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butter mochi

June 18, 2013

DSC_6874 Butter mochi! The subject of my third and final installment of this little series on Hawaiian foods (parts 1 and 2 were on ahi poke and Spam musubi). I love all the ways that Hawaii is a blend of Asian and Western influences — when it comes to food, it can only mean good things. For instance, I’m not the biggest fan of traditional Asian mochi, like the Chinese nian gao with red bean paste, because it’s a bit too chewy and bland for me. But when amped up with more sugar and a whole (!) stick of butter, the Hawaiian version becomes pretty delicious.

Here is the recipe, below, which I got from Bowl #2’s Hawaii friend’s mom (which seems to be happening a lot).   This is his family’s prize recipe — so, in retrospect, it was really extremely kind of him to share it with me.  He makes this for every Hawaii party he throws on the mainland, and has jazzed it up with mango, bourbon, coconut flakes, you name it.  So, though I may not have the tradition behind me, he does — and it definitely, definitely shows.  This butter mochi is serious.  The crispy edge pieces are my absolute favorite and unbelievably addictive.  (Be warned, though, that the edges are by far the best straight out of the oven, and though they will stay nice and crisp at room temperature, if refrigerated, they will become chewy.  I won’t say whether that’s an instruction to eat every single edge piece in one sitting … or whether I personally did that.)  Once refrigerated, you can go all out and reheat pieces by panfrying in a skillet to regain a bit of crispness.  You might as well — this isn’t health food!

Butter Mochi
2 cups milk
1 can (15 oz) coconut milk
1 stick (113 grams or 4 oz) unsalted butter, melted
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
2 3/4 cups (16 oz) mochiko flour
2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
2. Whisk together milk, coconut milk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, sift together sugar, mochiko flour, and baking powder.
3. Gently mix together wet and dry ingredients until fully incorporated.  There may be a few lumps, but if mixed for a few more seconds should dissolve on their own.
4. Pour into a lightly greased 9×12 baking dish.
5. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees, until brown at the edges and golden brown on top. Sometimes it needs extra time, especially if you like the edges to be particularly crispy. The batter will also rise significantly, but will settle after cooling.

Notes:  Our friend suggested several tablespoons of bourbon, and also noted that he sometimes uses coconut flakes (in which case he decreases the amount of sugar.) I also read myself that some like to omit coconut milk altogether (since it tends to be quite rich) in favor of using all milk with a few teaspoons of coconut extract. Lastly, I used whole milk, but might recommend skim, since others have noted that it doesn’t lessen the taste. Probably a wise choice in light of the butter.

Edit (12.27.13): Over Christmas we made a quarter of this recipe in two miniature pie pans (like these, available on Amazon) and loved it. (This way every piece is an edge piece! YES.) I used these proportions: 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp coconut milk, 1/4 stick (2 tbsp) butter, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp white sugar, 1/2 cup mochiko flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder. Divide batter between pie pans and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown on top. It will dome like crazy but will settle down just fine once out of the oven, and should not spill over. I also used almond milk the second time, and added a bit of whiskey — both did excellently.

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view more: celebrations & gatherings· desserts· fall· gluten-free

Previous Post: « spicy ahi poke, inspired by foodland
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  1. cococakeland

    June 9, 2014 at 7:57 pm

    cynthia!!! i am so stoked to have found your hawaii series!! I am MAD about hawaiian/asian food, too – my plan is to make spam musubi for my dad for father’s day! mmmm love this butter mochi and i want to TRY it! xoxo

    Reply
  2. Vina

    July 30, 2014 at 7:04 pm

    Tried this and it turned out great! Made them in mini-muffin pans and had enough crispy edges per bite

    Reply
  3. Vina

    August 1, 2014 at 1:52 am

    How much coconut milk in a can? I used the quartered recipe as a guide earlier

    Reply
    • tworedbowls

      August 1, 2014 at 9:53 am

      Hi Vina! Most brands of coconut milk I’ve come across sell 13.6 ounce cans, which was why I used about 3 ounces in the quartered recipe (1/4 cup is 2 ounces and 2 tbsp is 1 ounce). It’s technically a little less than a quarter of a can, but I didn’t find that it made too much of a difference for me. Hope that helps!

      Also, I just saw your comment above — I’M SO GLAD that it worked out well for you!! That makes my day! Making them in mini muffin pans is genius. Crispy edges galore 🙂

      Reply
  4. Sandra Akina

    September 11, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    Aloha kaka I aka!!
    We always called this Hanabuttah mochi because before it’s cooked it looks like hupe (runny snot) hahaha!!

    Reply
  5. Jeanette

    December 5, 2014 at 8:38 am

    Where can I get mochi rice flour? I check some oriental market in New York n they don’t carry it.

    Reply
    • tworedbowls

      December 5, 2014 at 9:03 am

      Hi Jeanette! You may want to look for “sweet rice flour” or “glutinous rice flour” — I know that the H-Mart on 32nd Street carries sacks of sweet rice flour, and I believe Hong Kong Supermarket in Chinatown does as well. Also, Bob’s Red Mill makes smaller bags of sweet rice flour, though I think that’s a bit pricier, and you might be able to find that in a Key Foods supermarket. Hope that helps!

      Reply
      • Anonymous

        December 5, 2014 at 1:02 pm

        Thanks for the info. I’ll check those stores.

        Reply
    • Michael D.

      October 6, 2016 at 1:27 am

      Amazon, I got 3 boxes, free freight for 16.99

      Reply
  6. m

    May 22, 2015 at 9:35 am

    Ooh mochi. How can I adapt your mochi recipe to make “Bubbies” mochi ice cream? (Another sensation from Hawaii!)

