Mochi Muffins
Thanks to an incredibly diverse and thriving food scene here in Seattle, we’ve been having a lot of fun trying different restaurants and have been blown away by their excellence. However, there are one or two items we do miss from the San Francisco Bay area. I recently tried to recreate one of our favorite missed treats, the Mochi Muffin.
According to the Third Culture website, “The Mochi Muffin® is slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, and it has deep flavors of caramel, brown butter, and coconut.” I first tried a mochi muffin at Boba Guys and was blown away. The texture difference and combination of the outside and inside was really pleasant, the flavor was complex yet balanced, and the sweetness level was just right.
I searched for recipes online, and I believe I’ve found one that comes pretty close to the ones I tried at Boba Guys.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup (2 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled completely
2 cups (320 g) Mochiko sweet rice flour
1 cup (200 g) packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 can (13 oz) of full-fat coconut milk
2 large eggs (room temperature, set out for about 20 minutes)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp honey or molasses
At least 1 1/2 Tbsp each of regular and black sesame seeds (more if you prefer)
Steps:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. You’ll want the tops of the muffins to be in the middle of the oven, so depending on how your oven is designed, you may even want to place the rack one level below the exact middle to account for the height of the muffin tin.
Butter the sides, bottoms, AND entire top of a 12-cup muffin tin. Mochi muffins are really difficult to remove from the tin if you don’t butter the top of the tin as well.
In a medium bowl, whisk the sweet rice flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Break apart any lumps of brown sugar.
In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, add the melted butter, coconut milk, eggs, vanilla, and honey (or molasses). Whisk together.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet (one large spoonful at a time) and mix until completely combined.
Divide the batter into the muffin tin. Only fill each cup to the top. Do not let it dome past the top.
Sprinkle regular and black sesame seeds on top of each filled cup.
Bake 50-55 minutes until the top is brown and crispy AND the muffin springs back when poked with a finger. Bake less for chewier texture. You don’t need to test doneness with a toothpick with this recipe.
Let cool 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. I’ve found that a metal icing spatula really helps with this process.
Store in an airtight container. You’ll lose some of the crispiness on the outside of the muffin, but a quick reheat in the oven to toast it will help.
I’ve already made a few batches and have shared them with our neighbors as well as my aunt, uncle, and cousin who live nearby in Shoreline. They’ve been a fun novel treat to share, and I always love hearing people’s reactions to their first time trying the mochi muffins. I’ve also found that they travel really well, which has been handy for short roadtrips with a toddler as well as socially distant food drop-offs during the time of Covid.
