Mooncakes!

[hazliya]

This is also known as Haz's Chinese Baking Adventure.
My first time through, it took me forever (I mean over seven hours) to go through the whole process. I thought Project Mooncakes was doomed, but I stuck it out and improvised. I even had enough leftover filling to go through it for a second run, which was much faster.
WARNING: Even though I've cut hours off of the process, you should plan to have at least six hours to blow when going through this your first time.
That being said, I've included the "haz ways" of doing things, which usually differ greatly from the original recipe.

MOON CAKES
--
Ingredients:
(filling)
1 lb red azuki beans
1/4 c oil
~2 c granulated sugar
(flaky dough)
1 c flour
5 tbsp lard/shortening
(firm dough)
2 c flour
2/3 c water
5 tbsp lard/shortening
--
1. First off, soak your azuki beans in cool water. (COOL!) They should sit for about an hour.
NOTE: The recipe calls for two hours, but Azuki are soft beans, so warm water + more than two hours soaking = encouraging sprouts. Otherwise, I'd fully encourage dunking the damn things and going out for the day.

.
2. After the soaking, put them in at least 8 cups of water and let them simmer covered for an hour and a half to two hours, continually checking to add water and see if the shells split. When the shells start sporting slices down the side, drain and rinse them.
.
3. Paste making time! Their method: individually shelling beans before mashing them. I did fifteen minutes of that and got about an ounce of unmashed beans. With the 12-hour process looming over me, I realized that I could expedite things.
The Haz method of pastemaking:
- Put a collander/mesh strainer over a pot. Try not to use a colander with holes rather than lines.
-Pour some of the beans into the strainer and start the warm water over them. As the pot fills, mash them between your hands (squishing, rolling, etc) as much as possible.
-When the beans/shells are under an inch or two of water, turn the faucet off and finish mashing, then shake and squeeze them dry.
-Wait a few minutes. A pinkish, grainy precipitate will form at the bottom. That's what you want! Let as much form as possible, then drain off the water and put the paste in a separate pot. Cheesecloth/fine mesh is good for this step. And as you can see from the picture, you're bound to get a few shell fragments in there. It's fine. (paste on the left, shells on the right)

-Repeat until all beans are mashed.
.
4. You should get around 2c of unattractive pinkish paste. Put the pot on the stove and add the oil and sugar. The sugar can be adjusted to how sweet you like your bean paste, but 2c is a pretty average amount. Cook this with a lot of stirring (I recommend a spatula, as the sugar is a pain) until most of the liquid cooks off. This can take hours, depending on the amount of paste you got from bean-squishing.

NOTE 1: The original recipe calls for 3/4c oil. This will take even longer to cook off and gives the paste a weird consistency. A few tablespoons is all you really need.
NOTE 2: For the first hour or so, this is going to look disgusting. It'll be brownish, murky, and have the consistency of soupy sludge with a layer of oil floating on top. And smell like beans, not candy. It's part of the process.
.
5. When the paste reaches the consistency of grainy jam, refrigerate it during the dough-making. It'll thicken somewhat as it cools, so you should definitely take it out of the pot while warm. Fair warning.
.
6. Mix the ingredients for the doughs above in two separate bowls. The flaky dough should be crumbly but pressable like shortbread, and the firm dough reminiscent of pizza dough. If you need to leave the latter, covering it with a wet cloth is advisable.
.
7. Time to form the cookies!
-Roll the doughs into 20 balls each (or thereabouts, as long as both have the same number)

-Fold a flaky dough into a firm.

-Fold it over a couple of times, making sure that the firm dough always encases the flaky. This is important.

Here's where the recipe and I differ. They make theirs the mold way, and I make mine the dumpling way. I prefer my way for many reasons, but I'll get to those when I describe the process, as I'll be listing both.
Their Way
-Squish each dough combination into a ~3" pancake.
-Fill center with ~1 tbsp paste.
-Tuck all edges to the top and pinch closed.
-Shove, pinched-edges first, into a mold (I used a shot glass. This way is a pain). Press solidly before shaking loose.
My Way
-Roll out each dough combination to about 1/4" thick.
-Put a circle mold (bottle, plastic cap, as long as it's 3-4" dia) and cut out the trim. Put that aside for now. Repeat until all dough balls are rolled out, and then squash together the trim and roll that out until the leftover is too small to use.
-Fill the center with 1-2tbsp paste.
-Fold into shape you prefer. I made crescent moons (because they're MOON CAKES goddamnit!) by folding them in half, pinching the edges, and curving them. You can even get creative like putting a lot of paste in the center of one, laying another circle on top, pinching the edges, and then squashing five equidistant thumbprints around the edges for a star pattern. Go nuts. But poke a few holes in each with a toothpick when you're done.
.
8. Bake on cookie sheet at 350 until edges and bottoms are golden brown.
.
Now, the reasons I prefer my method of folding are these:
-Number of cookies. Their way limits you to 20, whereas I got 27 doing it my way.
-More filling! Less folds means more sweet bean paste, which I love.
-Texture. By rolling out the dough thinner, you get really nice alternating flaky and soft layers.
-Shape. You can have more fun with the dough this way.
-Practicality. In my way, there's less chance of the bean paste bubbling out in the oven, and mine are also easier to eat. =)


They're really tasty. And rewarding after all that hard work. You'll probably end up with extra azuki paste, and if so, try making cookies or other pastries with it. I just made more moon cakes. xD

Enjoy!

-Haz