Chewy Hawaiian Butter Mochi

Mini Hawaiian Butter Mochi recipe lightly sweetened with condensed milk with hints of vanilla & coconut. Chewy on the inside with crispy and crunchy edges on the outside!

My favorite part of this Hawaiian butter mochi treat is the crispy edges and the satisfying chewiness in the center. Whenever I make this, everyone always seems to fight for the corner pieces so why not bake this in a muffin tin so that everyone gets corner pieces?

If you have never had butter mochi, I highly urge you to give it a try, do keep in mind that they are lightly sweetened so they are not as indulgent as a fudgy brownie but they are wonderful with a cup of tea/coffee or as an afternoon snack.

If you look at my list of desserts, you'll notice that I also love using condensed milk to sweeten them. It gives any desserts a more buttery-rich flavor and it gives it an amazing scent that wafts throughout the house. If you have extra condensed milk, try using it on our easy moist banana bread that uses yellow roasted bananas!

What is Hawaiian Butter Mochi?

Butter mochi originates from Hawaii and is a popular snack made with Mochiko flour (sweet rice flour), sugar, eggs, and coconut milk. They are traditionally baked in a square or rectangular baking pan and cut into squares. They are typically crispy on the outside, chewy, and buttery in the middle. What makes butter mochi stand out from any other brownie or bar is its satisfying and chewy center combined with its coconut and vanilla flavor.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Coconut Cream - I like to use coconut cream over coconut milk because I find that it has a stronger coconut flavor and it contains a bit more fat as well which gives the cakes a crisper texture. If you cannot find coconut cream, try to find coconut milk with a higher fat content - I find those are generally thicker and have a stronger coconut flavor.
• Sweet Rice Flour (glutinous rice flour) - I like to use Koda Farms Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour for this recipe and I find that it produces the best results from all the glutinous rice flours I have used, but depending on where you are, it may be more difficult to find.  ( Note : Although it is labeled as ' Sweet Rice Flour' this is still glutinous rice flour.) If you cannot find this particular brand in the store, please see below in the next section for my recommendation for what to substitute it with along with the changes you may need to make. Make sure you are using glutinous rice flour and not just rice flour.
• Sweetened Condensed Milk - To sweeten this mochi cake, I like to use sweetened condensed milk. I find it gives the butter mochi a bit more of a creamy flavor and it's just the right amount of sweetness without being overly sweet.
• Eggs - I use large eggs for all my cooking and baking. I like to use room-temperature eggs for this recipe because I find it makes the edges crispier since the batter is at room temperature before it goes into the oven.
• Vanilla - I like to use real vanilla extract but artificial vanilla extract works just well for this recipe.
• Unsalted Butter - This ingredient should not be substituted, since it gives the cake its butteriness and flavor.

What Can I Substitute for Mochiko?

I still highly recommend using Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour to make the crispiest and chewiest butter mochi but I understand that it can be hard to find depending on where you live. I myself sometimes have a hard time finding it as well since they are always sold out where I live, so I have tested this recipe with the other brands and types of glutinous rice flours, mainly the more common ones that come in a plastic bag packaging that comes from Thailand and I'm glad to say that the recipe can be substituted with it with minor tweaks to the recipe.

• Make sure you are purchasing glutinous rice flour and not rice flour. Usually, the glutinous rice flour ones are packaged with green writing and the rice flour is packaged with red writing.
• Make sure to check how much flour comes in each bag. Most of the bagged glutinous rice flour from Thailand comes in 1 lb bags (16 oz) but some brands come with 50 gm less flour so you may need to adjust the amount of milk you add to the recipe to make sure the batter is not runny. Instead of adding 1 cup of milk, add the milk ¼ cup at a time until you get a pancake batter consistency. Coat the back of a wooden spoon with the batter, and run your finger through the batter. If it leaves a clear line like the photo below, then you're good. If the line doesn't form, the batter may be too runny and you have put too much milk.
  
