FIVE-TREASURE MOON CAKES
makes20 moon cakes

During the Harvest Moon Festival, Chinese bakery shelves are loaded with moon cakes — salty with a meat or vegetable filling, or sweet with red bean date pastes or candied fruits. I’ve developed an easy filling that’s a mixture of apricot jam, raisins, dates, and coconut. I recommend using a moon cake mold (see note *), but you may improvise by hand-shaping the cookies into circles and drawing a simple design on top.

CRUST
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dried milk powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling
1 cup apricot preserves (one 12-ounce jar)
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
3/4 cup raisins

Glaze
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons water

1. To make the crust, sift together the flour, dried milk powder, and salt. Break the eggs into a 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, snake-like roll and cut into 20 pieces.
2. Mix together the ingredients of the filling and stir to combine evenly. Divide into 20 portions.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Using your fingers, press each dough piece into a 3-inch circle with the edges thinner and the center thicker. Place a portion of filling in the center, gather up the edges of the dough to enclose the filling and pinch to seal. Roll the cake into a ball and flatten it to a 3-inch round. Press into a moon cake mold or carve a crisscross design on top. (If you are using a moon cake press *, arrange on a cookie sheet and chill overnight.) Rearrange the the cakes about 1 inch apart on lightly buttered baking sheets. Brush the surface of the moon cakes with the glaze. Bake the cakes for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a rack and serve.

From “Moonbeams, Dumplings, and Dragonboats,” by Nina Simonds

Flickr photo by Stef Noble Some rights reserved.

As I say in the supermarket every now and then it’s healthy to indulge yourself. Try my assistant Ingrid’s AMAZING chocolate chip cookies. They are THE BEST!!! We like to eat them frozen, but watch your dental work!!

2 sticks unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
3 tsp. real vanilla extract
2 large eggs
4 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips ( a little more than 2 twelve oz. bags)
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat butter and sugars together until creamy.
3. Add vanilla extract and eggs one at a time.
4. Add flour, baking soda and salt then beat thoroughly.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
6. Form small balls of dough with your fingers and place them on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake them for five minutes then rotate your cookie sheets and cook them for about 4-5 more minutes or until they are just cooked enough to maintain their shape when transferred to a cooling rack. They will not yet be golden brown.
7. Once the cookies have cooled enough to be handled, move them to a parchment paper lined tray and finish cooling them in the freezer. These cookies are chewy and delicious either frozen or room temperature once they have initially been freezer cooled.