“...and the woman floated away to the moon.” This line concludes the legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival story and it’s the only part of the story I can remember. This lapse in memory is probably because I’d get too excited for my piece of mooncake and couldn’t wait for my late father to get to the ending so I could start eating. To fill this gap, I went online to find the legends behind the festival. Turns out there are several legends but the most famous one is about Hou Yi and Chang’e. 

According to the legend, the world was scorched by 10 suns. Because of the heat, crops could not thrive and humans died. Hou Yi, an archer, shot down nine of the 10 suns to improve the climate and restore life. As a reward, the Queen Mother of the West, the wife of the Jade Emperor and ruler of Heaven, gifted him with an immortality elixir. Although he wanted to be immortal, he wanted to be with his wife Chang’e more. He gave the elixir to his wife for safekeeping instead. One day, while he was out, one of his students, Pang Meng, who knew about the elixir, broke into their house and demanded Chang’e to give him the elixir. Knowing she could not fight off this student, she immediately drank the elixir. She floated to the moon and decided to stay there because it was closest to the world. She then became the Moon Goddess. 

Because Hou Yi was saddened upon learning what had happened to Chang’e, he looked up to the moon that was full and bright that night and saw the swaying figure of his wife. He offered cakes and fruits to her. 

There is another version of this legend that differs in the intention of Chang’e for drinking the elixir. It is said that she was greedy and wanted to be become immortal that she “stole” the elixir from her husband. Regardless of this, the story ended the same way. 

Another interesting trivia about mooncakes is that it aided a Chinese rebel leader to start a revolution against the Mongolian empire during the Yuan dynasty. He sent mooncakes to his comrades in different bases with a message hidden in small strips of paper that were baked into the mooncakes. On these small pieces of paper was the date of the rebellion—“15th night of the eighth lunar month.” The rebels were able to overthrow the Mongolians and ended the dynasty. 

The Chinese community has then regarded as Mid-Autumn Festival as a day of celebration and family reunions. This year, this festival falls on Sept. 29. In the Philippines, the Filipino-Chinese community have their own simple ways of celebrating by gifting each other mookcakes, and playing the Mooncake Festival Dice Game. Chinatown is filled again with red lanterns, and mooncakes of all shapes, flavors, and variations add sweetness (and blessings) to the celebration. 

Nowadays, there are many variations of mooncakes. With research, you’d find that the mooncakes are also regional. Fillings can range from the traditional fillings such as lotus seed or red bean paste to more contemporary ones such as ice cream and chocolate. But the most common ones we see during the festival is the Cantonese-style mooncake that has a dark-amber soft-crust pastry and a traditional filling. They are encased in beautiful tin boxes, making it convenient to give as gifts. 

Making mooncakes can be intimidating to make because it involves numerous steps. To simplify the steps, I used canned red adzuki beans for the filling instead of cooking them from the dried variation. Red adzuki beans, dried or canned, can be found in Japanese specialty stores. 

To honor my Chinese roots, I made mooncakes from scratch. Making them gave me a sense of accomplishment and it made me very proud of my culture. I hope my late father can be proud that I took our mooncake-eating tradition to another level by making them myself. This is the recipe.

Red Bean Moocakes

Makes eight small mooncakes 

Ingredients:

• Dough:
• 75g honey
• 35g neutral-flavored oil (corn, vegetable)
• 120g all purpose flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp. fine salt

Filling:

• 1 can (430g) cooked red adzuki beans (I got this from a Japanese grocery store. This is already cooked and sweetened.)
• 1 tbsp neutral-flavored oil (corn, vegetable)
• 20g cornstarch
• Mooncake mold of your choice
• 1 egg, beaten

1. To make the dough, combine honey and oil in a bowl. Whisk well.
2. Add in flour and salt. Mix well to combine. You should have a dough that has a texture similar to modeling clay. Divide into 25g balls and place in the chiller for at least two hours. Do not throw away the extra dough as they can be used later on.
3. To make the filling, put the contents of the canned beans in a blender. Blend until very smooth.
4. Transfer into a non-stick pan. On medium heat, cook until the moisture evaporates. Stir to avoid scorching. This step took me around 15 to 20 minutes.
5. When the mixture is starting to thicken, add in oil. Stir well to combine.
6. Add in cornstarch. This will thicken the mixture and make it easier to shape later on. Turn off heat once the mixture thickens some more. A tip to know when it’s ready is when the mixture no longer flows down when you lift it up with spoon or spatula. It clings to the spoon and resembles a paste. 
7. Once this is cool to touch, form into 40g balls and chill for at least two hours or until firm.
8. Take a piece of dough, flatten with your oiled palms. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out to form a thin circle (it doesn’t have to be a perfect circle). Be careful not to tear the dough.
9. Place a red bean paste in the middle. Gently cover it with the dough. If there are gaps that need to be filled in, you can use the extra dough from step 2. 
10. Place the filled dough in a floured mooncake mold, smooth side of the dough against the stamp’s design. Press down firmly and stamp a few times with moderate force so that the design stamps nicely onto the dough. Release and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Brush away the flour on the surface of the mooncake. Repeat process for the remaining dough and filling.
11. Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour. If chilling overnight, make sure mooncakes are covered.
12. Preheat oven to 180 C.
13. Before baking, brush the mooncakes with a beaten egg. Brush lightly and make sure there are no pools of egg on the nook and crannies of the design.
14. Bake for 15 minutes or until the mooncakes are browned.
15. Remove the oven and cool completely. 

Notes:

1. This recipe’s crust will not be as brown and as soft as the traditional mooncake. Golden syrup and lye water are traditionally used and this contributes to the dark color and soft texture in mooncakes. Since these are not my pantry staples, I researched and found out that honey can be used as substitute for the mooncake dough recipe. Because golden syrup is not used, lye water can be omitted. The crust resembles a shortcrust pastry. It has a crisp texture that is not present in traditional mooncakes.
2. If your canned red beans is kept in syrup, only include about 10 percent into the blending. 
3. I bought my mooncake mold online. You can choose different designs and sizes. The size used in this recipe is 75g.

中秋節快樂! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! May this bring you good health and prosperity to you and your family.