• Butter mochi cake is very forgiving. My assumption is because of the texture of this cake - it's chewy and holds moisture well from the rice flour's starchiness, so it's kinda hard to mess up that texture with minor substitutions. As long as your end product has the consistency of a pancake batter - you're good!
• Keep in mind that the bagged glutinous rice flour is not a perfect substitution but it's pretty darn close and honestly just as tasty. The biggest difference I noticed is that butter mochi made with the bagged glutinous rice flour is a little less chewy.

How to Make Hawaiian Butter Mochi

1. Combine the Wet Ingredients Except for the Milk - Melt the butter and coconut cream in the microwave for a few seconds (Approximately 45 seconds but do this 10-15 seconds at a time, butter goes NUTS in the microwave - I did this for 60 seconds straight and half the butter ended up outside of the bowl. Cleaning up butter is not fun.) Add the melted butter and cream into a large bowl and condensed milk, vanilla, and mix well. Add in the eggs 1 at a time and mix well.
2. Add in the Dry Ingredients & Mix Well - In a large mixing bowl, add in the flour, sugar, and baking powder and mix well. At first, you will see lumps but if you keep mixing, it will become a smooth batter - No need for electric mixers, I found using the whisk was enough.
3. Add in the Milk - I added the milk last because depending on what type of flour or coconut cream/milk you use, you want to control how much milk to add to get the right consistency. You can slowly add, but you can't take it out. If you are following the recipe without substitutions then 1 cup of milk is good, but if you substitute the coconut cream for coconut milk then add in ¼ cup of milk at a time until you reach a nice pancake batter consistency. Run your fingers through the batter and if it holds its shape and it's not too runny and not too thick then you're good! I actually found that if you let your batter rest for 15-20 minutes, it gave the cakes an even better texture!
4. Butter the Muffin Tin & Bake - If you're as obsessed as me, then you want maximum crispiness. Muffin tin all the way for this. Butter your muffin tins liberally and pour approximately ¼ cup of batter in each muffin cup and bake them for 45 minutes to an hour at 350F (177C) until golden brown on the middle rack in the oven. Once you are finished baking it, if you can wait that long (I couldn't!), let them cool on a wire rack before diving in so that it has a chance to form its crunchy exterior.

How to Store Butter Mochi

These keep very well in an air-tight container but make sure you keep it in the fridge since there is milk in it. They will keep for about a week.

To crisp them up again, pop them in the oven at 350F (177C) for about 15 minutes and then let it cool so that it can get crispy again. I personally think they taste even better the next day.

More Desserts You May Like

• Black Sesame Creme Brulee
• Roasted Banana Banana Bread
• Black Sesame Chocolate Ruffled Milk Pie
• Chewy Five Spice Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Black Sesame Cheese Cake
• Candy Cane Chocolate Crepe Cake

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Recipe Card

Chewy Hawaiian Butter Mochi

Mini Hawaiian Mochi recipe with crispy edges on the outside and a satisfying chewiness on the inside with hints of vanilla & coconut.

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Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Hawaiian

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

32 Mini Cakes

4.77 from 51 votes

Made with ♡ by Joyce

Joyce's Recipe Notes

• If you are not using Koda Farms Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour, the only substitution I have tested and recommend is using the bagged glutinous rice flour made from Thailand. Make sure to check how much flour comes in each bag. Most of the bagged glutinous rice flour from Thailand comes in 1 lb bags (16 oz) but some brands come with 50 gm less flour so you may need to adjust the amount of milk you add to the recipe to make sure the batter is not runny. Instead of adding 1 cup of milk, add the milk ¼ cup at a time until you get a pancake batter consistency. Coat the back of a wooden spoon with the batter, and run your finger through the batter. If it leaves a clear line, then you're good. If the line doesn't form, the batter may be too runny and you have put too much milk. Please see the blog post for a photo for example of the batter consistency.
• Try to find a high-fat content coconut milk if you are substituting it for coconut cream.
• Some coconut creams are thicker than others depending on what brand you buy. If your batter comes out too thick from the thicker coconut cream, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of milk to thin it down a bit.
• After it has been baked, make sure you let the butter mochi fully cool before eating. Letting it cool, lets the crusty outer layer get crispier and it firms up the inside so that it becomes chewier.
• If you don't have a nonstick muffin pan, grease the pan very well with butter before pouring the batter into each muffin cup. I like to grease each muffin cup with butter and coat it with coarse semolina or cornmeal before pouring the batter into each cup. Just remember to shake out the excess semolina/cornmeal into the sink so that you don't have a thick layer. The semolina/cornmeal gives each mini cake an even crispier bottom and it lets each cake easily pop out of the pan.
  

