Brown Sugar Boba Mochi Bars
Chewy and playful brown sugar boba mochi bars.
Equipment
- 3 cup baking dish
Ingredients
Mochi
- 130 g glutinous rice flour
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 160 g milk
- 2 tea bags or 1 tbsp loose leaf tea I used jasmine green but you can use any tea of your choice. Just note that the color of the mochi will change depending on what kind of tea you use
Brown Sugar Boba
- 1/4 cup tapioca pearls
- 2 tbsp Chinese brown sugar
Instructions
Make the boba
- Cook tapioca pearls per instructions on the package
- Strain the tapioca pearls and mix in brown sugar and let it soak for at least 15 minutes.
Make the mochi
- Generously grease baking dish with oil or line with parchment paper.
- Add tea in with milk in a sauce pan and heat it over medium heat, stirring until the milk starts to steam. Turn off heat and let the tea seep for about 3 minutes. Remove the tea and dissolve in sugar. Let cool, ~3 minutes.
- Evenly mix the glutinous rice flour into the milk. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into the baking dish and then disperse 1/3 of your boba mixture on top. Pour another 1/3 of your rice flour mixture, top it with boba, then flour and then boba again.
Cook the mochi
- Bake: Oil a piece of aluminum foil and use it to cover the baking dish. Gently tap the baking dish onto your counter to remove some air bubbles. Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes. The finished bars should look semi transparent and a bit glossy.
- Steam: Alternatively you can steam your bars. Place the baking dish in a steamer, cover and bring the water to boil on high heat. Lower the temperature to medium heat and let steam for 45 minutes.
- Cool completely before cutting-- at least 4 hours or preferably overnight. Wet a knife with water before cutting, running it under water in between slicing to prevent sticking. Let it air dry for about an hour if it is too wet or slice and toss it in corn starch. Store at room temperature for up to two days or in the fridge for longer. It will get harder after a day-- simply steam, microwave, or re-bake to soften.
Notes
Storage notes:
Have you tried saving leftover rice? They become dry and hard after a few hours! Mochi loses its moisture very quickly, similar to rice so make sure to store it in an air-tight container. If they dry out, here are a few options on how to get them soft again:
1. wet a paper towel and place it over the mochi on a plate and microwave for about 1 minute. Let it sit in the microwave for another minute to "steam" before taking it out.
2. steam the bars -- note that if you use this option, the bars will become sticky.
3. Sprinkle with water, cover and warm it up in the oven at 350F for 10-15 minutes.