Butterrrrrrrr Mochi

Growing up, we ate a lot of mochi in my house.  Mochi is a traditional Japanese rice cake made with glutinous rice flour and has a kind of chewy texture.  While I really like the chewy, dense texture, I don't actually like mochi all that much.  Gasp.  I know. Not usual for an Asian person.  I think I liked mochi well enough when I was younger, but then I started going to school and learned about chips and chocolate bars and became a little sugar addicted.  

Once while in Hawaii I had a little dessert called Butter Mochi and suddenly mochi was back on the map for me.  Butter mochi consists of butter, coconut milk, condensed milk and sugar.  The best part of butter mochi is that still has that nice dense, chewy texture in addition to a coconut and buttery flavor.  So without further ado, here it is.

This recipe was sent to me by my friend Eunice.  She's one of those fortunate souls who grew up eating this in Hawaii and didn't have to discover it later in life as an adult.  Feel free to search around on the internet for other variations of this recipe.  There is a difference between Butter Mochi and Butter Mochi CAKE.  The cake recipe is not as chewy and is more like actual cake.

  

1 lb mochiko (Japanese glutinous rice flour) 2.5 cups sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs, beaten 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk 1 can (14.5 oz) evaporated milk

I always use real butter and real vanilla. I also use unrefined cane sugar. Why?

This is a super quick recipe so be sure to pre-heat your oven to 350ºF before you start so it will be hot enough to start baking.

If you've never worked with mochiko flour, it looks like this. It's super fine. 

Oh, Mickey you're so fine...

In a large bowl, combine all your dry ingredients:
mochiko flour
sugar
baking powder
Use a wire whisk or fork to mix all your dry ingredients together.

In another bowl, whisk all your wet ingredients together.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix well.

Lastly,  I zap the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Pour into your batter and whisk well.

I use a glass 13 x 9 x 3 inch pan.  You can butter the bottom and sides or use baking spray like Pam. 

Pour your batter into the baking pan.

I like to give it gentle tap or two to make sure the air bubbles escape and pop into the oven.

50-60 minutes on 350F.

The butter mochi ends up with a nice browned top crust. Wait about an hour before cutting.

I like to cut up into little bite sized squares for eating.

Mmmmmm.

If you want to make individual mini muffin versions of this, you can use a mini muffin tin.  Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes.  Enjoy!