When it comes to mochi, you’re probably more aware of the original chewy, sweet and delicate Japanese treat. Either you get them at a local Japanese bakery or even make some yourself. Mochi itself is made from glutinous rice flour, so the texture is always known to be chewy. But this is a different kind of mochi; this is called butter mochi.

What is Butter Mochi?

You might be thinking, what is butter mochi and how are they similar or different to regular mochi? Well, butter mochi does not originate from Japan but instead from the island of Hawaii.

Butter mochi is more similar to a dessert bar, like brownies and blondies in terms of its appearance and ingredients. Unlike regular mochi where it’s steamed or microwaved, this will require an oven.

Since it is baked, the texture of the butter mochi on the outside will be crispy. But since it is still made with glutinous rice flour, the texture of the inside is still chewy.

The Unknown Origin of Butter Mochi

No one knows who began this creation, all we know is that this is a local Hawaiian delicacy.

Butter mochi has been made popular through videos from Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram. Many food creators have had their take on butter mochi.

The Makings of Butter Mochi

Butter mochi has more ingredients than its Japanese predecessor. The main ingredients include glutinous rice flour, eggs, sugar, coconut milk/coconut cream and of course, butter.

Even though there are more ingredients used, it’s still one of the easiest baked goods to make. You just mix everything and that’s about it!

There are of course, many other variations to make this and one of them is by playing around with different flavours and adding other ingredients to suit your liking. So feel free to make your own variations! It’s always fun when you can experiment with your own creations.

The Best Butter Mochi Recipe

For my version of butter mochi, I decided to make pandan flavoured. Pandan goes well with coconut and it is probably one of the most common flavours in Indonesia. The aromatic fragrance just fits very well with the buttery goodness of a butter mochi. Along with that, I also opted for coconut cream instead of milk. Since coconut milk isn’t as available in Indonesia as it is in other countries. To make it less thick, I also added water to balance it out. Another change I made was also the use of brown butter. Brown butter will give the smell of caramelization and intensifies the general flavour. This pandan butter mochi also has shredded coconut flakes on top to add more texture and aromatics.

Keep in mind that since this butter mochi is made with glutinous rice flour, it will be very sticky. So make sure to grease your pan very thoroughly and add some baking paper to prevent it from sticking too much to the pan. So without further ado, let’s try this recipe with me!

Some tips that might be useful:

• Cut the mochi with a hot knife to prevent the knife from sticking.
• Make sure to grease the pan thoroughly so that it doesn’t stick too much to the pan because this butter mochi will be extremely sticky.