Mooncakes

The girls made this recipe when we studied China. This is not a traditional Chinese recipe, but a simple way to use ordinary ingredients to make a cookie similar to a Chinese mooncake. It’s tasty—much like a shortbread cookie filled with jam.

Moon Cakes

3 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shortening
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup strawberry jam for filling

Sift together flour and salt. Set aside. Cream shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla and mix. Work in the flour. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface. Roll to about 1/8-inch thick. Cut into rounds.

Layer half of the rounds on an ungreased cookie sheet. Top each round with a teaspoon of jam.

Lay the rest of the rounds on top of the jam-covered rounds. Using your thumb (or the tines of a fork), press down to seal the edges. Prick the tops with a fork  in an X pattern. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Enjoy … and you might want to make a double batch. These went quickly at our house!