We all think that daily life should have a sense of ritual. The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, so get creative! What can you think of when you think of the Mid-Autumn Festival? The round moon, the beautiful Chang'e, wonderful holidays, family reunions... Of course, the unique delicacy of the Mid-Autumn Festival - mooncakes is indispensable.

Many friends think that making mooncakes is a very complicated and difficult task. But it's not as difficult as you think. If you have made birthday cakes or toast, you can also feel that mooncakes are relatively simple.

Today I will share with you the most traditional method of making five-nut mooncakes. In fact, many people joke that the five-nut mooncake is too difficult to swallow. But as a person born in the 1980s, five-nut mooncakes can be said to be the life I most long for in my memory.

Step 1: Making the pie crust

To make the pie crust, you must first prepare enough to convert the syrup. Invert syrup is one of the main ingredients of Cantonese mooncakes, which makes the crust soft and shiny. You can also buy it ready-made or make it yourself. Just click on the red font to watch the specific method of converting syrup

At the same time, prepare in advance. You can buy it and configure it yourself. The treatment method is very simple, just melt edible soda ash and water in a ratio of 1:3.

After all the raw materials are prepared, you can make the pie crust. Add cooking oil and sugar to the inverted syrup, mix thoroughly to allow the sugar syrup to fully combine with the oil, then add 200 grams of all-purpose flour, and stir evenly with a spatula until there is no flour left.

After mixing, let the dough seal and relax for 2-3 hours, allowing the batter to completely absorb the sugar syrup, oil and edible alkaline water. The relaxed dough will become softer, making it easier to wrap mooncakes and prevent it from shrinking during baking.

Process 2: Prepare fillings

Cook all your dried fruits or stir-fry over low heat until fragrant. Just bake walnuts and peanuts in an electric oven at 140 degrees for 15 minutes (no need to preheat). After baking, put it in a bag and smash it with a rolling pin. Rinse and drain the dried blueberries and set aside. Dried fruits should be adjusted according to your own taste.

Put rice flour into a pot and cook over medium heat until light yellow. Glutinous rice flour can increase the stickiness of the filling and allow the filling to clump together.

Put all the ripe dried fruits into a basin, add cooking oil, cold boiled water, white sugar, and high-strength wine and stir evenly. Then add cooked glutinous rice flour in batches until it can be clumped together with your hands.

Process 3: Cut the crust and fillings

Cut the crust and fillings into pieces and weigh them according to the weight of the mold. The 75g grinding tool I used has a skin and filling weight of 30g and 45g respectively. Roll the pie crust into a ball, and roll the filling into small balls. Set aside.

Process 4: Making moon cakes

Take a piece of pie crust and squeeze it flat, put the filling on top, and encourage the pie crust to slowly close up. Sprinkle appropriate amount of flour on the slate, roll the packaged mooncakes to coat them with flour, and tap off the excess flour with your hands. Use a grinding tool to press out the texture on the packaged mooncakes.

Process 5: Baking mooncakes

Heat the electric oven at 200 degrees. Place the pressed mooncakes into the baking tray and spray a layer of water with a spray bottle. Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes to set. Then remove the mooncakes and brush with a layer of egg white powder (one egg yolk and a small spoonful of cold water and mix well)

Put it into the electric oven and bake at 160 degrees for 15 minutes. Bake until the mooncakes are coloured.

Spray a layer of water before baking the mooncakes to prevent them from cracking. When sprinkling water, be sure to use a sprayer and spray it at a high place so that the water vapor will naturally fall onto the mooncakes. Do not use too much water.

It is best to use a roller brush to brush the egg liquid, and just apply one layer lightly. Brushing too much egg liquid will affect the texture. To bake mooncakes, first continue to set the shape at a high temperature, then remove the egg wash, then lower the temperature and bake until all colors are set. The whole process takes about 20 minutes. The actual temperature should be adjusted according to your own electric oven.

The baked mooncakes have a hard skin. After the mooncakes are completely cooled, put them in a sealed bag and add oil. After a few days, the skins will become soft, shiny, smooth and delicate.