Mini Matcha Mochi Doughnuts (gluten free)

Mini Matcha Mochi Doughnuts (gluten free) baked by my 8 yr old, Bib

Sprinkle with icing sugar to make it even better

See? I was detoxing today from a foodie-sinful weekend before Bib was pestering me to do some baking...

Have you wanted to teach your 8 year old fractions? but fractions are SO hard.  Being the I'd-rather-be-baking sort of mommy, I figured a practical application to fractions would be baking doughnuts. Bib has been sort of driving me crazy with her obsession with the Kracie "Popin' Cookin'" candy kits lately.

I noticed her watching some Youtube videos in Japanese (no she doesn't understand Japanese!) where the people are "cooking" candies in these plastic molds and sometimes they even use a microwave.  I think.  I find the whole thing horrifying and gross.  She makes these little Sushi candies and then eats them up right away.  She says "mmmm" sometimes too.

I have never tried any of her "food" but I think this was the beginning of her showing me that she had a real passion for baking (yay?)

A video posted by Cake Brain (@cakebrain) on Jun 1, 2015 at 8:21pm PDT

Bebe, my 11 yr old recently passed down her Easy Bake Oven to Bib and Bib has already made her own Video of how she made a Dango sundae (yes, she made it all by herself (twice!) and I definitely didn't help...and paid the price with the mess afterwards).

Getting ready with all the ingredients first.  I used a recipe from an e-book I bought on my kindle.  It's great as I adapted by adding matcha and I envision doing various other flavours soon.

Here's a picture of her Sundae with her hand-made dango. The only scary part was boiling the dango in hot water on the stove.

A photo posted by Cake Brain (@cakebrain) on Jun 1, 2015 at 9:20pm PDT

The best thing about mochi is it's gluten free!
I decided to do things right.  If she's going to bake, she's going to use a REAL oven...this ain't no Easy Bake Oven we're using today.  Of course, she is obsessed with mochi too.  We've recently been going to Vancouver Asian dessert places and trying all sorts of weird Asian sundaes. She acquired a taste for mochi and ice cream together so hey let's make that at home because it's crazy expensive in those over-priced Asian dessert places.

A photo posted by Cake Brain (@cakebrain) on Jul 10, 2015 at 5:08pm PDT

See that crazy dessert above (all gluten free btw) we've been eating in Asian restos in Vancouver? I'm going to make them myself this summer and save a ton of $$.  Plus, it'll taste way better (I hope!) and I'll feel way less guilty about eating them because I can control the amount of sugar and the portion size.

The recipe includes: 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of honey (I used Manuka) and 2 tablespoons sugar (I used organic cane sugar) 

Add the milk to the wet ingredients. I think I will modify this recipe by using coconut milk next time.

Bib loves sifting.  This is her sifting the matcha and mochiko flour together over the wet ingredients.  I had to tell her to slow down as a cloud of mochiko dust was enveloping her face. lol.

The groovy thing about mochi batter is you can not over-mix it. Bib can "mix mix mix!" all she wants! 

After Bib was done mixing, I gave the batter a few more turns with the whisk for good measure and it was ready to go into the mini doughnut pan

Wait up! doh! I forgot to spray the doughnut pan. That lone doughnut is going to be a pain to remove.  I used Coconut oil spray that I bought at Costco. It smells heavenly. 

I gave the doughnut pan some quick raps on the counter-top to get all the air bubbles out and level the batter before popping it in the oven.

freshly baked out of the oven

The Mini Matcha Mochi Doughnuts are a type of wagashi, which is a Japanese sweet meant to be eaten with tea.  

I'm enamoured by everything wagashi since visiting this groovy Japanese cafe in Portland, Oregon recently.  I had the matcha tea set which was served in the style of a Japanese tea ceremony. The lady at the counter said "are you sure? the matcha is strong like espresso".  I was sure and even make my own matcha but she must have thought I was a newb with my camera around my neck. lol.

A photo posted by Cake Brain (@cakebrain) on Jul 5, 2015 at 5:08pm PDT

A photo posted by Cake Brain (@cakebrain) on Jul 5, 2015 at 5:07pm PDT

The cafe is located literally across the street from the museum; thus the name "Behind the Museum Cafe".   I am working on a gluten free matcha brownie recipe soon.  Stay tuned...

A photo posted by Cake Brain (@cakebrain) on Jul 5, 2015 at 5:05pm PDT

This lone doughnut was the ornery one that I had forgot to spray.  It was a pain to dislodge but I eventually pried it loose with a wooden skewer.

Mini Matcha Mochi Doughnuts (gluten free)
adapted from Wagashi and More: a collection of Simple Japanese Dessert Recipes by Cooking Penguin (Kindle version)
NB: these mini doughnuts are made in the style of "wagashi" which are tiny sweets served with unsweetened Japanese green tea. Usually you only have one (yah right!) and it's served with Matcha tea in the style of the Japanese Tea Ceremony.  See that picture above of my matcha set? like that! These are in no way as sweet as a North American Doughnut. However, you can bling it up with a royal icing drizzle or toss icing sugar all over it if you're into that kind of thing.

Makes 24 Baked Mini Doughnuts

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup honey (I used manuka honey)
• 2 tablespoon evaporated cane sugar
• 2/3 cup milk (or coconut milk)
• 1 1/2 cups mochiko
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons matcha
• 3 tablespoon butter, melted
• coconut oil spray, for pan
• powdered sugar, for dusting the baked doughnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. In a bowl, whisk the eggs,melted butter, honey, sugar and milk until combined.  
3. Sift mochiko with baking powder and matcha powder over the wet ingredients. Whisk well to combine.
4. Spray your mini doughnut pan with coconut oil spray (or Pam)
5. Pour the batter into a piping bag with a large tip (or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off).  I used my Tovolo pancake pen batter dispenser (see picture above).
6. Rap the pan on the countertop to get rid of air bubbles and smooth out the tops of the mini doughnuts.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until done.  Let cool and use a wooden skewer to remove from pan.
8. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with tea.

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