Black Sesame Mochi Muffins
Wrap yourself in a mochi cloud of browned butter and black sesame
Black Sesame Mochi Muffins Recipe
yields 12 muffins
Ingredients
2 cups mochiko flour⁵
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ 14oz can of coconut milk⁴
½ 12oz can evaporated milk⁶
¾ cup black sesame powder, or 1 cup black sesame seeds
¼ cup neutral-flavored oil
1 tbsp honey
¾ tsp of black and white sesame seeds
Nonstick cooking spray
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray your muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray, making sure to evenly coat all sides of the muffin tin.
Whisk together mochiko flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, and set aside.
If using black sesame seeds instead of black sesame powder, toast the black sesame seeds over medium heat in a small dry skillet until they start to smell fragrant and toasty, about 2 to 3 minutes, taking care not to burn. Then, place the toasted black sesame seeds in a food processor and blend until a finely ground powder forms, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Combine the black sesame powder with the oil and honey in a small bowl, to create a black sesame paste.³ It’s fine if the mixture is on the drier side, as long as there aren’t any dry patches left. Set aside.
Next, make the browned butter. Start by melting butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stirring often, heat until the butter is golden and melted. Increase the heat to medium-high and continue to cook, swirling the pan, until the butter begins to turn amber in color and nutty in fragrance; be careful not to burn. Remove from the heat and pour the butter into a medium bowl.
Whisk in brown sugar into the browned butter, mixing thoroughly before adding the coconut milk and evaporated milk. When the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is combined well, whisk in egg yolks and vanilla until smooth.
Slowly pour the butter mixture into the dry mix and whisk until smooth. Add in the black sesame paste and mix until just combined, then set aside.
Using an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites until they turn foamy. Begin to add in the white sugar, tablespoon by tablespoon, and beat until glossy and stiff peaks form. Gently fold the meringue into the batter until just incorporated.²
Fill muffin tins with the mochi batter up to just below the rim. To remove any air bubbles, lift the tin about a few inches above the counter and drop a few times. Sprinkle the black and white sesame seeds over the muffins, then place in the oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.
Notes
1. When re-heating, I usually bake one or two in a toaster oven at 350°F for ~5 mins. Gives a nice crunch to the crust!
2. If you prefer a butter mochi texture to your muffin, whisk in both yolks and egg whites into the batter when incorporating the vanilla. Folding meringue into cake batter separately is a technique used create a light, airy texture for sponge cakes as they bake, and although the lightness matters much less in a dense mochi muffin, I have a preference for the texture when meringue is incorporated into the mochi muffin batter; it creates a lighter cake-y mochi texture, which I love. As a caveat, I don’t particularly enjoy the Q texture of regular mochi, so the cake-y mochi texture is perfect to me.
3. I’ve skipped creating black sesame paste in some iterations and just thrown in the ground black sesame dry, and the muffins have turned out delicious still. However, I still prefer incorporating a paste versus just the dry ground black sesame because the paste imparts more moisture to the muffin.
4. My favourite coconut milk is Native Forest’s Organic Coconut Milk (Simple).
5. If you don’t have mochiko flour or any glutinous rice flour, a blend of white rice flour and tapioca flour could also work for this recipe.
6. If you don’t have evaporated milk on hand, you can substitute with more coconut milk. I don’t recommend substituting with condensed milk because of the extra sugar added to it, unless the amount of sugar in the recipe is adjusted accordingly.
