Last month, I hosted my first little pop-up event in Denver in collaboration with Die Die Must Try, a Singaporean boba shop in the area, for Mile High Asian Food Week. The pop-up featured four flavors of mochi muffins (Coconut Pandan, Ube Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter Cup & Black Sesame Strawberry Jam), which were available as a quad set and à la carte. You can find more information about this past pop-up event at: popup.craving-nomz.com
The most popular mochi muffin flavor by far from the event is the Coconut Pandan Mochi Muffins. Coincidentally, this mochi muffin was also the most involved to make! Perhaps there’s truth to the saying that you can taste the labor of love! In this blog post, I will be sharing the recipe for these mochi muffins, noting some slight ingredient variations you can make (since, understandably, the ingredient list is long), as well as highlight certain ingredients that were chosen, along with the thought process behind their selection.
About the ingredients:
- 🍃 Pandan leaves & pandan extract: The original recipe uses both pandan leaves and pandan extract. The pandan leaves provide a subtle yet complex nutty and floral and vanilla-like flavor profile to the muffins that enhances the sweetness.The addition of pandan extract is mostly to give the mochi muffins a beautiful green color. This recipe can be made with just pandan extract for convenience.
- 🥥 Coconut oil & coconut jam helps infuse the mochi muffins with more natural coconut flavor (so we don’t have to used extract) that complements the pandan. The coconut jam, specifically, adds a beautiful caramelized flavor (from the jam cooking process) which incorporates additional depth and richness. The coconut jam I use is this Tropics brand that I found in my local Asian supermarket. There is only two ingredients: coconut milk, sugar cane. The coconut oil brand I use is Kirkland’s Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.
- 🍡 Mochiko & glutinous rice flour: This recipe uses both mochiko (made by Koda farms) and glutinous rice flour (the Vietnamese brand). This is to balance the chewy denseness (property of the Vietnamese brand) and fluffiness/cakiness/lightness that is a property of mochiko. Using all mochiko will result is a less chewy mochi muffin and using all glutinous rice flour will result in a denser chewier mochi muffin.
- 🍪 Coconut butter cookie/biscuit: The coconut cookie/biscuit crumble is used for 2 reasons: (1) to line the bottom of the muffin liner to prevent sticking and for easier removal of the mochi muffin from the liner and (2) to add more interesting texture to the mochi muffin without taking away from the coconut flavor that we desire. The one I used I found at my local Asian supermarket is a simple coconut butter biscuit– it looks very similar to this. The inclusion of this one ingredient makes the mochi muffin not gluten-free. Omit the cookie for a gluten-free version.
- 🥛 Oat milk: This recipe uses a combination of coconut milk and oat milk. Oat milk provides a creamy, neutral base that is subtly sweet without adding too much richness like 100% full-fat coconut milk would. The brand I used is Kirkland’s organic oat milk.
Pandan Coconut Mochi Muffins
Delightfully chewy and not overly sweet, these Coconut Pandan Mochi Muffins blend the sweetness of coconut with the nutty flavor of pandan leaves. Marrying the chewiness of traditional mochi with the comforting familiarity of muffins, they create a unique fusion of flavors and textures that will transport your taste buds to Asian fusion bliss.
Servings: 6 muffins
Equipment
- mixing bowls
- food processor or blender
Ingredients
Pandan Coconut Milk (Optional)
- 2 pandan leaves, roughly chopped
- 95 g full fat coconut milk
Mochi Batter
- 25 g organic coconut oil melted
- 20 g coconut jam or use all brown sugar
- 20 g organic brown sugar
- 80 g organic cane sugar
- 1 large egg
- 80 g glutinous rice flour or use all mochiko for a less chewy muffin
- 40 g mochiko or use all glutinous rice flour for a chewier texture
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 95 g Pandan Coconut Milk (from above) or use just full fat coconut milk
- 90 g organic oat milk
- 1 drop pandan extract or more if not using pandan infused coconut milk
Toppings / Mix ins
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 3 coconut butter cookie/biscuit like this crushed, optional
Instructions
- Toast the shredded coconut in a dry pan over medium heat until the shredded coconut turn golden brown, fragrant, and crisp. Set aside.
- Make the pandan infused coconut milk by blending together coconut milk and pandan leaves in a food processor. Then, strain out the pandan pulp using a strainer, cheesecloth, or coffee filter, making sure to squeeze out all the liquid. Measure the coconut milk, you should have about 95g. If you are under, just top it off with coconut milk.
- In a large mixing bowl, add melted coconut oil, coconut jam, brown sugar, and cane sugar. Mix everything together until all the ingredients looks evenly incorporated. Then add in egg and beat the mixture until it looks light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the pandan coconut milk, oat milk, and a small drop of pandan extract.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: mochiko, glutinous rice flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Alternate adding some dry mixture and wet mixture to the sugar mixture. Please note that you may not need to use all of the milk mixture. The amount of liquid you needs depends on the type of glutinous rice flour/mochiko you use. Stop adding the wet mixture until the batter has the consistency of slightly thinner pancake batter. If the batter is too thick, add more oat milk, a tablespoon at a time.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Prepare 6 baking cups on a baking sheet. Sprinkle a thin layer of the crumbled coconut cookie (optional). Fill the baking cups a little more than 3/4 the way full. Sprinkle about 2 tsp of the coconut cookie crumble and swirl into the batter (optional).
- Bake it in the oven on the middle rack until the edges of the muffin starts to set but the center is still wet.
- Remove the half baked mochi muffins from the oven and sprinkle the top with the shredded toasted coconut. Let it continue to bake until the top of the muffins has set and has started to turn golden.
- Remove the mochi from the oven and let it completely cool before enjoying. Store the muffins at room temperature and enjoy them within 3 days.
