There’s a reason why I don’t bake these on a regular basis at my home.I can’t stop eating them.I’ve always been a big fan of anything made with glutinous rice. You name it: sticky rice (nuo mi fan), Chinese rice dumplings (zhong zi), Japanese mochi, and Chinese rice balls with red bean soup (tang yuan) – the list goes on and on. There’s something about that chewy texture and the sweet flavor of pure rice that I just love.
So I avoid making these desserts normally.
But I had an excuse this time.
I had been invited by TAP, the Taiwanese American Professionals chapter in Boston, to teach a Taiwanese cooking class. It was an agressive schedule. We were going to pull off four dishes in three hours.
Considering that several of the dishes required 1-2 hours to cook, I needed to find a recipe whose total prep time I could shorten.
So after much experimentation in the kitchen one evening (in a dress, no less!), I worked out a way to shorten my original matcha mochi cake recipe by making little, much more manageable cupcakes.
They turned out beautifully during our cooking class and only took half the time to bake compared to the original mochi cake.
I think I’m sold on this new recipe.
There are a lot of ways to approach making matcha mochi cupcakes. First of all, the batter is a cinch to make because everything’s liquid. There’s no butter to cream or solids to melt. You just mix everything together in a mixing bowl and pour. You can seriously prep this in 5 minutes if you have all your ingredients on hand.
If you’re short on time and want something that’s really easy, you can make these muffins in paper muffin liners. The pros of this method is that there’s no real cleanup, and the muffins transport nicely. The negative is that mochi is very sticky and will stick to the paper.
You may struggle slightly to get the mochi apart from the paper.
If you have a bit more time and are willing to put in the effort, you can bake them directly in muffin pans. Make sure to oil them well (we actually brushed the insides of each “well” with oil). If you have access to a convection oven, use it! You’ll get nicer, more even browning and beautiful crispy edges.
Like this.
This cupcake is gorgeously browned and crunchy on the outside but moist and chewy on the inside.
It’s so good.
In my mind, this is most certainly the preferable way of making these delicious little muffins. We made tons of these at the cooking class, and everyone was gobbling them up. It’s serious addictive.
Of course, the paper liner way is also perfectly acceptable. You’ll still make moist, chewy mochi muffins that are still irresistible.
You really can’t go wrong either way.
Matcha Mochi Muffins
makes 2 dozen regular muffins or 4 dozen mini muffins
1 lb glutinous rice flour
2 T matcha powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups milk
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
Combine all ingredients and mix until well combined. If using metal muffin pans (either mini or regular), brush the inside of each muffin “well” generously with vegetable oil. Bake at 350 ° F (convection, if possible) for around 15-20 minutes (mini-muffin pans) or 30-35 minutes (normal muffin pans). Please note that ovens may vary and you should start checking before the actual listed time is up. Test by inserting a toothpick or sharp metal object (e.g., a knife) into a muffin. If it comes out cleanly, it is done.
The muffins are easier to remove if you let them cool first. However, if you’ve oiled the pan well enough, they should just slide out.
Enjoy warm or at room temperature.
Scene from the Tiny Urban Kitchen TAP Boston Cooking Class
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Jen, my daughter would gaga over these. She’s like me, and you (!), with an undying love for all things mochi and glutinous. We’ll have to try this together over the summer!
I am not a baker/cook by any means, but I just made these in mini cupcake silicone forms and they turned out great! The recipe actually yielded 6 dozen mini mochi for me! I sprinkled black sesame seeds on top and I absolutely love it! Thanks so much for the recipe Jennifer Che! – So simple even I can make them! =:)
SO excited about making these!
Yumm love matcha! I’ve been trying to find a good brand though, what do you use?
I usually use either Mochiko or the green bag from Thailand. Both work fine for me.
any idea whether these freeze well? as much as I’d love to eat an entire batch at once, it probably isn’t a great idea.
I have made these cupcakes about a 1/2 dozen times and I always freeze a portion of them This is to keep myself from eating them all in one session!! All I do is heat them in the microwave for bit and they bounce back just fine. Make sure to double wrap them so they don’t dry out in the freezer.
Also, thank you Jennifer for this tasty recipe! I grew up on my grandma’s mochi but this is a fun (and EASY!) alternative to my obsession!!
Not sure! I’ve never tried.
I’ve used both Mochiko and the green bags from Thailand, and they are both fine.
Thanks for sharing!
Enjoy! They are so good. 🙂
it came out hard and not chewy 🙁 any suggestions?
Yes, they freeze well. Just refresh in the microwave for about 10 seconds, or better yet, pop in a toaster oven to toast them up a bit.
Try again! I’ve made them many times, and they always turn out well, whether or not I cook them for a few minutes longer to brown the tops a bit.
I’ve made several variations of these, including sprinkling the tops with black sesame seeds and raw shredded coconut or putting one chocolate chip in the middle prior to baking. They turn out great (especially attractive with the black sesame seeds). I’ve also made a savory version, diminishing the sugar, and topping with fresh chives and sesame seeds. What a great recipe!
