Saturday, October 03, 2009

~ MIA MAKES MOONCAKES ~

Tonight, people in Asia will celebrate the Autumn Moon Festival ~ on this night the moon appears bigger and brighter than any other time of the year! The Chinese celebrate by getting together with friends & family to share a meal, where they eat moon cakes, Rabbit-in-the-moon cookies and even bubble tea! They eat and enjoy gazing at the moon, looking for Chang Er or the Jade Rabbit - you can read the story here!

"The Moon Festival is also a time where folks wish on the moon to send messages to those who aren't able to be with them for whatever reason. If there is any time in the year that our children's birth parents might be thinking of them, this holiday is the one. So in our house, we use the Moon Festival to remember those who aren't with us right now, but who are a part of our families. We think of aunts, cousins, grandparents, special friends and birth family who are half a world away". . .


Since the moon cakes we bought at the oriental grocer where less than a hit last year - I've been collecting a few recipes and picked one I thought sounded good; and I was able to change the filling to something I thought the kids would enjoy a bit more (strawberry preserves with coconut and Mia and I put chocolate chips in the others!)








We rolled the dough into a log and separated it into 10 pieces

(the recipe called for 20 pcs, but I halved it!)


The preserves & coconut dropped in the middle


Then we pinch it together at the top and pat it down a bit




isn't it cute?!

I gave Mia her own piece of dough and she worked it!

I love the flour on her little nose :)

Hmmm, chocolatey chips!


The are the choc. chip ones, then we brushed on some egg wash

and I sprinkled on some sugar crystals - pretty!

Out of the oven, these are the ones with strawberry preserves,

which leaked a bit, AND for some reason Mia was calling them

Moon Cookies

I wonder why?!


Next year, I'll find a moon cake mold :)



Tonight, after our dinner of, Chinese Food, we will taste our cakes (the choc. chip ones burnt a bit on the top ! ) I also had daddy pick up moon pies (marshmallow pies) at the store...

just

in

case :)

MORE PICTURES TOMORROW :)
Autumn Moon Cakes
Crust:
4 c all purpose flour
3/4 c dried milk powder (whiz in Cuisinart to fine powder if lumpy)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 1/4 c sugar
3/4 c unsalted butter,
melted and cooled to room temp
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Filling: 1 12 oz jar apricot preserves I used strawberry!
1 c chopped pitted dates didn't use
1 c flaked sweetened coconut
3/4 c raisins didn't use
Glaze,
whisk together
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. water
1. Sift flour, milk powder, baking powder, salt, set aside. Break eggs in large mixing bowl, add sugar and beat until mixture "ribbons" off the beaters, approx. 5 mins. Add melted butter, vanilla and dry ingredients to egg mixture. Mix to rough dough, turn out on lightly floured surface and knead briefly to smooth dough. Form dough into long roll and cut into 20 pieces.
2. Mix ingredients for filling (I found that this filling was more than enough and used what was left over for muffins)3. Preheat to 375. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or use silpat or parchment. Press 1 dough piece into a 3-4 inch circle making edges thinner and center thicker. Spoon a portion of filling into the center, about a Tbsp. Gather up edges of dough to enclose filling and pinch edges together to seal. Roll cake in a ball, flatten to a 3 in. round and press into a lightly floured moon cake mold (or a simple round cookie cutter).You will need to refrigerate the dough and then refrigerate the formed cakes to hold any design from a moon cake mold. I used some decorative copper molds, but if the design isn’t deeply incised, it will not hold. This is the most time consuming part of the recipe - I don't preheat until I've made half the cakes.
4. Arrange cakes about 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Brush surface of cakes with egg/water glaze. You could also paint a design with red vegetable food coloring if you don’t over do the egg wash. Bake for 20 minutes ...maybe even 18 mins. until golden brown.
5. Variations – use chopped ginger to replace ¼ cup raisins and ginger puree to replace apricot preserves. Not traditional but really yummy and spicy.6. If you hate coconut, replace with nuts, finely chopped but not ground.

3 comments:

Faith, Hope, and Love said...

Great post! What fun!!! A moon pie mold sounds like a great idea. I can't wait to try that recipe next year. What a special tradition you and your Mia Hope have started.

I still can't believe how close your daughter's name is to my daughter's....by two letters. :)

I hope to prepare a little earlier next year...we still had fun though!

Blessings,
Robin

Faith, Hope, and Love said...

Great post! What fun!!! A moon pie mold sounds like a great idea. I can't wait to try that recipe next year. What a special tradition you and your Mia Hope have started.

I still can't believe how close your daughter's name is to my daughter's....by two letters. :)

I hope to prepare a little earlier next year...we still had fun though!

Blessings,
Robin

Barbara said...

Looks like Mia had a ball baking with Mommy! Really special times...thanks for sharing!