Hybrid between American doughnuts and Japanese mochi, mochi donuts have a slightly sweet taste on their own. It tasted bouncy, slightly chewy with an airy texture in the center and a crisp outer shell. The unique texture of mochi donuts comes from tapioca starch. Yes, that is the same ingredient in making Boba.
This cultural fusion would be the perfect finger food dessert for any occasion. It has a chewy mochi center, crunchy, golden brown exterior, that’s rolled in sweet sugar (either powdered sugar or granulated sugar).
Mochi Donuts Recipe
If you and your family love to eat donuts, try out this cool and easy Mochi donuts recipe. The variations found below would deliver mochi donuts with a delicious taste of Ube, Matcha or chocolate glaze.
Check these ingredients and prepare them first:
For Mochi donut batter:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour or tapioca flour
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
- ¾ cups glutinous rice flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup silken tofu
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons whole milk
- 2 cups vegetable oil (for frying)
For Ube Glaze:
- ¼ cup powdered sugar (sifted)
- ½ tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon Ube extract
For Matcha Glaze:
- ½ cup white chocolate
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon Matcha powder
For Chocolate Glaze:
- ¼ cup powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- ½ tablespoon milk
Procedures:
How to make mochi donut batter:
- Combine all-purpose flour, tapioca starch, glutinous rice flour, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl. Set aside this flour mixture.
- In a separate bowl, press the silken tofu through a fine-mesh sieve to filter it.
- Mix the egg and milk and whisk them into the sieved tofu mixture.
- Combine the tofu mixture with the flour mixture to form into a rough dough using a spatula. Knead the dough properly until it becomes smooth for about 2 minutes.
- Measure 7 grams of dough and place it on a silicone mat using a kitchen scale. Form the dough into smaller balls after weighing into smaller pieces.
- Get a square parchment paper (about 5×5 inch in size) and place eight balls. Shape them into a donut. Repeat the process until all remaining donuts are placed on square parchment paper.
Frying Mochi Donuts:
- In a cast iron pan or a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil.
- With the parchment paper still on them, fry the mochi donut dough for 30 seconds to 1 minute at 335°F or until it’s light brown. Turn the mochi donuts and slowly remove the parchment paper. Continue frying them for another 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Carefully transfer the fried donuts to a plate lined with a paper towel using a tong. Continue with the frying process until all mochi donuts are fried.
- With your favorite homemade glaze, dip each fried mochi donut and let it sit on a cooling rack before serving.
How To Make Ube Glaze:
- In a medium size bowl, sieve the powdered sugar and mix in ube extract.
- Gradually add milk to make a smooth glaze. Set aside for later use or you can dip the donuts after frying.
How To Make Matcha Glaze:
- Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium low heat.
- Add the white chocolate and melt until smooth. Whisk in Matcha powder well.
- You can now dip a few donuts in the Matcha glaze.
How To Make Chocolate Glaze:
- In a medium size bowl, sieve the sugar and cocoa powder.
- Gradually add milk to make a smooth glaze. Make sure to slowly stir in milk a little at a time. Set aside for later use or you can dip the donuts after frying.
Mochi donuts are indeed a fusion of different cultures. Mochi is a Japanese dessert composed of a sweetened rice cake that’s popularly served during different occasions in both Japan and Hawaii. A Portuguese deep fried donut rolled in granulated sugar called Malasadas is also popular in Hawaii. That means mochi donuts are a mixture of both desserts that’s truly an amazing treat.
Tips When Making Mochi Donuts
When frying your mochi donut dough, don’t overcook it. Mochi donuts typically harden when overcooked. All you need is to achieve that light brown color donut. For a neutral in flavor when frying, use vegetable oil or canola oil. These oils also have high smoke points.
Don’t be afraid to glaze your mochi donuts with your favorite types of glaze. Strawberry glaze, lemon, or even Pandan-flavor glaze works well with fried mochi donuts.
