Moon Cake Recipe

I have had a couple of requests for the recipe that I used to make moon cakes. I got my recipe from the book "Moonbeams, Dumplings, and Dragon Boats". It is a great children's book that explains the stories behind some of the major Chinese holidays. I did modify the recipe a bit and used just peach and apricot preserves for my filling. Anyways, here is the recipe...

Five-Treasure Moon Cakes

Crust:

4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup dried milk powder

1 Tbs baking powder

1tsp salt

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling:

1 12-ounce jar apricot preserves

1 cup chopped pitted dates

1 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1/4 cup raisins

Glaze:

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 Tbs water

1. To make the crust, sift together the flour, milk powder, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, and beat vigorously until the mixture "ribbons" off the beaters, about 5 minutes. Add the melted butter, vanilla extract, and the sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture, folding after each addition. Mix to a rough dough, turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly to a smooth dough. Form the dough into a long, snakelike roll and cut it into twenty pieces.

2. Mix together the ingredients for the filling and stir to combine evenly. Divide the filling in half. Cover one half with plastic wrap. With your hands, roll the other hlaf into a long snake and cut it into ten pieces. Uncover the first half and repeat.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets. Using your fingers, press each dough piece into a three-inch circle, making the edges thinner and the middle thicker. Spoon a portion of the filling into the center, gather up the edges of the dough, to enclose the filling, and pinch the edges together to seal. Roll the cake into a ball. Press into a lightly floured moon-cake mold or carve a crisscross design on top. (If you are using a moon-cake mold, unmold each cake and arrange the unbaked cakes with the design side up on a cookie sheet; chill for 1 1/2 to 2 hours to set design.)

4. Arrange the cakes about an inch apart on a lightly buttered baking sheet. Brush the surface of the moon cakes with the glaze. Bake the cakes for about thirty minutes until golden brown. Cool the cakes on a rack and serve.

Like I said, I did not make the filling in the recipe. I just used peach and apricot preserves alone, but it was very tasty. I also added almond extract to the recipe. One other thing I noticed as I was typing this was that I only put 1 tsp of baking powder in instead of the called for 1 Tbs. Probably would have made mine a little lighter. They were still yummy. I highly recommend eating them when they are still warm!! Enjoy!