Baking Junkie: Over The Moon

Mooncake festival or Mid-Autumn festival is celebrated by the chinese all over the world on the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar (in our normal calendar it is around September), where the moon is seen at its fullest and brightest. The is a legend behind the reason why we celebrate this festival, and there are so many versions to the story.

One of the version which was told by my mum when I was younger, was about a forbidden love between a mortal and a goddess, "Ngau Long" and "Chik Lui". But, in Wikipedia, the names were changed to HouYi and Chang'e.. I don't know how the translation goes but the story is similiar.

So, the story is about Chik Lui who was a goddess and Ngau Long who was a mortal farmer who fell in love with each other, without knowing that she was a goddess from heaven. Soon Ngau Long found out, and the gods were pissed at them as a goddess is forbidden to fall in love with a human. They had a child together, but she had to leave him and their child behind on mid-autumn. Out of pity, the gods allowed them to see each other once a year on mid-autumn. It is said that she represents the moon, he would represent the sun and the child would be the stars. So this is how Mid-Autumn festival comes about. And if u look closely, u can see outline on the moon which looks like a rabbit, which is suppose to be Chik Lui, I think :p Basically whole year round, Ngau Long can see Chik Lui on the moon as a rabbit. So, can only see no touch.. LOL

So, with the forbidden love story aside, mid-autumn festival is celebrated by kids, carrying lited lanterns and walking around the neighbourhood. Mooncakes are sold by many bakeries and chinese restaurants for people to buy. This year is different for my family, bcos they no longer need to buy mooncakes to distribute to my family. My aunt(whom I shall be referring to as D'Master from now on) taught me how to bake mooncakes :) Last year or a few years back, D'Master taught me to make the easier version, the non-bake type of mooncakes, called "Bing Pei" or Snow Skin mooncakes.

D'Master didn't want to teach me the baked mooncakes as they were difficult to be made. But finally, she has deemed me worthy that's why she passed down her knowledge to me :p LOL

So here are some pics on the mooncakes i baked. Family and friends have tried, comments came back good so I am happy :)

Some tips for those who are interested to make some:

-Always make sure that you get a wooden mould like mine shown above, nvr ever get a plastic mould cos with all the knocking you will do just to get the mooncake out, the plastic mould may break.

-The mooncake will tend to stick to the mould in the process of knocking, so make sure u put alot of flour on the mould and also on the dough b4 pressing it into the mould.

-The egg glaze should be only egg yolk, and diluted using abit of water. It is recommended to glaze the mooncake when it is half cooked, if not it will tend to be burn b4 it's even cooked thoroughly.

-Remember to keep the freshly baked mooncakes for an extra two days for the oil of skin to emerge. This will make the skin softer and yummier to eat ;)

Some websites with mooncakes recipes are below: