Chocolate mochi is coming your way!
Have you guys ever tried fresh mochi? Not the ones you get in a box, I’m talking about the homemade ones, made the same day, with minimal ingredients, and no preservatives or flavorings. If not, it’s time to fix that!
These little bites of chewiness have a soft and stretchy dough that hides a creamy, rich, and chocolatey filling. Vegan, gluten-free, and so decadent, these mochis make the perfect sweet snack!
It starts with the filling, that is basically a chocolate ganache. Bring almond milk to a boil, then pour it over dark chocolate chunks, and whisk until fully melted and combined. For extra creaminess and a subtle nutty flavor, I added a tablespoon of tahini, but that is up to you and it’s not essential.
Regarding the chocolate, I prefer to go with dark chocolate bars that I cut into chunks instead of chocolate chips so I can pick one that I like, and have more control over the percentage of cacao and sugar. I went with 65% dark chocolate here, but feel free to adapt to your taste. I’m sure coconut milk chocolate would work great too!
Once your ganache is ready, refrigerate until set. Once set, scoop out about 1 tsp balls and transfer to a plate. Keep in the refrigerator for later.
Now it’s time to prepare the dough that consists of sweet rice flour, water, coconut milk, cacao powder and just a little bit of sugar. I don’t like my mochi too sweet so I use very little sugar in the dough. Mix everything in a bowl and then steam for about 20 minutes. The mixture will thicken and become sticky and stretchy.
Working with the sticky dough can get quite messy (so messy than I couldn’t take photos of the shaping step!) if you don’t “flour” your hands and working surface enough. One tip: let the dough cool completely, it will get a bit easier to work with and will prevent the filling from melting.
Wrap a teaspoon of chocolate ganache with the mochi dough, seal it, and dust with cacao powder. Refrigerate a couple hours and enjoy!
If you like chewy sweets, you are going to love these chocolate mochis! They are tender and chewy on the outside, and rich and chocolatey on the inside. Plus they are not overly sweet compared to the store-bought ones and taste much better!
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
Vegan Chocolate Mochi
Ingredients
Chocolate Filling
- 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate
- 1/3 cup almond milk*
- 1 tbsp tahini optional
Mochi Dough
- 1 cup glutinous rice flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp cacao powder
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- cornstarch or potato starch
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder for dusting
Instructions
Chocolate Filling
- Start by preparing the filling. Place the finely chopped dark chocolate into a bowl and set aside.
- Heat the almond milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it has come to a boil, pour into the bowl, over the chocolate chunks. Add the tahini if using, and whisk until the chocolate is fully melted and everything is combined. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate for about 2 hours, or until the ganache is firm.
- Once firm, scoop out about 1 teaspoon balls of ganache and place them on a plate lined with parchment paper. Keep in the refrigerator. You will transfer it to the freezer for about 10 minutes just before wrapping them to make the balls harder and easier to work with.
Mochi Dough
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the glutinous rice flour, sugar, cacao powder, water, coconut milk, and vanilla. The mixture will be liquid but will thicken once cooked. Transfer to a glass or ceramic bowl/dish.
- Steam for about 20 minutes. To steam, I recommend you fill a large pot with about 2 cups of water, then place a metal basket inside the pot and place your bowl on it. Cover with a lid wrapped with a kitchen towel (to prevent water from dropping into the mochi dough).
- After 20 minutes, you should have a very sticky dough. Let it cool a few minutes, then cover with plastic film to touch and refrigerate for about 2 hours, or until cold. If the dough is warm it will not be easy to work with and could melt the chocolate ganache.
- To assemble: place the balls of ganache in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Dust your working surface with cornstarch. Scoop out about 1,5 tbsp of mochi dough and place on the cornstarch surface. Slightly flatten into a round and dust with more cornstarch so it's not too sticky.
- Place a ball of ganache in the center of the mochi round. Wrap the dough around the ganache and pinch the edges to seal. You can use plastic film to handle the dough if it's too sticky. Dust off excess cornstarch, and place your mochi on a plate line with parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining dough and ganache. Dust with cacao powder, cover with plastic film, or place in a airtight container and refrigerator for at least 2 hours before enjoying!
- You can enjoy mochi straight from the refrigerator or leave it out for 5-10 minutes before eating. Mochi is best eaten the same day but will keep for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
Thomas, hands down, you have the most interesting, tasty, beautiful and unusual dishes I’ve ever seen online!! You always seem to go the extra mile in every dish you prepare.
I’ve watched the traditional pounding of mochi on YouTube and thought ‘Wow, how cool, but I’ll just keeping buying them at the store’. Not any more! Thanks for opening up our minds to all kinds of new expediences!
Thanks so much for your kind words Annie 🙂 I really appreciate it!
Is there any suitable sub for the rice flour. I’m sensitive to it.
I’m afraid there is not Kathy, that’s the main ingredient of mochi.
Can you make these gluten free?
Deb, these are already gluten-free 🙂
please, please…..step 2 mochi dough says to steam……what do you mean? to place above a steaming pot? from Chile, my gratitude in advance!!!
Hi Leticia,
I describe exactly the process in step 2. You can steam in a basket, or place a small grid inside a big pot, add about 2 cups of water, and place your bowl of dough on the grid so it doesn’t touch the water. Then cover with a lid and steam. Hope this helps 🙂