  Storage

  These keep very well in a well-sealed container but make sure you keep it in the fridge since there is milk in it. They will keep for about a week.
  To crisp them up again, pop them in the oven at 350F (177C) for about 15 minutes and then let it cool so that it can get crispy again. I personally think they taste even better the next day.

  Butter Mochi Variations

  • Salted Egg - We tried adding about 8 salted duck eggs yolks (they were about 1 inch in size) and they turned out fantastic. You will need to add 1 extra tablespoon of sugar to counterbalance the saltiness and make sure you mash them very well with a fork before you mix it in.
  • Pandan - Start by adding ½ tablespoon of pandan extract. There are a lot of different kinds of pandan extract and some are stronger than others. I have used some that were pre-sweetened and some that were very strong and floral. You can add ½ tablespoon more if your first batch wasn't strong enough.
  • Ube - Add in 1 tablespoon or ube extract and mix well.
  • Matcha - Mix in 1 ½ tablespoons of high-quality matcha into the dry mix before mixing it into the wet ingredients so that it will mix evenly.
  • Peanut Butter - Mix in ¼ to ½ cup of smooth peanut butter while you are mixing the butter into the coconut cream.

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Ingredients

 

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Wet Ingredients

• ▢ 1 stick unsalted butter (melted, approximately ½ cup)
• ▢ 1 ½ cups coconut cream
• ▢ 1 can sweetened condensed milk (300ml, approximately 1 ¼ cup)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 3 eggs (room temperature)
• ▢ 1 cup milk

Dry Ingredients

• ▢ 1 lb Koda Farms mochiko flour (glutinous rice flour) See Notes for Substitutions
• ▢ 3 tablespoons sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon baking powder

Instructions

 

Making the Butter Mochi Cake Batter

• Melt the butter in a microwave in 15-second increments until it is fully melted.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter, with the coconut cream, condensed milk, and vanilla and mix it together.
• Add in the eggs 1 at a time while whisking.
• Add in the baking powder, sugar and mochiko flour and continue to mix
• Slowly add in the milk and mix until the batter is smooth. You want to achieve a pancake batter consistency. Run your finger through the batter on a back of a spoon and if it keeps it's shape and it's not too runny or thick then you're good.
• [Optional] Let the batter rest for 15 to 20 minutes so that the batter to come to room temperature, this gives the cake a chewier and crispier texture.

Baking the Butter Mochi

• Set the oven to 350F (176C)
• Butter the muffin tin liberally.

  (Optional) Lightly dust the buttered pan with cornmeal, coarse semolina, or flour and shake out any excess over the sink. This will help the cakes to easily pop out of the tray without sticking and if you are using cornmeal or semolina, it will also make the bottoms crispier.
• Fill each cup with ¼ cup of batter per cake and tap the tray gently on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
• Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (until golden brown) on the middle rack in the oven. At the 45 minute mark, check to see if they are golden brown.

  *If your oven runs hotter, then check at the 30 minute mark to see how golden brown it is.

  **If you are not sure if it is underdone, use a toothpick and insert it into the middle of a few mochis. It will come out cleanly without any batter if the middles are fully cooked.
• Let them cool for 5-10 minutes to form it's crispiness and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 149kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 6g | Sodium: 22mg | Sugar: 7g

*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*

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