These black sesame mochi muffins are slightly crispy on the outside while staying moist, tender, and pleasantly chewy on the inside. They're scattered with black sesame seeds while give them such a nice nutty flavor and aroma.
We're always on the latter timelines of trendy Asian food since we live in Louisiana, but I'd say, these black sesame mochi muffins are worth all the wait! They are perfectly crispy and chewy, sweet and nutty. I wonder why we didn't give these a try earlier, cuz they are sooo very good!
Use glutinous rice flour
To obtain the slightly chewy texture of these black sesame mochi muffins, glutinous rice flour is needed. Regular rice flour will not produce the same chewy texture and will very likely harden up once it cools. And don't worry, glutinous rice flour has the misleading name of having gluten, but it's actually naturally gluten free!
Dairy vs dairy free options
For this recipe, we made it dairy-free because yours truly is lactose intolerant and dairy-free substitutes produced just as good of a mochi muffin as the ones using regular dairy. So feel free to substitute the coconut oil for your preferred neutral oil or melted butter. The coconut milk can be swapped with other plant based milk or dairy-free milk. If you're on good terms with dairy, then whole milk will work perfectly.
Sweeter mochi muffins
We really enjoy our mochi muffins on the less sweetened side, but we understand it is not for everyone. If you prefer sweeter black sesame mochi muffins, you can simply increase the brown sugar by ¼ cup. Alternatively, you can also use condensed milk (coconut or regular) or honey for that extra ¼ cup.
More prominent black sesame flavor
If you're a black sesame fanatic and you want more of that nutty flavor and aroma in your black sesame mochi muffin, feel free to substitute the ¼ cup of classic tahini for ¼ cup of black tahini. They are essentially the same thing, besides the fact that black tahini is made of black sesame seeds instead of white sesame seeds.
In our recipe, we used ¼ cup of blender ground black sesame to give our black sesame mochi muffins the black sesame flavor and aroma. But, the coarse ground sesame seeds also serve as an additional texture for our muffins. So if you prefer to do without the coarse sesame seed texture, feel free to substitute it for the black tahini.
If you're looking for other Asian inspired sweets, you may like these:
- Jiggly Japanese Soufflé Pancakes
- Japanese Cotton Cheesecake
- Sweet Potato Mochi Pancakes/ Hotteok
- Ube Mochi with Black Sesame Filling
Bake with love!
Mei ❤️
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Black Sesame Mochi Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup brown sugar , packed (light or dark)
- 2 Tablespoon coconut oil (or a neutral oil or your choice)
- ¾ cup coconut milk (or your preferred milk)
- ¼ cup tahini (or black tahini)
- ¼ cup black sesame seed (plus more for garnishing)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup glutinous rice flour (spooned & leveled)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F and grease 7 of the cavities in the cupcake/ muffin tin with a neutral oil (or coconut oil).
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together everything until combined, except for the glutinous rice flour and baking powder.
- Once the wet batter is well mixed, add the glutinous rice flour and baking powder and mix until the batter is smooth and no more dry clumps are visible.
- Divide the batter evenly amongst the 7 greased cupcake tins. The batter should be no higher than 2 millimeters from the rim.
- Tap the pan firmly on the counter a couple of times to release large air bubbles and garnish the muffins with sesame seeds.
- Bake the mochi muffins for 30-35 minutes. When the muffins are ready, they should be golden brown all around. The outside should be slightly firm and the inside should be cooked but still moist. If you insert a toothpick into the center, it should come out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
- These black sesame mochi muffins are best a couple of hours after baking. However, they are good for up to 3 days at room temperature, if properly wrapped or kept in an airtight container.
- The exterior crust of the muffins will soften up after day 1, but interior texture of the mochi muffins stay the same. So if you prefer a softer exterior, hold off till the next day!
- This mochi muffin recipe is uses partially black sesame and regular tahini for flavor. However, if you prefer a more prominent black sesame flavor, feel free to substitute the regular tahini for black tahini.
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