Another tip when mixing the wet ingredients is to heat milk in the microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute. You can also add vanilla extract for more flavor. If you want your mochi donuts to have the perfect chewy texture, use mochiko flour, also known as glutinous rice flour or sweet rice flour made of glutinous short-grain Japanese rice.
When forming dough balls out of the mochi donut dough, you can use a small cookie scoop. This will make the job easier and will also provide the perfectly shaped mochi donut. Simply drop the dough into the hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
FAQs For This Mochi Donuts Recipe
The best type of flour to get a more authentic homemade mochi donut is the mochiko flour. This can be bought at the nearest Asian grocery store or market in your area. However, you can use other typical types of flour, such as the all-purpose flour in this mochi donuts recipe. Wheat flour can also be used as an alternative, but the chewy factor might not be there. Just add some corn starch and silken tofu for that chewy texture.
That actually depends on what type of flour has been used to create the dough balls on your mochi donuts. If you want to be sure that your mochi donuts are gluten-free, use the glutinous rice flour, Mochiko.
Contrary to its name, Mochiko has no gluten content, so you can be sure that your mochi donuts are gluten-free. Glutinous rice flour is only named glutinous as it provides that sticky, chewy texture when cooked, compared to the normal rice flour.
Though it is best to eat mochi donuts when they are fresh, you can still store some of them if you’ve made some extra batches. For unconsumed donuts, it will harden if left on the counter after 2 days once the donuts cool.
To store mochi donuts properly, place them in an airtight container and store at room temperature. You should be able to consume them for up to 3 days.
Though they are best eaten fresh, mochi donuts can be reheated to soften them. If you have not glazed your mochi donuts or did not put granulated sugar, you may re-fry them to make mochi donuts chewy again. You can also toss them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to make mochi donuts soft.
The reason why cooked mochi donuts are not advisable to be frozen is that it’s going to lose its chewiness even after reheating them or putting them in an airtight container at room temperature. But if you have made extra batter for the dough, you can refrigerate that one and make some dough balls later on.
Conclusion
You don’t need to line up at donut stores, like Mister Donut, to enjoy some sweet treats for your family.
Making mochi donuts is very easy and getting these delectable treats would cause no sweat at all. Aside from frying, you can also have it as baked mochi donuts for a healthier way of cooking it.
Frying the donuts is a quicker and easier way of preparing these tasty treats, though it is not the healthiest. To remove excess oil, you may put the cooked donuts in a parchment paper or paper towels while letting it sit at a cooling rack. Baking, on the other hand, may take longer as you will need to wait up to 75 minutes before you can enjoy your mochi donuts.
There are few alternative ingredients that you can use instead of the glutinous rice flour for your dough. You can also use another type of milk if you prefer to do so. Almond milk would be a good option to try. Elevate the taste of your mochi donuts by adding a few drops of vanilla extract or melted butter on the glutinous rice flour mixture.
The most fun part in making mochi donuts is the glazing. While most donuts use the typical and simple sugar glaze made of brown sugar or white sugar, you can innovate things by adding coloring or flavoring, like vanilla bean paste to the base. The perfect glaze should not be too thick or not too thin.
Commonly used flavors are Matcha glaze, strawberry glaze and chocolate glaze. If you want your mochi donuts to be more attractive, try adding some toppings such as candy sprinkles, white chocolate syrup or Macha powder.
Mochi donut was also made known when Mister Donut created their signature Pon De Ring donut in 2003 at their store in Japan. Pon De Ring is a dessert made of 8 dough balls that are connected to each other to form a ring.
They drew inspiration from a famous Brazilian cheese bread called Pao de Queijo that also possesses a chewy texture like the mochi donuts. The glutinous rice flour really makes a big difference for giving that sticky dough as it sets apart mochi donut from the other regular donuts made of wheat flour.
If you want something healthier with fewer calories from the regular donuts, try making mochi donut at home and serve it to your family and friends as a snack cuisine.