Salted Butter Coconut Mochi

What's sweet, buttery, and chewy!? Uhhh....Salted Butter Coconut Mochi.... Of Course! I can't even tell you how easy these are to make! And they come out so golden brown and perfect, it's hard to resist! I gotta say lately, I've been dealing a couple of baking fails and I needed some rebound recipes. A couple of no fail recipes that can put the pep in my step and the bounce back in my baking. And this is it! The idea came from the traditional hawaiian dessert/snack, butter mochi. Which in and of itself sounds amazing. A chewy butter cake!? Uh, yes. But then I remembered one of my favorite traditional Chinese dessert soup dumplings, which are boiled mochi balls filled with sweetened coconut and peanuts. So I thought, why not put these two mochi desserts together!? And can I tell you, when we brought these to a family party, they yelled at me for not bringing more!

Butter mochi is a pretty easy and straight forward recipe. Sugar and melted salted butter get mixed together until it's smooth. Then you beat in the eggs one at a time with a large wooden spoon, also till its smooth. Then comes the sweet glutenous rice flour. Make sure you get "Sweet Glutenous Rice Flour" Because regular rice flour is not the same. Dump the whole 16 oz box in plus the baking powder and mix till smooth. Then comes the part that makes this sinfully delicious. One can of Evaporated milk and one can of coconut milk. I add these milks in a little at a time and stir to combine since the batter is pretty thick and adding too much may create a splash. Mix and stir until it is fully combined and smooth. How many times have I said smooth? Well, you definitely want this batter smooth. No lumps here! And don't worry about overmixing as the rice flour contains no gluten, it won't toughen up on you. 

Pour this smooth batter into your greased 13X9" baking pan and bake at 350F for an hour. It will turn into the most gorgeous golden brown cake you've ever seen. As it bakes mix together the coconut peanut topping, melt some butter  and set aside. Allow the mochi to cool before cutting into 1 1/2" squares. Dipping your knife into water will help with this sticky job! Now, dip these squares into the melted butter and then into the coconut peanut topping. Really pack it on, on all sides. Side aside and allow to set. Then try not to devour them all!

The sweet and crunch topping paired with the salty, sweet, chewy mochi is highly addictive. It's both tropical and homey at the same time. Perfect when it's 14 degrees out but you want to imagine you're hopping around Hawaii's best bake shops!

Salted Butter Coconut Mochi

Yields approx 40 squares

Ingredients

Topping:

• 1/2 cup crushed peanuts
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp melted butter

For the Mochi:

• 1 stick salted butter, melted
•  1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 16 oz box of Sweet Glutenous Rice Flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can coconut milk

Method

1. Mix together the ingredients for the topping and set aside. 
2. Pre heat oven to 350F and grease a 13X9 baking pan.
3. In a large bowl and with a large wooden spoon mix melted better and sugar together till combined. 
4. Mix in eggs, one at a time to create a smooth paste.
5. Add the sweet rice flour and baking powder, mix until mostly combined. 
6. Gently stir together the can of evaporated milk, then the can of coconut milk until you reach a very smooth consistency,
7. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool to room temperature. 
8. Cut into square and dip each square into the melted butter and peanut coconut topping mixture.