Mochi Donuts

Mochi donuts: the perfect combination of crispy edges, chewy centers, and a hint of sweetness. I am in love with these gluten-free Japanese donuts. And yes, I am on a bit of a mochi band wagon at the moment, but what’s not to love about these unique donuts and all the ways these they can be decorated/customized – they are so cute!

As with most donuts, the best flavour and texture comes from frying the batter. Don’t be put off from deep frying, it is not as hard as you might think. I have provided a section “Staying Safe When Deep Frying” to give you some tips on how to make it an easy and smooth process.

This recipe weighs out most of the ingredients. I have tried to do this with measuring cups, but the donuts do not turn out as well. The ratio of ingredients is really important to get the right consistency of dough.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Perfect consistency. In developing this recipe I tried a variety of flour combinations and thicknesses of dough. A thicker dough allowed the dough balls to be rolled out by hand, but the end result was always much too dense, and if you don’t eat them right right away they become unpleasantly dense. This recipe stays pleasant to eat for up to a day.

Easy to follow. There may seem like a lot of steps, but everything is straightforward and the dough comes together with just stirring in the bowl.

You don’t need to make all the ganaches I have provided information for a variety of different ganaches, but you can make just one and dip all the donuts in the same ganache, or make as many as you like.

Equipment Needed

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As mentioned, a few key items will help you make these mochi donuts and keep you safe:

• kitchen scale
• Dutch Oven or saucepan
• Instant read thermometer
• Steel spider strainer/skimmer
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring Spoons
• Cooling Rack
• Heat Safe Pyrex Measuring Cup
• Food Coloring (optional)

Staying Safe When Deep Frying

• Use a large pot and don’t fill more than half way. Most recipes usually only require the oil to be 2-3″ deep. Deep enough to allow what you are cooking to float freely.
• Monitor the temperature. When deep frying, follow the recipe for the recommended frying temperature, usually between 340-375F. In this Mochi Donut recipe, I recommend 350F. Once you get the oil up to temperature, it will begin to cool down quickly if you turn off the heat, or when you add items to fry (especially if they are cold to begin with). It’s important to know the temperature of the oil as you fry, so you can increase the heat or turn it off during the cooking process. If the temperature gets too low, your item can absorb more oil than you want, and if it’s too hot, the outiside can overcook while at the same time leaving the inside undercooked.
• The number one sign that your oil is too hot. Smoke! If your oil is smoking, then it is way too hot and you need to turn off the heat immediately. Smoking occurs when the oil reaches it’s smoke point, this is the temperature where smoking starts and the oil begins to burn. It can leave a burnt taste on the food you are frying and it will lead to an oil fire if not turned off. The good news, is that you have time to cool the oil before a fire will start. You can check out this video to see that cooking oils don’t spontaneously combust once they start smoking. Demo How Fast Common Cooking Oils Can Catch Fire.
• Avoid frying really wet foods. When moisture is dropped into a hot fryer, it will begin to splutter – the wetter the object the more vigorous the splutter. If your food item is super wet, try to pat it dry first.
• Don’t drop food into fryer. To avoid splashing hot oil on yourself, gently place your food to be cooked into the fryer. Using a slotted spoon is an extra-safe way to do it.
• Make sure pan handles are faced away from you. If you turn the pan handles away from you, you are less likely to catch one with your body or clothing and inadvertently spilling hot oil.
• Keep children away from the stove.
• Remove cooked items with a slotted spoon/skimmer or tongs. Allow excess oil to drip back into the pot then remove the item to paper towel or cooling rack.
• Allow oil to cool before discarding. You can pour the used oil back into it’s original container (use a funnel to prevent making a mess), and use it again in the future. Once the oil has changed color a lot, or is giving off an off-taste/smell, you can discard it. Many communities will recycle it if you take it to a recycling depot. Don’t pour it down your drain, unless you are trying to support your local plumber – that can lead to a clogged drain 🥺.

