Mooncakes symbolize the unity of family during the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival, celebrated throughout Asia this year on October 1st. This recipe forms them into small balls, but you can find the traditional mooncake mold available online or possibly at your local Asian grocery during the festive season.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup strawberry (or your favorite) jam (traditionally red bean paste is used so if you want a more authentic version, you can use a can of red bean paste instead of the jam).
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Combine the butter, sugar and 1 egg yolk and stir.
- Mix in the flour.
- Form the dough into one large ball and wrap it in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate dough for half an hour.
- Unwrap the chilled dough and form small balls in the palms of your hand.
- Make a hole with your thumb in the center of each mooncake and fill with about half a teaspoon of jam.
- Brush each cake with the other beaten egg yolk and place on a cookie sheet. (We didn’t have a brush to do this, so skipped the brushing step)
- Bake for about 20 minutes or just until the outside edges are slightly brown.