    Reply
    • tworedbowls

      May 22, 2015 at 12:03 pm

      Hi m!!! For Bubbies-style mochi ice cream, I think you would actually want to go with this mochi recipe: https://tworedbowls.com/2014/02/03/red-bean-mochi/ and instead of the red bean paste in that recipe, use balls of ice cream! That mochi recipe is more pliable and stretchy so you can fold it around ice cream. Let me know how it goes if you try it!!

      Reply
  7. kharise

    January 26, 2016 at 12:49 am

    I’m going to try making these for Chinese/Lunar New Year. I love butter mochi, so exciting. Has anyone tried this recipe using skim milk or almond milk?

    Reply
  8. Jessie Syd Weinberger

    April 3, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    I made the full recipe two days ago. I got distracted and left out the butter. I did put in 5 eggs, 1 can of high-quality coconut milk (no additives) and 2 cups of 2% milk. It tasted like it is supposed to taste, and some of my friends liked it better with the much lower fat content.

    Omitting the butter may be why my edges did not stay crisp.

    Reply
  9. Dave

    May 16, 2016 at 11:08 pm

    I think you have an error in your recipe. A 16oz box of mochi flour is about 4 cups by volume. I think you mixed up weight ounces and fluid ounces. Having made a few recipes I’m sure you meant 16oz not 16floz.

    Reply
    • tworedbowls

      May 16, 2016 at 11:17 pm

      Hi Dave,

      Thank you so much for catching that! You are so right, that was a typo. In my experience mochiko flour is a bit heavier than all-purpose and comes out to about 2 3/4 cups or thereabouts — which is what I meant to type. Thanks again for the heads-up!

      Reply
  10. Jocelyn

    September 6, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    Made the quarter recipe and perfectly filled a mini muffin pan! So easy and so yummy. Thank you!!

    Reply
  11. Christine

    November 2, 2016 at 1:24 pm

    Thanks for this recipe! Because we have so many different sizes of butter in the store, how much exactly is one stick of butter in this recipe — 250g?

    Reply
    • tworedbowls

      November 2, 2016 at 1:35 pm

      Hi Christine, great question! It is 113g or 4 oz. I have updated the recipe accordingly.

      Reply
  12. Mabel

    September 11, 2019 at 10:44 pm

    Regarding the almond milk substitution, just to confirm, you substituted the coconut milk with almond milk? I’m looking into substituting the coconut milk too, as it tends to have a pretty strong flavor, but I love the texture of rice flour!

    Reply
    • tworedbowls

      September 13, 2019 at 8:59 pm

      Yes, exactly! You should be able to substitute any milk you like. It will just be a bit less rich.

      Reply
  13. Willa

    December 24, 2019 at 6:16 pm

    I’ve made this recipe many times now, and it’s always a hit! I recently added about 5TB of thawed passion fruit puree into the batter (for a halved recipe), and glazed the baked butter mochi with a mix of powdered sugar and more passion fruit puree. Absolutely delicious!!!

    Reply
  14. Veronica

    February 28, 2020 at 8:48 pm

    Hello,

    I just came across this recipe and will love to make it, but can I make this with less sugar? I am not a big fan of things that are too sweet. Will it make a difference if I use less sugar?

    Reply
    • tworedbowls

      March 1, 2020 at 9:53 am

      Yes! I haven’t tried it myself, but you should be able to reduce the sugar by a third at least, if not half, without changing the recipe too much. I would love to hear how it turns out for you if you try it.

      Reply
  15. Diana

    June 21, 2020 at 1:31 am

    When I pulled the mochi out of the oven, there was a bit of butter pooling at the top. And after I sliced into and split the mochi into two, butter oozed out a bit too. Did this happen to you/how to prevent or what to do? Thanks!

    Reply
  16. imJay

    May 17, 2015 at 6:13 pm

    10/10 nice plaits

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How to make Spam musubi! | Two Red Bowls says:
    December 2, 2013 at 4:14 pm

    […] make him his favorite Hawaiian foods.  We had a little feast of spam musubi, spicy ahi poke, and butter mochi for dessert.  Here’s the first recipe of the three — spam […]

    Reply
  2. Homemade mak (“easy”) kimchi. | Two Red Bowls says:
    December 4, 2013 at 9:59 am

    […] made from water and sweet rice flour (also known as mochiko flour, the same kind used to make butter mochi), and helps distribute the flavor evenly across all the leaves.    This sweet rice porridge […]

    Reply
  3. Merry Christmas! » Two Red Bowls says:
    December 30, 2013 at 11:31 am

    […] time to make some bacon pancakes.  (And butter mochi!  If we can’t actually be in Hawaii for Christmas, we sure can […]

    Reply
  4. Happy Lunar New Year! (And mochi!) » Two Red Bowls says:
    January 31, 2014 at 10:15 am

    […] made in the past were nian gao, which is a bit cakier, since it’s baked uncovered, and butter mochi, which is quite a bit oilier, because … butter. These are made tightly covered with foil, and […]

    Reply
  5. Pudding, Mousse, Etc. | Recetas Favoritas says:
    May 23, 2014 at 7:11 am

    […] Butter Mochi […]

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  6. 4 recipes to teach you how to make butter mochi recipe | Mochihub.com says:
    October 6, 2014 at 11:48 am

    […] See the full recipe here. […]

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Cynthia

An avid eater and dabbling food-maker living in California with my husband, “Bowl #2,” and our baby bowls, Luke, Clara, and Fiona.

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