Moon Cakes

It was the Chinese festival recently, and I learn't how to make moon cakes.  It was challenging as I don't speak Chinese, the lady who was leading the demonstration spoke little english, but it was fun, and we all laughed a lot.

First, make your "moons".
Make a stuffing out of nuts and dried fruit.  It doesn't matter what you use, just pulse it altogether in the foodprocessor.  Add a little golden syrup or honey to bind.  eg  almonds, apricots, mango, walnuts, peanut, seasme, raisins, sultanas.  Say 1/2 cup nuts, and 1/2 cup dried fruit.  Make small balls out of the stuffing, and put aside.

2. Make the moon cake "skin"
cooking oil 175 mls
golden syrup 500ml (1x plastic squeeze bottle of golden syrup)
flour 750g
baking soda 2tsp dissolved in a little water

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Add a little more water if too dry.  Use hands to mix the dough together.  It will become smooth.
Take about a TBSP amount of dough, and shape like a "cup" using your thumb.  Put in "moon" and mould the skin around making a ball.  Use a pressure mould to shape.  Press quite firmly.
Once all the moon cakes are made,
Preheat oven to 150 Deg C.  Bake for about 15 mins, remove from oven, brush with beaten egg yolk, and bake for another 5 minutes.

Well, I overcooked mine, forgot to put the beaten egg on, and they tasted delicious.  Now all I have to do is find a biscuit mould to shape the mooncakes - probably from an Asian store in Hamilton next time we are in the Waikato.