Coconut Mochi are chewy little treats made with sweet rice flour and coconut milk. They are similar to the Hawaiian butter mochi but lighter in flavor.
This… my friends… is the easiest and one of my most favorite treats! Leave these out for Ryan or my mom and they will be gone in just a blink of an eye. And I just love the size of them; cute tiny little treats that you can eat in one bite, who doesn’t like that? You’ll notice that the measurement in this recipe is a little funky. The original recipe came from one of Ryan’s aunts. She makes hundreds of these during the holidays, so I scaled it down into one small batch in case you don’t want a hundred coconut mochi hanging out in the kitchen… although that can’t be a bad thing!
Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made with sweet rice (a short grain glutinous rice) which I also love and can talk about in a whole other post! So as the name suggested, this treat is made with coconut and sweet rice flour. Now make sure you get sweet rice flour and not just any rice flour. There are many different types of rice, and the one you want is SWEET RICE or GLUTINOUS RICE. I usually get Mochiko, which you can buy at any Asian market for just over a dollar. While you’re there, pick up a can of Coconut Milk too, any brand will do. These ingredients will be a whole lot cheaper at the Asian market.
These coconut mochi are also gluten free! No, I’m not jumping on the gluten free train, rice flour just happens to be naturally gluten free 🙂 . And coconut… I’m friggin’ Asian! We already have a thing for coconut right out of the womb. I love coconut, I drink the water and eat the flesh, but I still wouldn’t cook with coconut oil… it’s not necessary for all my food to smell like coconut. Or coconut ice cream… I dunno, yeah sure it’s a dairy free alternative but they should just have one flavor, COCONUT! We tried it for Ryan cuz of his lactose intolerance; I prefer the real thing even if I have to make it with lactose free milk! Somebody please make lactose free cream!
OMG that was so totally off topic, let’s just get to the recipe now! Happy baking!
Coconut Mochi Recipe
Coconut Mochi
Ingredients
- 3.2 oz by weight of Mochiko (½ cup + 2 tablespoon + 2 teaspoon)
- ½ teaspoon rounded baking powder
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter – melted
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Extra butter or nonstick spray for pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Spray a mini cupcake pan with nonstick cooking spray or brush with some melted butter. Mop up excess and set aside.
- In a small bowl, add mochiko, sugar and baking powder, whisk around to combine.
- In a medium bowl, add egg, coconut milk, melted butter and vanilla, whisk to combine.
- Add the mochiko mixture to the liquid mixture and whisk until smoothly combined, you will get a thin batter.
- Spoon about 1 tablespoon into each cupcake cavity of the prepared pan, the batter will be enough to fill 20.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 13 – 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack before removing the coconut mochi from the pan.
- Use a butter knife to loosen the coconut mochi from the side of the cupcake cavity and lift it out.
- Store in an air tight container, consume within the week.
Notes
- If you have a scale, measure 3.2 oz or 90 g of Mochiko (or sweet rice flour) for the recipe. If you don't have a scale, you can use the volume equivalent measurement of ½ cup + 2 tablespoon + 2 teaspoon.
I love this recipe! I just made it and it turned out great! I added a dash of black sesame seeds on top of the mochi batter before putting them in the oven. I baked them at 375F for 14 minutes. I actually scooped 21 mini cupcakes instead of 20 mini cupcakes from your recipe. The sides of the coconut mochi turned out golden in color and there weren’t much crumbs when I did the toothpick check in the center of the mochi. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
So tasty, Trang! I doubled the recipe because I knew they would be popular. My only change was that I used 1/2 the amount of sugar. I made sure to lightly push the batter into the cups to avoid of any air pockets that others experienced, and that seemed to do the trick. Thanks for a great recipe!
Is it possible to add fruit to this recipe?
I think fruits might release too much juice making it too watery when baked.
Hi! Thank you for this simple yet tasty recipe! Everyone loved it! The only problem I had was after taking them out of the oven, they all deflated and sunk in. What is the reason for that?
Hi Priscilla, did you beat the batter too much? I haven’t run into this issue personally but I do see pictures from readers sometimes and noticed this. I usually make this recipe by hand and not in a mixer or electric mixer. Make sure to use good baking powder, one that hasn’t expired yet.
