
250g golden syrup
6g baking soda
390g pastry flour
1 salted duck egg yolk per mooncake

Steps: For the dough:
1. Pour the golden syrup and water into a container with water, and mix well.
2. Pour in the corn oil, and mix well.
3. Sift the pastry flour and add it to the container, and mix well.
4. Knead the dough until it does not stick to your hands.

For the filling:
1. Put the red beans into water overnight.
2. Place the water and red beans into a pressure cooker at a ratio of 3:1. Cook for 50 minutes.
3. Take out the beans and let them cool. Then put the cooked beans into a blender, and finely blend them.
4. Bake the flour in an oven at 150 C for 45 minutes.
5. Put the bean paste into a pot and and leave on the stove at low heat for 45 minutes. Put in sugar and peanut oil, then add them to the baked flour.
6. Stuff the filling into the mooncake, using about 30g of dough and 40g of filling for each mooncake.
7. Lu recommends using a mooncake mould to shape the dough in a traditional fashion (which can be found on Taobao by typing in 月饼模具).
8. Egg wash the mooncakes and bake them at 230 C for 8-10 mins. Quantity: Good for 20 mooncakes, approximately 60-70g each

This article first appeared in the September/October issue of our magazine. Read the rest of the issue here.

More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle
WeChat: 13263495040

Photos:Uni, Courtesy of Micku Murgolo, Courtesy of Shuqiang Lu