Food, glorious food

Mooncakes, of course.

Round like the moon foods, including pomelos.

To drink, tea or wine for the adults.

Autumn Mooncakes

Mooncakes have a long history of their own. They started as honey cakes in the 3^rd century BC. Now there are many kinds, and their shapes and fillings are seemingly endless. However, there are two or three main types of mooncakes. The classic mooncake is made in a mold, contains egg, and has a golden or dark crust. (Some now call them Cantonese style.) Based on ancient literary works, they evolved into their current form between the 6^th and 11^th centuries. There is a character or design on the top. The inside can be a paste, fruit-cakey or even have meat in it. Perhaps lotus-seed paste was the original but now, due to cost, red bean paste seems to be more common. Shanghai-style mooncakes have a flaky crust (that can still be hard to bite) and usually fewer ingredients. Traditionally the yolk was duck, but now it may be chicken or duck. Vegan mooncakes, even vegan, peanut and nut-free mooncakes, are available. Most Shanghai-style mooncakes fit in this category. Mooncakes are often packed 4 or 8 to a box and each should fit in the palm of your hand. The ~4 inch diameter ones can be cut into 8 pieces for distribution at school. They are very rich and not everyone will like them.

Most of the traditional recipes use lard or peanut oil and take days to complete, as the steps include resting the dough 5 hours or draining the bean paste filling overnight. You can also buy mooncakes from many Asian grocery stores, or mail order, probably at least 2 weeks in advance. Many stores only mail mooncake orders once a week.

For more on mooncakes, also look at Wikipedia's article.

RECIPES
There are two different kid-approved recipes here, adapted to do done in an afternoon, instead of five days. Jennifer's is closer to the traditional. If you want to make a moon-ish cookie which is safer for the youngest and more likely to work with children with allergies, try this egg-free and dairy-free cookie recipe that should satisfy any schools anti-allergy policies. It is similar to German “thumbprint” cookies. I recommend always checking for allergies before offering any food to children.

Jennifer's Autumn Moon Cake recipe

Jennifer adapted this to be kid approved and not too time consuming. However, it does include dairy products (and coconut) so it might not work in all schools due to allergy concerns. At least the dough is similar to the recipe on Yan Can Cook. Or, go to the egg-free, dairy-free recipe if you need it.

Autumn Moon Cakes
Crust
4 c all purpose flour
3/4 c dried milk powder (whiz in Cuisinart to fine powder if lumpy)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 1/4 c sugar
3/4 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temp
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Filling
1 12 oz jar apricot preserves
1 c chopped pitted dates
1 c flaked sweetened coconut
3/4 c raisins

Glaze, whisk together
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. water

1. Sift flour, milk powder, baking powder, salt, set aside. Break eggs in large mixing bowl, add sugar and beat until mixture "ribbons" off the beaters, approx. 5 mins. Add melted butter, vanilla and dry ingredients to egg mixture. Mix to rough dough, turn out on lightly floured surface and knead briefly to smooth dough. Form dough into long roll and cut into 20 pieces.

2. Mix ingredients for filling (I found that this filling was more than enough and used what was left over for muffins)

3. Preheat to 375. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or use silpat or parchment. Press 1 dough piece into a 3-4 inch circle making edges thinner and center thicker. Spoon a portion of filling into the center, about a Tbsp. Gather up edges of dough to enclose filling and pinch edges together to seal. Roll cake in a ball, flatten to a 3 in. round and press into a lightly floured moon cake mold (or a simple round cookie cutter).

You will need to refrigerate the dough and then refrigerate the formed cakes to hold any design from a moon cake mold. I used some decorative copper molds, but if the design isn’t deeply incised, it will not hold. This is the most time consuming part of the recipe - I don't preheat until I've made half the cakes.

4. Arrange cakes about 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Brush surface of cakes with egg/water glaze. You could also paint a design with red vegetable food coloring if you don’t over do the egg wash. Bake for 20 minutes ...maybe even 18 mins. until golden brown.

5. Variations – use chopped ginger to replace ¼ cup raisins and ginger puree to replace apricot preserves. Not traditional but really yummy and spicy.

6. If you hate coconut, replace with nuts, finely chopped but not ground.

Thanks Jennifer!

You can order Moon cakes now from Chinasprout

Chinasprout has already started shipping mooncakes for this yeseason.

Moon Cakes  from ChinaSprout
http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/F001

Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival will be on October 6, 2006 and many families plan to celebrate this traditional Chinese holiday with their families and friends just like Chinese do. To help families enjoy this traditional way of celebration – eating moon cakes while looking at the full moon-ChinaSprout offers FRESHLY baked mooncakes from a premium New York Chinatown baker. Our moon cakes come in four different flavors, packaged in a very unique collectable tin.

