Bonus – Mochi Ice Cream

This bonus comes out because there are a lot of people that said they wanted this recipe when I told them the story.  So I have this neice who doesn’t like cake at all and is graduating from high school… What she does love is Mochi Ice Cream.  So when my sister-in-law asked me to make her a Mochi cake, I started googling and youtubing…  I found this site that has all the details you could ever dream of with video, pictures every step of the way, and guidance on what brand to buy and why: http://www.justonecookbook.com/mochi-ice-cream/

FYI I highly suggest watching the video because it make the process look so easy and made it so I could follow the directions and know what I was looking for/at each time it came out of the microwave.

So I found a Japanese grocery store, Mitsuwa Marketplace, and bought Shiratamako sweet rice flour.  I’m just glad the aisle signs were in both English and Japanese so that I could find the right aisle, and the Internet works on my phone so I looked up a picture and that’s how I found the right stuff.  Here it is:

Now you know why I had to look up a picture 😉

So per the recipe, I started by scooping the slightly softened ice cream of my neice’s choice (strawberry) into silicone cupcake things using an ice cream scoop.  The recipe calls for a cookie scoop size, but I missed that till it was too late.  Note that if you use the regular scoop you will get about 6 Mochi instead of 12 per recipe and I used 1 whole recipe for the cake.  Once scooped, put back in he freezer for at least an hour so they get nice and solid again.  

To start the Mochi, measure out 100 g Shiratamako sweet rice flour and 55 g sugar into a medium bowl and whisk together.  Continue whisking while you add 180 mL of water till it’s smoothie and the flour and sugar are dissolved.  Cover loosely with seran wrap and microwave 1 minute. Stir wth a wet silicone spoonula.  Re-cover and microcave another minute. Again stir with a wet silicone spoonula.  Re-cover again and microwave another 30 seconds.  Last time, stir with a wet spoonula.  Lay out parchment paper on the counter and sprinkle liberally with corn starch (or potato starch if you have it).  Using the wet spoonula, pour out the Mochi onto the parchment and sprinkle with corn starch.  Let cool a little (this is where I cleaned the microwave bowl because it is really sticky).  Now roll out the Mochi with a rolling pin till it’s thin.  Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes to set the Mochi.  

Once he 15 minutes are up, take it out of the refrigerator and grab a circle bowl, about 5″ in diameter (or 3 1/2″ in diameter for the cookie size).  Place seran wrap on a plate, the cut one Mochi circle out and place on the seran wrap.  Cover with seran wrap and do it again.  Some batches, depending on how well I rolled to it, I would get 4 or 5.  Then take he scraps and roll them out again to get the last one or two you need to make the 6.  Now you should have a stack of seran, Mochi, seran, Mochi, etc… One at a time, take one ice cream ball out of the freezer and turn it out onto a Mochi circle.  Pinch up the ends to the middle, then grab the other 2 ends and do the same, then quickly wrap it up in the seran wrap underneath, twist it so it stays closed, then back into the freezer.  Repeat for all other ice cream balls till you are done.  

When you want to eat them, take them out of the freezer just a couple minutes before so the Mochi can get soft but the ice cream doesn’t melt.  Good luck and enjoy!