BEIJING, Sept. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- once summer is over, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese festival, is drawing closer. For thousands of years, it has been a traditional custom all over China to enjoy the full moon and moon cakes with family members.

There are many distinctive traditional recipes across China and most of them are made with a lot of sugar and polyunsaturated oil. The intake of high sugar and seeds oil will lead to a number of health risks. How can we enjoy the delicious moon cakes and maintain a healthy diet at the same time?

@Ayao, a Famous Gourmet expert and Popular Gourmet blogger brings two simple and easy recipes of moon cake with Olive Oil from Spain.

Red bean paste moon cake / Lotus seed paste moon cake with salted egg yolk

Ingredients:

²  Crust of Moon cake: extra virgin olive oil from Spain, plain flour, syrup, edible alkaline water

²  Filling of Moon cake: yolk of salted eggs, lotus paste, red bean paste

Cooking process:

Combine the syrup, edible alkaline water and extra virgin olive oil from Spain in a large bowl and stir well. To blend with the flour later, remember to mix the liquid well. Sift the flour into the mixture.

Gently fold and press, while turning the bowl counterclockwise until the flour and liquid have mixed well, then slowly knead it. Cover it with plastic wrap, and set it aside for 1-2 hours.

The size of the moon cake mold is 50g, so each cake crust is 15g and the filling is 35g.

For red bean paste moon cake, weigh out 35g of red bean paste directly;

For lotus seed paste moon cake with salted egg yolk, weigh out the salted egg yolks and the lotus seed paste, a total of 35g.

Slowly round and line up the filling. Cover with plastic wrap to retain moisture.

After the crust relaxed, weigh and divide it into 15g each portion.

Take a portion of the crust and flatten it to the thickness as much as possible. Then put the filling in the middle of the crust. Slowly close the crust to make the filling wrapped in the crust and roll into a ball.

Brush the inside of moon cake mold with olive oil to prevent sticking. Insert the dough into the mold and press to form.

Heat the oven to 180 degrees, bake the moon cake for 5 minutes to set the pattern of the moon cakes. Then lightly brush the surface of the moon cake with a thin layer of egg yolk liquid, and bake it at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes.

The moon cake will taste softer after 1-2 days. When the crust becomes oily and shiny, it is the best time to eat.

Ayao mentioned that as a gourmet expert and blogger, she had learnt a lot about global cuisine over the years, but when talking about the healthy diet, the first thing that comes to her mind is the Mediterranean diet. As we all know, olive oil is widely known as a very healthy cooking oil, rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, also known as "healthy fatty acids", which can effectively reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Now, extra virgin olive oil from Europe, specifically from Spain, has become a good cooking partner to Ayao. "Extra virgin olive oil from Spain is a kind of cooking oil, and there is no difference between extra virgin olive oil and other cooking oils in cooking methods, it can be applied all over your life and you can get started quickly. Olive oil actually works well with our traditional Chinese pastries. Besides, extra virgin olive oil has a smooth taste and unique fruity flavor, which helps to enhance the flavor of moon cakes. In the meantime, this liquid gold will protect your health."