Mochi Brownies with Matcha

Hello Hello! It's been awhile, hasn't it? Yes yes, I know you've all probably heard that line quite a few times, and again I am sorry. If there's one thing I've learned from all these years of schooling is that there is a positive correlation between school work and blogging. Also, I have recently come down with what seems to be a food lover's worse enemy; a gastric ulcer. We can all thank H. Pylori for that one. But, I digress.

For today's comeback blog, I decided to make mochi brownies. If you're wondering, mochi is a typical Japanese dessert that has a glutinous texture and is usually filled with something such as azuki (red bean) paste. Clearly this doesn't look like that, but the similarity between mochi and these mossy lookin' brownies are the fact that I used rice flour instead of regular flour. Meaning...these are gluten free! Yay for waist-lines.

Beyond being ever so slightly healthier than a typical brownie, these mochi brownies are also way chewier, although less fudgier. The texture seemed closer to a cassava cake than a brownie, but the chocolate taste was just as apparent. I enjoyed this brownie (a little too much...) due to many reasons, the main one being its chewy and soft texture. If you prefer very dense and fudgy brownies, maybe this recipe isn't for you but if you don't mind trying out something new, then by all means continue reading on :)! Another reason to try this out is that rice flour is quite useful in making noodles and other foods (General Tao chicken heh heh), so it's handy to have a box around the kitchen anyway.

Ingredients: 

1 cup rice flour (I used Mochiko)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

4 Tbsp butter                                                                 
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 to 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tsp matcha (I got mine from DAVIDsTEA)

Tools:

1 sieve

8x8 inch brownie pan

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees celsius. Spray or oil (I used olive oil) an 8x8 pan. You can use a larger pan, but the brownie will be thinner. 

2. In a large bowl, combine the mochiko, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the ingredients together and leave it aside.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 3. Melt the butter and chocolate chips over a steaming apparatus, stirring occasionally. You can make a make-shift steamer by filling a pot with hot water and using a stove burner to elevate a heat-safe glass bowl. This process took about 10 minutes.

4. While the butter and choco chips are melting, in a medium bowl combine the evaporated milk, vanilla extract, and egg. When the butter and chocolate chips are completely melted, pour it into this mixture and whisk well until the whole thing is completely blended.

 5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk well until combined. You probably are wondering why you'd pour wet into dry and honestly there's no real answer, although Alton Brown did go into some depth about the scientific aspect of it...but baking is more of an art than science so I say phooie on that! I always prefer pouring the wet into the dry (known as the Muffin Method) because it's slightly faster and there's less flour flying around :).

The consistency of the two combined is quite liquidy and not at all like a cake batter. There are no air bubbles and it is relatively smooth, although VERY mildly viscous.

6. Pour your mixture into your greased pan and sprinkle as much chocolate chips as you like ontop and bake for 40-45 minutes. Beware though, the chocolate chips will sink to the bottom. If you want your chocolate chips to be apparent on top, you can divide the amount you want by half and sprinkle one half before baking, and the rest after 15 minutes of baking.

I only baked my brownies for 35 minutes because I look my brownies very gooey, but if you prefer more solid brownies, baking them for 40-45 minutes would be the better option for you. Going beyond that time is not recommended because chocolate is very easy to...fail with.

7. Take out the brownies and let them cool completely before inverting it on a plate. Once inverted, sift some matcha powder ontop and voila: Mochi Brownies with Matcha.

 Overall, I really enjoyed these brownies and received quite a few compliments. They were simple, delicious, and took little time to make. Again, I shall emphasize that these are not your typical super-chocolate-fudge brownies, so don't expect completely similar results. And so the question lies: Would I make these again?

HELLS. YEA. <-link ;)

Happy baking :)!

xoxo,
-A