Hawaiian Butter Mochi

Two weekends ago I finally was able to have a dinner with my best girlfriends. In. Person. We haven't spent any significant amount of time together since the Before Times, as in before the COVID pandemic began and we  sheltered-in-place.

And in between mouthfuls of amazing food, conversations about our kids, and every other topic you can image, recipes bubbled to the surface. Jenn mentioned a recipe for Hawaiian butter mochi and promised to send it to us. Thankfully I always have a box or three of mochiko rice flour and cans of coconut milk in my kitchen. I even had a can of evaporated milk, so...this happened! It's slightly adapted from her version and reminds me of my grandmother's bibingka.

Ingredients makes two 8" square pans  

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 3/4 cup organic granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla paste (or extract if you don't have paste)
• 1 box mochicko glutinous rice flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can coconut milk 

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter your baking pans. Set aside

Place butter and sugar together in a small saucepan. Heat until melted. Remove from the heat and whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Whisk in the vanilla, then add in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the evaporated milk and coconut milk. When the batter is smooth, fold in the rice flour and baking powder until completely moistened.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pans and bake for one hour.

Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Remove from pan and cut into bite-sized pieces.