Mooncakes are heavy, dense, and sweet, a popular food item to consume during the mid-autumn festival in Chinese culture to celebrate the harvest season and the fullest moon,聽which takes place on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar every year. Unlike homemade dumplings, which are often made in the company of family and friends for Lunar New Year, mooncakes are rarely homemade due to how labor- and time-intensive they are. Growing up, my mom would always buy a tin straight from the store. Because of how complex they are to make, a tin of four mooncakes can run you anywhere from $20 to $60 (or more!) each! (Tip for the more budget conscious: If you wait after the holiday passes, many of these cakes will go on sale, much like Easter candy.)

If you do decide to make these at home, be ready to take on A Project, capital A, capital P. Much like sourdough bread and homemade ramen, DIY mooncakes will take a lot of time as well as a lot of ingredients to source. This is not a food for the noncommittal cook: You must have patience and interest to enjoy the process! Many fillings for mooncakes exist, though most tend to be sweet pastes made of either red bean, lotus seed, black sesame, or a mixture of fruit and nut. The most classic is also my favorite: lotus seed paste with a salted duck egg yolk embedded in the middle, meant to symbolize the full moon.

This recipe takes you through the steps for homemade red bean paste and homemade lotus seed paste, which gives you control over how sweet your pastes are, but if you are short on time, feel free to use store-bought versions instead. In order to make a smooth and creamy filling, you must use a pressure cooker鈥攕uch as the Instant Pot鈥攆or optimal results: Cooking your beans or lotus seeds on the stovetop will yield a chunkier consistency that can be hard to work with during assembly.

Traditional mooncakes with a golden, egg-washed pastry crust are normally the size of your palm. To make it more feasible for the home cook, this recipe yields mini mooncakes about 2" across. To create the intricate patterns on top, you will need to buy a mooncake mold in order to stamp on the signature designs. As an alternative, you can also use a 2" round cookie cutter to help you create a plainer-looking cake.聽

If you don鈥檛 have a scale to measure out your balls of filling and pastry dough, use a tablespoon as your guide: 1 tablespoon is about 15 grams, so a rounded tablespoon will be 18 to 20 grams. The most important thing to keep in mind is to dust your assembled balls and mooncake mold with ample cornstarch to ensure a clean release from the mold. If your cake sticks to the mold, use a gentle and even grip to help it detach.

Do you dare try your hand at this project? If you do, drop us a comment down below and let us know your tips and tricks!