Ingredients

For Mochi Donut Dough

• 150g glutinous rice flour see Note 1
• 115g tapioca starch
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 150g milk (I used 2%)
• 65g granulated sugar (1/3 cup)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Vegetable oil for frying
• White chocolate for decorating
• Food coloring (optional)
• cookie crumbs for decorating (optional) (I used shortbread cookies)
• Sliced almonds for garnish (optional)

For Ganaches/Glazes/Decorations

• 115g 4 white chocolate (4 oz)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1-2 teaspoons matcha powder (see Note 3)

Chocolate Ganache

• 115g dark chocolate (4 oz)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon corn syrup (see Note 4)

Strawberry Ganache

• 115g white chocolate (4 oz)
• 2 oz fresh strawberries
• red food coloring optional

Icing Sugar Glaze

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1-3 teaspoons milk
• food coloring optional

Instructions

Making the Mochi Donut Dough

1. Mix together 150g milk, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, and 1 large egg. Set bowl aside.
2. Mix together 150g glutinious rice flour with 115g of tapioca starch, 1 3/4 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of table salt. See Note 1.
3. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a spoon to mix together. At first the dough will seem very wet, but if you let it sit for a minute it will thicken up to a pipeable consistency.

4. Put dough into a piping bag fitted with a large hole tip.
5. Heat vegetable oil for frying in a saucepan or Dutch oven, should be at least 2” deep, until it reaches 350F.
6. While oil is heating up, cut out 8 parchment paper squares approximately 5 inches by 5 inches (one for each donut). It also helps to trace a circle about 3″ in diameter on a piece of paper and use this as a guide underneath the parchment squares when piping the donuts.
7. Place your circle guide under the parchment paper and pipe a dough ball on to the circle in the 6’oclock position. Pipe another ball directly across from the first one in the 12’oclock position, then the 3’oclock, and the the 9’oclock position. Now fill in between the balls with one more dough ball each so you have a total of 8 dough balls around the circumference of the circle and they are each touching their neighbors. See Note 5.

Cooking the Mochi Donuts

1. Lift the doughball circle and parchment paper up together and place the whole thing in the hot oil (parchment paper side down). See Note 6 and 7.
2. After about 45 seconds you can remove the parchment paper gently. The donut should easily slide off, but if it doesn’t you can gently flip the parchment over and that usually removes the donut from the parchment.
3. The donut should cook for about 3-3 1/2 minutes. You can flip it a few times during cooking to help it brown evenly.

4. Remove the donut from the oil with a slotted spoon or spider skimmer, allow excess oil to drip back into pot and then let it cool on a cooling rack.
5. Repeat the process with the other donuts. You can cook 1-2 donuts at a time depending on the size of your pot.

Chocolate Ganache

1. Measure 1/4 cup heavy cream in a pyrex microwaveable cup. Microwave for 30 seconds until steaming but not boiling.
2. Pour the hot cream over 4oz of chopped up dark chocolate chunks in a bowl. Allow to sit for a minute or two, then stir until all the chocolate is melted. If you need a little more heat after stirring, go in 10 second intervals in the microwave. You don’t want to overheat or you can seize the chocolate leaving you with a gritty product. See Note 8.
3. Add in 1 teaspoon of corn syrup and stir until combined (this helps make the ganache shiny).
4. Let ganache cool down if necessary as it will thicken as it cools.

Matcha Ganache

1. Measure 1/4 cup heavy cream in a pyrex microwaveable cup. Microwave for 30 seconds until steaming but not boiling.
2. Pour most of the the hot cream (reserve about 2 tablespoons) over 4oz of white chocolate chips in a bowl. Allow to sit for a minute or two then stir until all the chocolate is melted. If it needs a little more warmth after mixing you can give it another 5-10 seconds in the microwave. See Note 8.
3. In a small bowl add roughly 1 of the reserved tablespoons of hot cream to 1-2 teaspoons of matcha powder. Use a small spoon to mix the matcha and cream together minimizing clumps. Keep adding a little more cream until you have a smooth paste.
4. Add the matcha paste to the rest of the white chocolate and stir until fully combined.
5. Let ganache cool down if necessary as it will thicken as it cools.

