... so Mochi is a hot thing these days.

I've seen a few recipes for Mochi baked goods and of course, anytime Trader Joe's food goes viral it's a sign to try something out. Of course, here in Canada we don't have Trader Joe's so here are 3 Mochi Recipes I've tried and how its gone. Yum, yum, Mochi!

I've always enjoyed baking but since I stopped eating refined sugar in 2017 I haven't baked much. In the past year I'm back on the sugar train so I've started to do some baking again, mostly for others. I've been getting more into Asian cooking and baking since I miss those flavour profiles, and I've been enjoying finding the North American Asian authors. It's been fun to explore and experiment. Mochi is having a moment so here's how my Mochi madness has been going..

The first mochi recipe I baked Eat Cho Food's Pumpkin Mochi Muffins. I made it back in the fall for a group event. It was a cool concept, albeit a little difficult to execute.. I found extracting the muffins from the muffin tins was quite difficult despite oiling the heck out of the tin. The muffins were nice and chewy, but a bit too oily and the pumpkin spice flavour wasn't strong enough. I wouldn't bake these again.

I was intrigued by the idea of a Matcha Mochi Muffin. I looked up several recipes and toyed with the idea for awhile but I didn't have matcha powder. Finally in January I bought matcha powder and settled on this recipe.. it turned out FABULOUSLY! Dang this was significantly better than the previous mochi muffins. Would highly recommend this recipe. The only downside to this recipe was that the beautifully crunchy top of the muffin flattens after one day in an airtight container. Flavour is amazing but I find they don't store super well. This recipe made a bunch of muffins and I was able to share with friends. I would have added a bit more Matcha next time as I found the green tea flavour not quite as strong as I wanted. I'd love to know if this batter would freeze well? Since the crunchyness of the freshly baked muffins is so delightful it would be convenient if the batter could be frozen or stored in the fridge and the muffins baked whenever you get a craving!

Yesterday I spontaneously made a Mochi Brownie recipe! I had some leftover glutinous rice powder in my pantry and I need to bring something to a party so I spontaneously whipped them up! It was super interesting to try this recipe, it's fairly easy to make and wasn't a "muffin" recipe. Honestly, this was a super interesting experience. I do not associate the chewy mochi texture with the taste of a brownie so it was a bit strange at first. My first few bites were confusing to my brain because I expected the cakey texture of a brownie and it was much more chewy. But in the end I did really enjoy this recipe, and the nice thing about the brownie style is the pain of removing the muffins from the muffin tins is non existent. Also I found that the chocolate sprinkled on top meant that the crispiness didn't flatten after the first day so I enjoyed these the second day without feeling like they had gone "flat" like I did with the muffins. I would make these again! I shared these with a few friends and they all liked the brownies! Overall they were a hit.

 TIP:

Alot of recipes, especially recipes that come from the US, call for Mochiko flour. Mochiko flour is a special brand of glutinous rice flour that is important from Japan. I've never seen this rice flour sold here in Canada, at least not in my town. At first, this was a big deterrent to making Mochi stuff. No one wants to try a risky substitute and ruin a whole batch of baking. Do not fear, I found that the Erwan Glutinous Rice flour (green label brand) has been an equal substitute to the Mochiko. I used this brand in the Matcha Mochi muffin recipe instead of Mochiko and it turned out just fine. I'm sure the Mochiko flour is nicer, but if its not available please don't let that hold you back from yummy Mochi baking! Happy Baking!