If I were to add 1 can of evaporated milk how much of rice flour should I add?
Hey Angelique, this is a really big modification to the recipe and unfortunately, I can’t really give you an exact answer. When you change the liquid ratio, you also need to change how much eggs to add because the eggs bind the ingredients together, the amount of sugar, and other additional ingredients. Without testing this, I don’t know what else will need to change. But my Hawaiian Butter Mochi uses evaporated milk and coconut milk, it’s made in much larger quantity, maybe this would be more in line with what you’re looking for.
Hi! Look forward to trying this! Do you use the canned coconut milk which is thick and very coconuty or the more watery coconut Luik that comes in half gallon containers and is more watery?
HI Sarah, I use canned coconut milk.
I love this mochi recipe and am so glad to have found it. thank you. Yes they are chewy and the added baking powder lightens the texture so they are a softer chewy than regular. I adjust the amount of sugar for my desired sweetness. Often I use coconut sugar. I love the flavor of coconut milk, eggs, ghee and vanilla. I delight in the custard flavor in something I can hold in my fingers!
Thanks Robin, I’m glad you like these!
I’ve made these multiple times! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My 10 year old son requests this all the time. My 12 year old niece just requested I make this for her birthday party. I’ve followed this to the “T” and comes out perfect every single time.
can i make this in a tray instead? i don’t own a muffin pan
One batch will probably fit in a 9″x5″ loaf pan, but too small for an 8″x8″ square pan, you might want to double the recipe if using a bigger pan. The baking time will need to be increased when you baking in a tray, 20 – 30 minutes, possibly, but watch your oven and check doneness with a toothpick.
I’ll have to try again, my first attempt I think the baking powder was old or the coconut milk wasn’t right. Do you mix the thick stuff in the canned coconut milk back into the liquid before adding it to the recipe?
Still delicious♡
Yes, you have to shake the can to make sure the cream and the water in the coconut milk are completely mixed before using.
They are currently in the oven and as i started cleaning up the bench i found the melted butter… hopefully they’ll still turn out ok. If not, try again.
How did they turn out Carine? I hope still delicious!
Does “3.2 oz 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon + 2 teaspoon of Mochiko (sweet rice flour)” mean 3.2 oz AND 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of Mochiko? Or is is 3.2 oz OR 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of Mochiko?
Can’t wait to try to make these!
Thanks! 🙂
If you have a scale, measure out 3.2 oz by weight, OR use the cup/tbsp/tsp measurement if you don’t have a scale. Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Hi! These look SO delicious. I started making them this morning, but I noticed in the oven just now that they started cracking and puffing up. Any thoughts on why this happened?
Hi there, that sounds like not enough liquid, wondering if you may have added too much flour?
Hi! I’m thinking of making these in bulk for the holidays and am wondering if you have Ryan’s aunt’s original recipe? Thank you!
Hi Tee, I’m so sorry I don’t have the original recipe anymore. I haven’t made that particular one for years. I usually just double or triple this recipe for the holidays since I usually make tons of other things. But if you want to use the entire box of mochiko which is typically 16 oz, just multiply all the rest of the ingredients by 5! I believe that’s about how I scale it up and down. Hope it helps. Let me know if you have any trouble with it.
Thanks for the butter mocha/Babinka nod for us in Hawaii. Will try these like the individual bite size servings. But as an FYI you can try Nutiva organic steam pressed coconut oil. It has a higher flash point to organic cold pressed Virgin coconut oil and a neutral taste. They sell it here at our Costco besides their Kirkland organic cold pressed oil. You can find it it on Amazon too. Try it! I was like you didn’t like the taste in all my stuff but in baking Mochi it’s fine. But gotta have butter too And we add some grated coconut for texture too.
Kalena, thank you for all the tips! We tried butter mochi while in Oahu, and my husband is obsessed, I’d definitely need to try and make it one day, very very soon. This little bite size one is a family recipe from his aunt. It’s is a lighter kind of mochi 😉
These were SUPER delicious (and easy), and I’ll be making them over and over. Great recipe!!!
Thank you Caitlin! I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
I never have tried or made mochi before! They just look so delicious and addictive though – so I have to try out the recipe!
Thalia, I hope you do try these, they’re so easy and yummy!