Matcha White Choc Mochi Cookies

Soft-baked cookies with a chewy mochi surprise!

After a week of test baking these adorable blobs and tweaking the recipe according to comments from kind friends, I present to you the highly anticipated matcha white chocolate mochi cookie.

It's kind of like... a reverse tangyuan.

Matcha, mochi and white chocolate were always made for each other. So, I thought: why not put all of them together in one fantastic bite? These cookies will be crunchy out of the oven, but turn soft and almost cakey overnight, complimenting its chewy mochi centre.

MATCHA WHITE CHOC MOCHI COOKIE RECIPE:

Makes about 22 small cookies.

Adapted from Flour n Flower's chocolate mochi cookies recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Mochi

70g glutinous rice flour

20g corn flour

20g fine white sugar (if you like it sweeter, +5g)

140g milk

Dash of vanilla (optional)

Pinch of salt (optional)

15g unsalted butter, rtp

Matcha cookie

100g unsalted butter, rtp

100g light brown sugar

1 regular egg

190g plain flour

12g matcha powder

2g baking powder

Pinch of salt

Handful of chocolate chips to decorate

MOCHI INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Prepare your steamer the way you're used to. For me, I simply fill a big wok with a few inches of water, put in a round metal rack, cover with a lid, and turn the stove on. While the water's taking time to boil, prepare the mochi mix.

2. In a medium sized bowl, use a spoon to mix glutinous rice flour, corn flour and sugar together.

3. Pour the milk in. Using a spoon, mix till no more lumps remain. I like using the base of the spoon to squish the lumps along the side of the bowl so that it disintegrates quickly. Be patient here!

4. Add in vanilla and salt, if desired. Mix to incorporate.

5. Steam the mochi for 30 minutes. Use a plate to cover the mochi bowl to prevent excess water from dripping in.

6. Remove the mochi from the steamer. While the mochi is still hot, add in the butter. Use a spatula to work the butter into the mochi dough using a cut-and-fold motion. It will take a bit of arm power and time before it all comes together. Persevere! (See video in notes for the before and after)

7. Cover with cling wrap touching the surface of your mochi dough (this prevents a dry layer from forming on your mochi), and refrigerate for at least 50 min.

8. In the meantime, prepare your cookie dough!

MATCHA COOKIE INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, use a whisk to cream together the butter and light brown sugar till well incorporated and somewhat fluffy.

2. Add in the egg. Whisk till well combined.

3. Sift in the plain flour, matcha powder and baking powder. Add in a pinch of salt. Using a spatula, fold everything together till well combined.

4. Cover and refrigerate for 30min. Try not to leave it in the fridge for longer as the dough will dry out, making it a little harder to work with later.

ASSEMBLY:

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 190C.

2. PRO TIP: Prepare a saucer of water and two teaspoons. One to scoop, the other to shape and push the mochi balls out. Simply dip your teaspoons in the water if the mochi starts sticking. Using two teaspoons to prepare the mochi balls is much easier than having mochi stick all over your hands as you pinch out and roll the mochi balls!

3. Scoop mochi into balls of 10-11g each and plop them onto your parchment-lined baking tray.

4. Roll matcha cookie dough into balls of 20-22g each. Flatten it on your palm. Put a mochi ball in the centre and wrap like a tangyuan. (See Notes for vid and tips on how to do this!) Give it another quick roll. Repeat with the rest.

5. On your tray, flatten the mochi cookie balls a little as they will not spread out much in the oven. Press in some white chocolate buttons for decoration.

6. Bake for 11-12min, using your oven's top and bottom heat setting.

7. Let your cookies cool on the tray for 5min before moving them to cool on a wire rack.

P.S. Take pics/vids when your cookies are still warm for that mozzarella-like mochi pull-apart shot!:) Once your cookies fully cool, they will be less stretchy.

Cookies are best eaten within 2 days.

Enjoy!

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Notes:

HOW TO FORM MOCHI COOKIE BALLS (see video above for demo):

• Portion out 20g of cookie dough, roll it into a ball and flatten it against your palm.

• Put in 11g mochi ball.

• Use the middle finger and thumb of one hand to hold the mochi ball in place.

• Form a ring with the index and thumb of your other hand to coax the cookie dough around the mochi ball. Pinch to seal the ball.

• Give it another roll to smoothen the surface out.

• Place on tray.