Making Mooncakes

Mid Autumn Festival starts this week on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. It is one of the most important Chinese Festivals. Mooncakes, considered a great delicacy, are exchanged between families and friends during the Mid Autumn Festival and are in high demand. They are the center of the Mooncake Festival which is held within the Mid Autumn Festival.

Michele, Mindy, Sara, Suzette, Jennifer, Lori, and Jessica

The woman in the yellow shirt is Jessica. She is one of the few people in Singapore who makes mooncakes every year by hand. She says she does it because she loves the process of making them. It took 4 hours for 9 of us to make 17 mooncakes! They are quite labor intensive so most people buy commercially made mooncakes as an honored celebratory gift.

Above: salted duck eggs waiting to be washed and peeled. 

Below: salted duck egg yolks

Mooncakes consist of a tender thin pastry enveloping a sweet dense filling made of lotus seed paste. It is slightly sweet. Traditional mooncakes contain a salted duck egg as a symbol of the full moon. The tops of the cakes are imprinted with Chinese characters for longevity or harmony.

A folk tale says that Ming revolutionaries smuggled messages in the mooncakes in their attempt to overthrow the Mongolian rulers of China in the Yuan Dynasty. They created a rumor that a deadly plague was spreading and the only way to prevent it was to eat special mooncakes, prompting quick distribution of the cakes holding secret messages.

The first mooncake I ever made.

There are lots of varieties of mooncakes. The ones below, called Snow Skin Mooncakes, didn't need to be cooked and were much sweeter than the mooncakes with the duck eggs inside. They are best served chilled and had pumpkin seeds inside giving them a satisfying crunch. They were quick and fun to make.

This beautiful woman's name is Pongkodi. When she was young a special cook came to her village and spent a week teaching them how to make special mooncakes for a celebration that the president would be attending. They had to make 500 perfect mooncakes from scratch. She was a wonderful story teller and very knowledgeable.

You must wait 3 days to eat the mooncakes, turning them over each day. Today was the day to eat them. Ike describes them as "not good" but I thought they were ok if you don't get a big bite of salted duck egg in your bite like I did. I liked the Snow Skin Mooncakes better. I think I will get a couple of moulds and make them for next Mid Autumn Mooncake Festival.