2007; Year of "The Golden Pig"

It's mid-autumn festival again! I've got my lanterns out all ready to celebrate! This year; it falls on Tuesday, the 25th of September.Not certain what festival I'm getting all excited about?; CLICK HERE for more information.

A year ago; I celebrated with a red bean+bunny rabbit theme.
This year... armed with a little more experience, skill and the discovery of canned lotus paste... I made these little golden piggies!
I'm quite certain most mooncake connoisseurs out there would shoot down the look and recipe of these little flaky babies for not being a Traditional Chinese "mooncake". Well... I admit; they aren't. They are filled with lotus paste, sesame seeds, chopped walnuts, flaked almonds and salted duck egg yolks. Oh; I must add... they are of the Shanghainese variety.
and..No; it doesn't mean I am Shanghainese...
I'm just a Cantonese girl with a kitchen unequipped with traditional intricate wood mooncake moulds with Chinese motives.
*laughs* I know the moulds aren't hard to find; they are available for sale from Asian supermarkets in wood/plastic forms and inexpensive too~ But think about it this way.... If I got off my lazy butt...made an effort to go down the street to get a "mooncake-shaper-mould-thingy"..and made mooncake the way everyone else did, We wouldn't have cute little piggies would we? *giggle*.

Filling recipe:

1 tin lotus paste
2 tbsps water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup white sesame seeds
1/4 cup almond flakes
Cooked salted duck yolks

Combined all ingredients and microwave in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes. Stir to form a thick paste. Leave aside to cool while you prepare the pastry.Click Link for Pastry recipe and baking instructions.

Shape into piggies! add on a snout...stick on the ears...bake! Paint on the eyes..yaY! Golden piggies! remember to baste the pigs with a beaten egg yolk before you pop them in the oven for a nice golden sheen.


I loved how these tasted! They had a good crunch to them..and weren't as sweet with too much lotus paste overpowering the flaky pastry crust. I packed some of the mooncakes in tupperwares to share with friends. I couldn't imagine eating all of them on my own... it'll be too much mooncake for lil ol' me..

Who remembers these little caged piggies? In Cantonese, we call them "Ju jai peng" which means little piglet cookies!
They don't exactly resemble pigs much; neither do they contain any pork... but they do remind me so much about my childhood and beloved grandpa. Every mid autumn festival; he would buy these for his grandchildren as he brought them lantern shopping! We were the luckiest kids! We got to choose extravagantly decorated lanterns shaped into dragons, bunnies, flowers...cars, airplanes and all sorts; they were timeless moments for me. I miss my grandpa.
It wasn't about the lanterns or the "piggy biscuits" in colourful cages; it was more about us having our annual hunt for paper lanterns, special moments and memories shared only with my dear grandparents. The thought of lanterns bring me back to the times when I played with sis in our backyard...walked around with our lit lanterns... burnt ourselves with numerous naughty candle tricks.. sang songs on the swing as we watched the full moon...*sigh*
The Mid-autumn festival used to be about the end of a harvest season and delicious mooncakes/offerings; for me...its about family.