Maybe bake for a shorter amount of time? Or make bigger muffins? It sounds you are either cooking them for too long or making them too small. Good luck! Make sure you are using the right type of rice flour!
Jen
I was wondering how many cupcakes this recipe will make. I’ve never made anything with rice flour and I’m a little nervous. I was thinking of using half of all the ingredients first, but how to do you half 3 eggs???
help?
Hmmmm, are you using mini muffin tins or big ones? Unfortunately I’m not sure exactly how many you can make. Maybe 12 with the full recipe? As for halving three eggs, you can beat it all together first and then pour out half the volume? Best of luck. Sorry I can’t be of more help!
Thanks Jen, it was a really good recipe and worked even for amateurs like me :)!
Who much is a pound of rice flour in cups? I don’t have a food scale.
May I know if it’s Tablespoon or teaspoon for the matcha powder?
Tablespoons
An uppercase T is an abbreviation for Tablespoon, a lowercase t is teaspoon.
Such a simple and delicious recipe! I couldn’t really taste the matcha with 2 tbs though, so I doubled it 🙂
How long can I store these? And do you store them at room temperature?
I usually store them at room temperature. I don’t think I’ve ever stored them for longer than a week, so I’m not exactly sure how long they keep after that!
Hi Jen, this recipe looks amazing and I cannot wait to try it! I have a few questions about it though:
1. Do you use mochiko or shiratamako? I’ve read that shiratamako yields a better consistency for mochi.
2. How many cupcakes (mini or regular) does this recipe yield?
Thanks so much!
Hi Mary,
I’ve never heard of shiratamako. I used mochiko. I’m sorry, but I don’t know exactly how many cupcakes it makes. Maybe around 20-24 normal sized? Sorry, I’m not sure.
Shiratamako is used to make various Japanese sweets (e.g. dango, manju), very similar to mochiko. Mochiko has a finer consistency.
Thank you very much! We loved it.
One box of Mochico is exactly 1 lb so it made it easier. We followed the exact recipe but used non-fat milk instead (medical reasons). We also used kitchen grade matcha.
Hi jen! Ive tried to make these cupcakes twice now, using minimuffin tins, and both times they’ve ended up inflating so that they’re actually hollow in the middle T.T would you know why this is happening and what I could do to stop this from happening? Thanks!
Hi jen! Ive tried to make these cupcakes twice now, in the minimuffin tins, and both times theyve ended up inflating in the oven, and deflating quickly after they’re out, so that they’re hollow in the middle and wrinkly on top. Would you know why this is happening, and how to stop this from happening? Thanks!
It happens to me too and I don’t have a good answer for how to prevent it. Maybe try larger cupcake tins? Usually, I just eat them that way. 🙂
Jen
Ahh okay, I’ll give that a go. 😀
we have a local bakery that makes these with red beans, nutella, salted carmel,
taro, and other fillings. just some ideas for you bakers.
I made them for a bridal shower and put different fillings in them – dark chocolate chips / white chocolate chips / red bean paste. I liked them best with the red bean paste 🙂 I used a silicone mini muffin pan and they came out SUPER easily (they literally popped out of the pan on their own when I oiled it, and they were still fairly easy to remove when I forgot to oil the pan). Thank you! Such an easy and fun recipe.
What kind of glutinous rice flour are you using? Or rather, what does it look like? I’ve seen the Mochiko brand stuff at the stores, and that looks like regular flour, but there’s also shiratamako, which is granular.
Use Mochiko. I’ve never tried the other one, but Mochiko is not granular.
Jen
I decided to try your recipe this weekend and followed the instructions exactly as listed. I used glutinous flour as indicated, measured all quantities with precision… unfortunately the result was quite different from yours. I ended up with a hard, bread-like dough… there was no way I could squeeze it into cupcake forms. Any idea what could have gone wrong? I live in Europe and bought the rice flour and the matcha from a local Chinese supermarket. 🙂
Hi Dorothea,
Sorry to hear the cupcakes didn’t turn out. I’m not sure why you’re not getting the same batter consistency. Maybe try a different brand of glutinous rice flour? I know Mochiko works quite well. Best of luck!
Jen
Hi Jen! These look amazing! I love anything mochi (I mean, look at my email address!). I recently bought an enormous bag of Matcha Powder from Costco and am looking for ways to use it.Your recipe fits the bill perfectly. Do you think I can substitute canned coconut milk or refrigerator carton coconut milk for the cow’s milk?
Hi Karen,
I don’t see why not. The texture might come out slightly differently, but I think it will still be tasty. I know people who have used coconut milk to make baked mochi before.
Jen
Hi! I found your recipe from the Subtle Asian Cooking group and I LOVE IT! My family is enjoying the muffins, and I will recommend this recipe to all my matcha loving friends too. Thank you 🙂