Mochi Ice Cream

Mochi Ice Cream is a delicate sweet rice dumpling wrapped around a small ball of ice cream. The first time I tasted this confection was in a Japanese restaurant in Paris: I loved the slightly squishy texture of the mochi dough, balanced out by the sweetness of the ice cream. Squishy, sweet, and icy all in one go! I understand that this dessert is so popular now, it’s even sold in places like Costco and Trader Joes!

There are four main components of Mochi Ice Cream:

• Ice Cream of your choice: I used store-bought chocolate and strawberry ice cream, and Green Matcha ice cream which I made myself.
• Glutinous rice flour (sweet rice flour) – This is the main ingredient for making the sticky, elastic mochi dough. I used  shiratamako rice flour which you can now buy on Amazon or you could also use mochiko sweet rice flour.
• Water
• Sugar
• Corn starch or potato starch to prevent your glutinous rice dough from sticking to everything

Challenges and ‘Tips and Traps’

The first time I made Mochi Ice Cream, the mochi dough was a sticky mess, the ice cream melted too quickly before I could wrap the dough around it, and the dough was too thick and chewy. To solve the stickiness problem, I made sure the dough was always well-dusted with corn starch (as well as my hands and equipment). The dough should be well-chilled before cutting out the circles and and before applying the ice cream balls to the dough. Wearing a thin pair of latex gloves will help to insulate your warm hands from the ice cream. It’ll probably take a few attempts to achieve perfectly-shaped Mochi ice cream balls, but how does the saying go. “No pain, no gain!”

Let’s Get Started!

First, scoop out small portions of your desired ice cream, placing them into individual cupcake holders. I used an Oxo Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop which holds 1.5 Tablespoons of ice cream. Alternatively, you could place the ice cream scoops on a tray lined with parchment paper, however the cupcake holders help retain the round shape of the ice cream. Place in freezer until ice cream is frozen solid.

Next, make the mochi dough. In a microwavable bowl, combine one cup Glutinous Rice Flour, one cup water, and 1/4 cup white sugar. Stir with a rubber spatula, then microwave on high for one minute. Add a few drops of gel dye at this point, if using. Stir again with the spatula then microwave another one minute; repeat and heat a further 30 seconds (total microwave time is 2 1/2 minutes). The texture should be sticky and pliable. Let cool for a few minutes.

Dust a large piece of parchment paper liberally with corn starch. Transfer the dough to the parchment paper and dust the top of the dough with more corn starch. Use your hands to begin stretching the dough into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Finish off by rolling over the dough several times with a rolling pin to flatten it.

Tip: Before using the rolling pin, use a pastry brush to spread the corn starch evenly on top of the dough. Otherwise, if you just ‘sprinkle’ the flour lightly, your rolling pin might stick to the dough (happened to me)!

Also, make sure the dough is no thicker than 1/8 inch, otherwise your mochi balls will be too ‘chewy!’

Transfer the parchment paper and dough to a tray and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Remove dough from fridge and cut out circles using a 3-inch (or 3.25-inch) round cutter. Place each circle on a small piece of parchment paper dusted with corn starch and chill them in the fridge or freezer for several minutes. After cutting out all the circles, you can re-use the dough scraps by re-heating the dough in the microwave for one minute, roll-out and then cut new circles.

Tip: Chilling each dough circle ensures that the ie cream will not melt when you place it on top of the dough.

Working quickly, place a frozen ice cream ball on top of one of the chilled dough circles (leaving the remaining circles in the fridge until you need them). Bring the edges of the dough up to completely cover the ice cream, then pinch the edges of the dough together.

Dust off excess corn starch and place the mochi ball on top of a square piece of plastic wrap measuring about 6×6 inches. Bring the sides of the plastic up to completely surround the mochi ball, then twist the top of the plastic to create some pressure in the ball.

Turn the plastic over to see that your mochi ball has a nice round shape and that there is a bit of pressure shaping the ball. Then place the mochi into a cupcake holder with the round dough ball facing up and loose plastic facing down (if the plastic wrap is a bit bulky, you can trim it with some scissors). You can use the same cupcake holder that you used to freeze your ice cream balls.

After the mochi has frozen, remove from the freezer, let stand a few minutes to soften a bit, then serve!