Moon cakes, shaped like the full moon, are traditional Chinese snacks for the Mid-autumn Festival, which takes place on the fifteenth day of the eighth Chinese lunar month (near the beginning of October), when the moon looks the brightest. On that evening, Chinese families will customarily get together and eat moon cakes, along with fruit and wine. As they enjoy the beauty of the full moon, they commemorate the Moon Goddess, Chang’e. The significance of this festival is comparable to the American Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

1.5 pound flour

6.5 ounce butter

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

6.5 tablespoon peanut oil

2 ounce peanut kernel

5 ounce sesame seeds

1 egg, beaten

1 ounce salt and pepper powder mixture

Directions:

Dough:

1. Cut 6 ounce butter into 0.5 pound flour to make “buttered dough”. Divide into 10 portions.

2. Melt 0.5 ounce butter and add 1/2 cup water. Stir in another 0.5 pound flour to make “water-oil dough.” Divide into 10 portions.

Stuffing:

1. Steam last 0.5 pound flour 15 minutes and let cool in a bowl. It should look slightly darker, with a rough texture, and be slightly hardened, but the lumps should be easy to break.

2. Add sugar, peanut oil, peanut kernel, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper powder to the steamed flour and mix evenly. Divide the stuffing into 10 portions.

Make the moon cakes:

1. Flatten each piece of water-oil dough into a circle, forming a “wrapper”.

2. Wrap a piece of buttered dough in each water-oil dough circle and then flatten again into a new circle (wrapper).

3. Distribute the stuffing among the wrappers and press each into a floured pattern mold, 3 or 4 inches in diameter, to make a cake.

4. Brush the cakes with the beaten egg. Bake at 180°C for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned. Halfway through baking, turn the cakes over and brush the other side with the egg.

Let cool before serving.

Tips: You may add various kernel or dried fruit into stuffing of moon cake.