Choose from the following flavors:

Red bean paste (sweet)
White lotus paste with egg yolk (sweet)
Mixed nuts (sweet)
Mixed nuts and ham (sweet/salty)

Each order includes four moon cakes. Please specify your preference of flavors in any combination when you order in the ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS. If you don't specify your preference, we will offer you one cake each flavor. Moon cakes can be kept two months without refrigeration.

4 Pieces
Our Price: US$19.95

Please note that they will ship your moon cakes orders ONLY on following dates: September 1, 8, 15, 22, 29.  

Egg-free dairy-free Moon Cakes

No recipe can be 100% allergy-free, but the most common ones have been removed from this. For a recipe that is closer to the traditional, be can still be done on one afternoon, see Jennifer's adaptation.

Egg-free dairy-free mooncakes:

You will need: mixing bowl, mixing spoon, measuring cups & spoons, aluminum foil, cookie sheets, pot holders, flour, margarine, sugar, jam.

1. Combine ½ cup margarine (make sure it is not the “light kind where water is the first ingredient, that does not work for baking) and ¼ cup sugar with ONE of:

§ 1 Tablespoon cornstarch (or arrowroot), 1 Tablespoon soy flour, 1 ½ - 2 Tablespoons water OR

§ 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 Tablespoon liquid, 1 Tablespoon vinegar OR

§ 1 1/2 Tablespoons water, 1 1/2 Tablespoons oil, 1 teaspoon baking powder

Stir until creamy and combine completely.

2. Add 1 cup all-purpose flour and mix thoroughly. Form the dough into one large ball and wrap it in aluminum foil. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes (30 or more is better.)

3. Preheat oven to 375F. Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Unwrap chilled dough and with clean hands form small balls in the palms of your hand. (You may want to cut it into 24 pieces first to see the approximate size…?)

4. Make a hole with your thumb gently in the center of each mooncake and fill with a little jam, jelly, or all-fruit spread (If this is for school, remember that raspberry and strawberry are most likely to have someone allergic to them. Grape or blueberry are probably safest.)

5. Bake for about 20 minutes or until just the outside edges are slightly brown.

Notes for Parents

Some years the Mid-Autumn Festival falls very early in the school year in the USA, and not all teachers are receptive to having someone come in and do anything special before their routines are set, especially at preschools. Bringing in a treat (as if it were someone's birthday) might be all that some can support, perhaps with a handout that the children can take home. If you really want to do something, contact the teacher as soon as possible - even before school starts. You may want to coordinate with any other parents of Asians in the class. If the classlist is not yet available, you may need to ask the teacher if there are other families who might want to be involved.

For the youngest saying, "the moon is full, (it's a harvest festival,) this is a lantern, have some new food" is almost enough. Leave a handout – at least for the teacher. Remember that what you leave may be copied and given to each child.

If you discuss time before electricity, and mention Harvest Festivals, Festival of Lights, that gives the teacher, school, other parents, lead-ins to talk about the days lengthening, looking at the sky, constellations, lunar phases, and other holidays. Many cultures have Festivals of Light, including Diwali (the Hindu Festival of Lights) and Chanukah. Thanksgiving is a Harvest Festival. Harvest Moon Festivals include Ch’usok (Korea) and the Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.

Additional Activities and Props:

Every class I have been in has really enjoyed seeing lunar calendars that showed the phases of the moon for each day of the year. A good size is one year on two 8.5 x 11 inch pages taped together. The pattern, and how it does not match the Gregorian calendar month showed up very well. Sometimes you see calendar as a poster. (email me at mus-mandarin@wubison.com if you need a lunar calendar, I can send a pdf file.)

You may want a simple timeline to show how some of the events compare to those they already know. Montessori teachers generally support this for younger students than other style teachers.

A flashlight and 2 balls can illustrate the phases of the moon. A 6 – 9 year old class can understand it and help act it out. I might not try this with a 3-6 year old class. Practice first. Have you or another adult hold the flashlight so it will be steady and can be adjusted as needed, since the children acting may not move exactly ‘right’. Do not let the earth-child get too dizzy. Being able to make the room *dark* really makes a difference; some classrooms have a lot of light coming in even with the blinds down. (Brownie Girl Scouts should be able to use this as an alternate requirement in the Earth and Sky Try-it or maybe for Space Explorer.)

It is nice to loan things to the class to use after you are gone. Suggestions include:

• A chop, chop ink, rice paper
  
  
• Chinese themed stamps, inkpad, paper (there are stamps for the moon character)
• Chinese clothing (a hat, vest with frog closures, etc.)
  
  
• (training chopsticks?), chopsticks and something to pick up. Larger objects like pompoms or cotton balls for the youngest, perhaps beads with Chinese characters on them for older children to try if they wanted to. Try the actual combination before taking it in. This is especially good at a Montessori-style school, but many teachers will use it.

The Mid-Autumn Moon by Li Qiao

A full moon hangs high in the chilly sky,
All say it's the same everywhere, round and bright.
But how can one be sure thousands of li away
Wind and perhaps rain may not be marring the night?

