Recipe: Black Sesame Mochi Waffles

Mochi is a sweet, sticky rice cake with a chewy texture. My kids love it so much that they'd trade a bag of gummy bears for a single piece of mochi. They especially love daifuku, a type of mochi filled with sweet red bean paste.

Recently, I learned that our favorite dessert holds special significance in Asian cultures. Mochi signifies wholeness, unity and good fortune. I love the symbolism: by eating mochi, sweet goodness sticks to you throughout the year.

Another New Year's treat that we love is tangyuan (汤圆). It is often filled with sweet black sesame paste. According to my mother's lore, black sesame seeds will keep your hair from turning white. The science backs her up, at least partially, as black sesame seeds do contain anti-oxidants, vitamins and anti-inflammatory properties.

Unfortunately, it is not so easy to make either mochi or tangyuan, as both recipes can be very time intensive for a busy parent like me. but I need something quick that my kids can hold in their hands, especially on rushed mornings when they snooze their alarms. Enter: black sesame mochi waffles!

I experimented a bit with a recipe by JustOneCookbook, which originally included matcha mochi waffles. Inspired by the gooey, yummy paste that comes out of tangyuan, I decided to make the black sesame flavored mochi waffles.

Don't worry about the shape of the waffle. I place the batter in the middle of the waffle iron, which creates an irregular shape. The most important thing is how they will taste. When cooked, they are warm, fragrant and not sickly-sweet. For the kids, these waffles bring back good memories of eating the traditional versions of mochi treats. You can double or triple the recipe for a crowd, or experiment with different flavors.

Recipe below. Note: I use a kitchen scale in metric grams, and clean up is a breeze.

Ingredients

For waffles:

• 28 g unsalted butter
• 6 g ground black sesame seeds (you can grind them yourself or buy them off-the-shelf at an Asian grocery store)
• 225 g mochiko (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) - I recommend Mochiko blue star brand
• 6 g baking powder
• 1 g Diamond Crystal kosher salt or table salt
• 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell)
• 30 g of honey or preferred sugar (original recipe called for 67 g of white sugar, and we avoid white sugar)
• 180 g whole milk (or substitute oat or almond milk) - You can use coconut, but I found this worked best for a pandan-style waffle.

Black sesame paste topping (optional):

Simply mix the ingredients above into a thick paste and set aside

• 6 g ground black sesame seeds
• 1 g white sugar
• 6 g water

Directions

1. Melt 28g butter in microwave, and let cool. While butter is cooling, heat up your waffle iron.
2. Mix 6 g ground black sesame seeds with 225g of sweet rice flour, 6g of baking powder and 1g Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the 1 egg until combined, and add in 30g of honey or other sugar. In the same bowl, pour in 180g of milk. Mix well.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Make sure there is no loose rice flour at the bottom of the bowl.
5. With a heat-proof spatula, add a bit of batter to the middle of your waffle iron.
6. Drizzle a bit of black sesame paste, if using. Then top with batter to cover.
7. Heat for about 3 minutes, or until waffle is golden brown.
8. Repeat for the rest of the waffles, and enjoy!