Beijing Eight (Traditional Pastry)

Beijing pastry enjoys a high reputation throughout the world. It was a necessary gift in significant ceremonies as well as the daily life of the royal family during the Qing Dynasty, and then was spread from court to common people. Nowadays, during every Chinese New Year, there will be a long row of people in front of the pastry counters or exclusive shops. In other words, Beijing Eight has become a highlight among the list of New Year goods for people.

Beijing Eight has two different names, namely, Big Eight and Little Eight. The number eight means the stuffing of pastries is made up of eight materials, while the pastry with a bigger size is called Big Eight and the smaller size is called Little Eight. The weight of Big Eight is one jin (500g) in general, while the Little Eight is half jin.

The wrapper of “Beijing Eight” is made of: flour, white sugar, soda water and Shaoxing rice wine; then the pastry is filled with stuffing, and finally baked. The stuffing can be divided into eight categories: the upper four categories are hawthorn fine cake, rose fine cake, white sugar fine cake, and grape fine cake which are baked into golden yellow in color. The lower four categories are pepper paste, jujube paste, sweetened bean paste with peach, and green plum which are baked into creamy white in color.

Beijing Eight can be divided into crisp Big Eight, cream Little Eight and wine fine eight. They are stuffed with pastries, but their differences lie in these aspects that the crisp Big Eight needs twice the dough mixing, a layer of flour a layer of crispness, and that the cream Little Eight belongs to hard wrapper pastries, and needs only one dough mixing with an adequate amount of rice wine, randy, or fresh milk respectively, thus both having the flavors of wine and milk. In addition, their sizes are slightly smaller than the Big Eight, and their patterns are less pronounced than those of the Big Eight.