Cans Redux: A Bicycle Tour and Mochiko Muffins

A quick Lagniappe edition of BigLittleMeals from Andy.

On the road near Santa Maria

I recently completed the Santa Rosa Cycling Club’s El Camino Real bicycle tour riding nearly 320 miles and climbing 24,000 feet. In my opinion, to say that this was challenging would be a gross understatement. (See Bill Oetinger’s detailed description of the tour.)

Our camp near Santa Barbara CA

For me one of the highlights of the tour occurred before we even got on our bikes. Just after we arrived at our campground and put up our tents, Paul, a fellow rider, came by handing out mochiko muffins his wife had baked.

The muffins were wonderful! They had a unique chewy texture and were not too sweet. While the others were chatting about gear ratios, bike frame configurations, and the next day’s route, I was thinking to myself that these mochiko muffins must be included in our blog. What I didn’t know, until seeing the recipe (thanks to Paul for sending it to us) was that the ingredients include canned coconut milk and canned evaporated milk, which we just blogged about. What could be more perfect as a Lagniappe edition following last week’s “Kick the Can” blog?

Brown Butter Mochiko Muffins

Servings: 24+ muffins
Print

These could be served for breakfast, dessert or mid-day snacking. Gluten free, a little chewy, dense, not too sweet, and so good! Recipe adapted from Samin Nosrat’s NYTimes recipe. Update: if doing the mini-muffins, I suggest cutting the recipe in half, unless you want about 96 muffins!

½ cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pans
1 13.66-ounce can full-fat coconut milk
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups mochiko (glutinous-rice) flour – or the full 16 oz box from Koda Farms Mochiko
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Generously grease two (or more?) muffin pans with butter, including the outer rims of each mold (so that the muffins are easily removed ) OR use mini-muffin tins, in which case you’ll get WAY more than 48 2″ muffins (mini-muffins are our preferred way to eat them. Bite-size; you can eat lots and not feel guilty).

Place butter in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the foam begins to subside and the butter turns golden brown and begins to smell nutty, about 4 minutes. Don’t let the butter burn. The minute it is the desired dark golden color, get it off the heat. Add coconut and evaporated milks and sugar. Whisk until sugar and coconut milk melt. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together mochiko flour, baking powder and salt. Pour milk mixture into dry mixture, and whisk until smooth. Scoop a scant 1/2 cup of batter into each muffin tin (it’s best to only fill them up about 2/3 of the way, so they don’t go over the edge).

Bake for 50-55 minutes (or 20-30 minutes, if you’re using mini muffin tins); decrease baking time by 10 minutes if using a nonstick dark metal tin. The muffins are done when they are butterscotch brown on top and an inserted skewer comes out mostly clean.

Run a knife along the sides of each mold, then invert pans to release mochi, and cool on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes.

Store leftover mochi in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or freeze.

The recipe could easily be cut in half – except that you end up using just part of a can of evaporated milk and part of a can of coconut milk. Better to make the whole thing and freeze lots! Recipe from BigLittleMeals.com and Andy and Ann.