You can find more on poetry here. Childbook created a lesson plan for K - 4 in 2007.

Mooncakes

Mooncakes have a long history of their own. They started as honey cakes in the 3^rd century BC. Now there are many kinds, and their shapes and fillings are seemingly endless. However, there are two or three main types of mooncakes. The classic mooncake is made in a mold, contains egg, and has a golden or dark crust. (Some now call them Cantonese style.) Based on ancient literary works, they evolved into their current form between the 6^th and 11^th centuries. There is a character or design on the top. The inside can be a paste, fruit-cakey or even have meat in it. Perhaps lotus-seed paste was the original but now, due to cost, red bean paste seems to be more common. Shanghai-style mooncakes have a flaky crust (that can still be hard to bite) and usually fewer ingredients. Traditionally the yolk was duck, but now it may be chicken or duck. Vegan mooncakes, even vegan, peanut and nut-free mooncakes, are available. Most Shanghai-style mooncakes fit in this category. Mooncakes are often packed 4 or 8 to a box and each should fit in the palm of your hand. The ~4 inch diameter ones can be cut into 8 pieces for distribution at school. They are very rich and not everyone will like them.

If you want to make a moon-ish cookie, here is an egg-free and dairy-free cookie recipe that should satisfy any schools anti-allergy policies. It is similar to German “thumbprint” cookies. For something closer to the original that can be done in one afternoon, see Jennifer's adaptation.

Resources

There is plenty more about Mid-Autumn Festival, Harvest Festivals, Chinese festivals and China. Here’s more information about the festival, folktales, making mooncakes (although 'no one' does it anymore) and the lady in the moon. The main subjects under Mid-Autumn Festival are: mooncakes, their role in rebellions against the Mongols, the Moon Goddess, and the Jade Rabbit. You may also want to learn more about the Jade Emperor or less common tales such as one of Wu Kang Chopping Down the Cassia Tree. These links were good as of September 2004.

Note: Not all versions of Chang Er’s tale may be appropriate for your child(ren). It is a tale of love and infidelity with a bit of drunkenness, in addition to a tale of love and faith, the birth of agriculture and animal domestication in China.

http://www.familyculture.com/holidays/augustmoonfest.htm includes links to books and other sites, and lists other “thanksgiving”/harvest festivals.
http://www.montreal.com/events/1999/09/24moon.html includes how to make mooncakes, original moon festival folktale & Chang Er, the moon goddess
http://www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/references.htm

Books on Mid-Autumn Festival and China are available from a number of sources or can be ordered from your local bookseller. I assume that these good folks will be around for many more years: www.childbook.com, www.fccny.org. www.pearlriver.com and www.chinasprout.com also sell China objects, mooncakes, chopsticks, decorative objects, and arts and crafts supplies.

Picture Books on China include:

• Moon Lady by Amy Tan
  
• The Empress and the Silkworm by Lily Toy Hong
  
• Moon Festival by Ching Yeung Russell
  
• Round is A Mooncake by Rosemary Thong. (also Red is a dragon, One is a Drummer)
  
• The Seven Chinese Sisters By Kathy Tucker
  
• The Five Chinese Brothers (Paperstar) by Claire Huchet Bishop, Kurt Wiese
  
• The Seven Chinese Brothers(Blue Ribbon Book) by Margaret Mahy, Jean Mou-Sier Tsang

Moon Information

http://www.thenazareneway.com/current_moon_phase.htm

Why is the Harvest Moon the brightest?

Why is the moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox called the “Harvest Moon”? http://earthsky.com/scienceqs/browsefaq.php?f=106

Mooncake Websites

http://kevdesign.com/midautumnfestival/mooncake-variety.htm

Recipes

(first Link broken)

http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/famtrad/foodfolkart/mooncakeofferings/mooncake.htm

http://kevdesign.com/midautumnfestival/recipes.htm

http://adoptshoppe.com/images/artfulgifts/MoonCookiesRecipe.pdf

http://adoptshoppe.com/images/artfulgifts/MoonCakeRecipe.pdf

http://thestar.com.my/kuali/recipes/lunar.html

Mooncake Filling Recipes

http://www.kitchenlink.com/msgbrd/board_3/2000/JUL/4383.html

Easy Chinese Moon Cakes: similar to German jam thumbprint cookies.

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/china/easy_chinese_mooncakes.htm  

http://www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/china__dim_sum__moon_festi.html 

Molds

Hand-carved, wooden mooncake molds are not always easy to find. Mooncake molds are custom-made usually with the baker’s insignia. The mold is used to shape each mooncake and some have used them off-season to shape butter. The following places have had them in the past but may not always: www.chinasprout.com, www.adoptshoppe.com, www.wokshop.com, and www.pearlriver.com.

Last reviewed: August 2007

Links still being updated.