Mochi Truffles with Kahlua Liquor

Pandan Mochi Kahlua Truffles

We've been going nuts when it comes to glutinous/sticky rice with xoi bap (sticky rice with hominy and mung beans) , xoi man (sticky rice with chinese sausage), xoi la dua (sticky rice with coconut and pandan), and xoi vo (sticky rice with mung bean) as well as glutinous rice flour of banh day and banh it tran. But after the banh it tran post, Jessica of FoodMayhem (a fantastic blog by the way), who had never seen anything like that, asked what it tasted like, and I described it as savory type of mochi--a classic Japanese dessert made from glutinous rice dough filled with sweetened red azuki beans or even ice cream. But it still didn't click right away that our method for making banh day and banh it tran could be adapted to make mochi until Divina of Sense and Serendipity (another fantastic blog) posted her mochi truffle recipe. This was about a week before I was to propose to Kim--and without having much of a plan, the gears in the ol' noggin started cranking and I came up with the idea of packaging some mochi truffles inside a Tiffany's box and surprising her that way. I made a test batch of mochi and my intrepid tasters were Cathy of Gastronomy, Danny of Kung Food Panda, and Abby of Pleasure Palate. Without our food blogging friends, I would have been clueless as to how to propose--so keep on cooking, you'll never know what you'll inspire!

The ganache recipe is based on Divina at Sense and Serendipity, but I modified the methods of making the mochi dough a bit.

Mochi Truffles with Kahlua Liquor (adapted from Sense and Serendipity)
Printable Recipe

Ganache

• 250 gm dark chocolate (we used Trader Joes 72% cacao)
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbs unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 tbs Kahlua Liquor (***this was purchased by us and not given as product sample--feel free to substitute or leave out)

Mochi Dough

• 1.5 cups glutinous rice flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• optional food coloring or extracts of pandan/vanilla etc.
• optional cocoa powder (other options include dessicated coconut)
• neutral cooking oil

Using a serrated bread knife, press down--don't slice--on the chocolate bars and chip off thin pieces as possible and place in mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and add into mixing bowl. Heat the cream until it bubbles and add to mixing bowl, making sure everything is covered evenly. Allow to melt for a minute or so and then using whisk or rubber spatula stir until the ganache is shiny and smooth--it shoulc all melt completely if your chocolate is cut in small pieces. If there are chunks of unmelted chocolate you can set up a bain marie and melt it that way.

Spread out the ganache to glass or ceramic platter to make approximately 1/2-1 inch thick layer for quicker cooling. You can let it cool at room temperature or if in a hurry, put it in the fridge to set. Once it's solid, use a small melon baller and scoop out small balls of ganache and return these to the fridge. Don't worry if it's not exactly round, you just want a rough shape and you can smooth things out later.

This is where we used a different technique from Divina to make the mochi dough. Most mochi recipes call for microwaving or steaming the mass of dough and then stretching and flattening the dough afterwards. Tried this once and it worked--but I did had a hard time working with it to make the dough nice and thin and I felt I wasted alot of dough--it was most likely due to inexperience, but I wanted to try using experience gained in making the banh day and banh it tran where we steamed preformed individual dough, instead of the entire thing.

In mixing bowl, combine sugar and glutinous rice flour and mix well. Add the water (if adding color or extract--add a drop or two to the water before adding to flour) and form into a dough. It should work into a pliable consistancy like playdough. Have a sheet of aluminum foil ready and very lightly wipe on some oil and place in steamer tray. Pinch out a small ball of dough and roll into a ball and flatten to make it in a disk shape and lay on the foil leaving about 1/2 inch of space between each dough to allow for expansion. Poke a few holes in the aluminum foil. Steam for about 8 minutes.

Allow to cool and remove from dough from steamer to a flat surface lightly coated with corn starch. The dough will be very pliable--stretch out the disks of dough even more--and depending how big your truffle balls are you may even split a single disk of dough in half. Take the cooled truffles and place in center of dough. Fold over and pinch edges together to form a ball--use scissors to trim excess. Roll the mochi truffle in your palm to shape and then roll in cocoa powder. Work one at a time and keep the cooled truffles in the fridge (or freezer even) when not working with them.

Enjoy the same day and no more then 1 day after making these--we doubt they would even last that long since they're so delicious--but glutinous rice tends to lose it's soft chewy consistancy after about 36-48 hrs. It will regain the softness and chewiness when reheated in the microwave, but you wouldn't like that with the truffles inside. This recipe would work for traditional red azuki beans which can be frozen and cut into squares and wrapped in the dough prior to steaming.

If you're in the Los Angeles area Saturday December 5 from 10am to 4pm, please come out to Eat My Blog, a charitable back sale at Zeke's Smokehouse West Hollywood and support us by trying our mochi truffles along with other awesome baked goods by some of the best blogs in the LA/OC area. Proceeds from the bake sale will benefit the LA Regional Food Bank. Click here for a full menu of deliciousness. We'll be there so come try the mochi truffles that won over Kim's heart!

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