Strawberry Ganache

1. Place 4 oz of white chocolate chips into a heat proof bowl and place in the microwave for 30 seconds. Give it a stir, and place back in the microwave for 10 second intervals of heating and stirring until melted. You don’t want to overheat the chocolate as mentioned in Note 8.
2. Add in 2 oz of fresh strawberries and use a hand blender to blend in.
3. Add a drop or two of red food coloring to achieve a more intense pink color if you like.
4. Let ganache cool down if necessary as it will thicken as it cools.

Simple Glaze – easiest and quickest

1. Pour 1 cup of powdered sugar into a bowl.
2. Stir in 1 tablespoon of milk until combined. Add 1 teaspoon of milk with stirring at a time until you achieve the consistency you desire. It should be fairly thick so that once you dip your donut in, the glaze doesn’t drip down the donut too much.
3. Add a drop or two of food coloring to achieve the color you desire (optional).
4. Glaze is ready to use immediately.

Dipping the Mochi Donuts

1. Once the ganache and/or glazes are not too thin that they would run down the donut, and not too thick that the ganache will clump on the donut, they are ready for dipping.
2. Gently hold and press the donut evenly into the ganache or glaze such that only about half of the donut is submerged. Lift the donut back out and allow any excess to drip off while still holding upside down.

3. Flip the mochi donut over and give it a few taps on the counter to help the ganache smooth out. Place the mochi donut on a cooling rack.
4. Decorate with your favourite garnishes like cookie crumbs, almond slices, sprinkles, dried fruit and/or piped melted chocolate. (You can place melted chocolate in a small ziploc bag and snip the corner off to act like a simple piping bag)
5. Allow the ganache and toppings to set (about 1 hour). Or if you are like me, dig in immediately!

Notes

1. Glutinous rice flour is also known as sweet rice flour. These can be used interchangeably. However, if your bag of flour is just called “rice flour” that is different and won’t work in this recipe. I have used both the short grain version (like the Mochiko brand) and the Thai long grain version (Erawan) and both worked fine.
2. Glutinous rice flour does not contain gluten and is safe to eat for gluten-free diets
3. Matcha powder is sold in two different grades. Ceremonial Grade which is best used for drinking matcha tea, and Culinary Grade, which is good for cooking and baking with. I used Culinary grade in this recipe and was very happy with the results.
4. Corn syrup adds a slight sheen to chocolate ganache once it sets. It is not the same thing as high fructose corn syrup which many people try to avoid for health reasons.
5. When piping the mochi donuts, the dough balls should be gently touching each neighbor so that when they cook they fuse together. If there is a gap, your donut will not form one continuous circle.
6. The hot oil should easily come over the parchment paper and begin frying the donut, but if it is floating and the oil is not getting to the donut you can push the parchment paper down gently with tongs or a spoon until the hot oil can access the donut. Just be gentle as you don’t want to disturb the donut too much before the balls fuse together through cooking.
7. The mochi donuts cook best at 350F but the oil will begin cooling when the donuts are added. It is a good practice to keep checking the temperature with a thermometer during the cooking process and adjusting the heat as necessary. If too low the donut won’t brown nicely and may take on extra oil in the final product. It it’s too hot, you may end up with an overly brown donut that’s not cooked in the middle.
8. When making ganache, you need to heat up the cream enough to melt the chocolate, but if it is too hot, it can cause the chocolate to seize which is when the fat and solids separate leaving you with a gritty product.

FAQs

What temperature should mochi donuts be served at? If you aren’t going to glaze the donuts, I suggest serving them warm. But if you are going to glaze them, you want them to be cool so they don’t melt the glazes.

How long do mochi donuts last? Mochi donuts are best served fresh the day they are made, but if you want to store leftover you can store them in an airtight container on the counter for a day.

Can I freeze mochi donuts? I would not recommend freezing them as they will not have as nice a consistency as eating them the day they are made.

What other flavours are there? You really can use your imagination when topping these donuts. I used shortbread cookie crumbs, but you could use any cookie, like Oreo, Biscoff etc. You could also top with cereal like Fruity Pebbles, crushed Fruit Loops, Chocolate Rice Krispies etc. Have fun!

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