The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Shen's Restaurant has recently attracted a new group of customers by having children come to guess riddles.

Shen Cao suddenly thought of the various festival activities in her previous life, and she decided to launch a limited-edition Mid-Autumn Festival dish.

In her previous life, the most common food eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival was mooncakes, and she also planned to make some mooncakes to sell in the next few days.

In her past life, her favorite foods were lotus seed paste and salted egg yolk mooncakes, as well as fresh meat mooncakes from the South.

So she plans to make two flavors: a classic lotus seed paste and salted egg yolk mooncake, and a fresh meat mooncake.

There were salted duck egg yolks she had bought before in her refrigerator.

Just recently, she used her past life's experience to build an ancient-style oven in the courtyard, which she could use to bake mooncakes.

She first took out the salted egg yolks and sprinkled some wine on the surface of each yolk to remove the fishy smell.

Then arrange the egg yolks neatly on the iron tray.

She had preheated the oven with firewood for a while beforehand, and she had already dried the oven's cavity when she finished cooking.

After burning about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the firewood inside the oven was removed. The temperature inside the oven was only about 150 degrees Celsius. Then, she placed the tray containing the duck egg yolks into the oven.

Cover the oven cavity with a lid and bake for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

The duck egg yolks started to ooze oil after baking, and their texture was softer than before baking; they would crumble easily with a gentle press.

It will definitely taste sandy when you eat it. Just thinking about the texture made Shen Cao unable to resist trying one. Sure enough, it was sandy and delicious.

She then used a stone mill to grind the lotus seeds that she had soaked overnight into lotus seed paste.

Pour the ground lotus seed paste into a pot and stir-fry slowly over medium-low heat, adding cooking oil as you stir-fry. Once the lotus seed paste changes color, reduce the heat to low and stir-fry while adding maltose and sugar.

Continue until the lotus seed paste clumps together to become lotus seed paste.

Let the cooked lotus seed paste cool, then divide it into small, equal portions of round balls. The lotus seed paste filling is now ready.

Making mooncake crusts requires alkaline water. She seemed to have baking soda in her storage space, and she made some alkaline water by diluting the baking soda with water.

If you don't have baking soda, you can make lye water using wood ash. Simply add clean wood ash to water and stir, then let it settle for a while. The clear water on top is the lye water.

She uses honey, oil, flour, and lye water to make the crust for traditional mooncakes.

Pour an appropriate amount of honey, oil, and alkaline water into a bowl and stir. Since the alkaline water can emulsify the oil, stir until the honey, oil, and alkaline water are fully emulsified and turn into a pale yellow milky white liquid before adding the flour.

The mooncake dough is now ready. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for about an hour before you can wrap the mooncakes.

She specially asked her father to make her a mooncake dough.

Cut the dough into equal portions, and then roll each portion into a wrapper.

Add the previously prepared lotus seed paste filling, then add an egg yolk in the center of the lotus seed paste filling, and then wrap the filling with dough.

Finally, place it into the mooncake dough and press it into shape.

Shen Cao looked at the mooncakes in front of her, all the same size and with the character "Shen" written on them, and found them very cute.

She preheated the oven for half an hour beforehand, at which point the temperature inside the oven chamber was about 180 degrees Celsius. She brushed a layer of egg wash onto the surface of each mooncake, which would give the baked mooncakes a better color and make them look shiny and very tempting.

After baking for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the mooncakes are ready to be taken out of the oven.

She carefully took the mooncakes out of the oven. Except for a few darker spots near the oven wall, the other mooncakes were yellowish-brown with a shiny crust, looking very tempting.

She took a sniff, and a sweet aroma wafted up, similar to the smell of dessert shops from her previous life.

The Shen family members had already gathered around Shen Cao, and Shen Wan couldn't wait to ask, "Sister, what delicious food have you made?"

"Mooncakes, the Mid-Autumn Festival is all about eating mooncakes."

"Look at these mooncakes, aren't they round like the moon in the sky?" Shen Cao affectionately touched her younger sister's nose.

Shen Wan looked down at the mooncakes on the table, then looked up at the moon in the sky. "They look similar, but the moon isn't as round as these mooncakes."

There are still two days until the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the moon is not yet at its fullest.

Shen Cao took a few small plates, put a mooncake on each plate, and handed them to her family members one by one.

"You guys have a taste."

Shen Qing took the plate and took a bite, but it was so hot that he quickly spat it out. "Hot, so hot."

"Of course it's hot. It's just cooked. Can't you be more careful?" Shen Wan said to Shen Qing in a mature manner.

"Look, blow on it, take small bites, and it won't be too hot."

Shen Qing imitated Shen Wan, eating the mooncake in small bites.

Sweet and soft, the crust is slightly harder than the filling. Freshly baked mooncakes have a slightly less texture than cooled ones, but the filling is not as sweet, making them taste even better.

Halfway through the meal, Shen Qing noticed there was an egg yolk. He didn't like egg yolks, so he frowned and considered giving it to his father.

Shen Cao stopped him when she saw it, "Try it, this is salted egg yolk, it's different from the egg yolk you usually eat. This one tastes sandy, slightly salty, and oily."

Shen Qing looked at the mooncake on the plate that he had bitten into half of, revealing the egg yolk. Sure enough, the surface of the egg yolk was oozing some oil, which had soaked into the lotus seed paste filling. It did look more tempting than an egg yolk.

He first took a small sip, and as soon as it entered his mouth, his eyes lit up.

His sister hadn't lied to him; this tasted even better than egg yolk.

He took another big bite, consuming the salted egg yolk mixed with lotus seed paste.

The saltiness of the salted egg yolk perfectly balances the sweetness of the lotus seed paste, making it taste even better than before without the salted egg yolk.

Shen Cao quickly finished a mooncake, then remembered that her older brother hadn't eaten yet.

He took a mooncake and a cup of tea, and carried them to his elder brother's study.

In the study, Shen Chen was engrossed in reading a book.

He saw Shen Cao come in and put down his book.

Staring at what Shen Cao was holding.

"Is this what you just made?"

"Yes, brother, you should try it."

Shen Chen picked up the mooncake and examined it carefully, but did not rush to put it in his mouth.

"what is this?"

"moon cake."

He held up the mooncake and compared it to the moon in the sky through the window.

"That does fit its name; enjoying the moon and eating mooncakes is elegant."

Shen Cao never expected that just mentioning a name would lead her older brother to combine mooncakes and moon gazing.

Indeed, scholars have refined tastes.

"Big brother is clever. This mooncake is meant to be eaten while admiring the moon, symbolizing family reunion."

"Little sister, just how many bizarre ideas are you thinking of? Are you planning to sell these mooncakes?"

Shen Cao mentally gave her older brother a thumbs up; he was indeed clever.

"Have a taste."

Shen Chen ate the mooncake slowly, drinking the tea prepared by Shen Cao as he ate. Before he knew it, he had finished the mooncake.

After finishing his meal, he suddenly felt inspired and composed a poem while looking at the moon.

He didn't know that it was because of this poem that he had a better opportunity.