Each year on the 15th day of the 8th month (八月十五) on lunar calendar, Chinese celebrates mid-autumn festival or mooncake festival. In the 14th Century, messages were contained within the Moon Cakes for secret communication against for a rebellion against the ruling Mongols ( Yuan Dynasty founded by Kublai Khan) that replace them with the Ming Dynasty. With much less than half a month to go just before the Mid-Autumn festivities get in full swing, we have seen a spectacle of moon cakes so far. Your recipe is a refreshing modify from the usual, lotus seed/ egg yolk/ snow skin version!
And the list goes on. Some bakeries that sell mooncakes during moon cake season consist of KC Pastries and Asia Bakery in Chinatown. Nonya (Straits Settlement Chinese) cuisine utilizes pineapple in a wide wide variety of dishes. This is why pineapple is generally present as a sacrificial supplying in a chinese temple. Bake 45-55 minutes (when tester comes out clean – be sure not to stick it into the pineapple stuff at the bottom).
I only see boxes of imported moon cakes from renown moon cake makers of Taiwan and of HK at H Mart in the weeks ahead of Mid Autumn Festival (aka Moon Festival, the 15th day of 8th month in the lunar calendar). Traditionally, moon cakes have lotus seed or red bean paste filling with an egg yolk in the centre but these days, imagination reigns. Spread any form of jam, insert cheese slice or ham slice when you are ready to consume the cake. By the way, the mooncake crust recipe consists of cake flour, canola oil, and golden syrup, with no butter, so it is healthier.
We spent the day with each other talking and laughing and mastering much more about every single other while rolling out the dough wrapping huge balls of red bean, lotus seed, and pineapple filling pressing them into carved wooden molds brushing the tops with an eggwash then baking the mooncakes beneath the watchful eye of Eastern Accents owner Ben Sun until they turned a deep golden brown.
It wasn’t stringy, would not stick to the teeth, and presented a glistening yellow colour, with the fragrance and flavor of pineapple. Pineapple paste is basically pureed pineapple and winter melon flesh cooked down slowly into a thick goo which is then sweetened with granulated sugar and maltose syrup and cooked down further into a pliable jam-like consistency.
