Stretchy Mochi Brownies

Author Notes

With the resurgence of brookies, the rise of blackout brownies bursting with molten fillings, and the TikTok virality of Creme Egg brownies, we’ve been blessed with brownie textures beyond the perennially debated fudgy versus cakey. (I’d like to think we’re beyond that age-old feud.) So to keep the brownie flywheel going, allow me to introduce another brownie into the mix—tenderly chewy, subtly stretchy mochi brownies!

If you’ve never had mochi, it is a traditional Japanese dessert made with mochiko flour or glutinous rice flour, commonly formed into gummy, gelatinous dough balls filled with a sweet red bean paste. Paired with fudgy (or cakey) brownies, the texture of mochi sounds like an odd juxtaposition. But that is precisely why it works.

To be clear, using mochiko flour in brownies isn’t a new invention. Recipes for mochi brownies are everywhere, and even Koda Farms, a popular mochiko flour brand, has a recipeon its site for the dessert. But in many of these mochi brownies, the mochiko flour is blended directly into the bulk of the brownie batter itself, replacing some of the all-purpose flour to give the brownie as a whole a softer, gummier texture.

The type of mochi brownies that I’ve been enraptured by is of a different breed. For these brownies, pieces of mochi are studded into a classic fudgy brownie batter, retaining their chewiness, giving rise to a delightful dichotomy of texture. Imagine halfway through your bite into a soft chocolate brownie, your teeth sink into the tender putty of mochi, teasing you with a tension akin to the satisfying pull of melting mozzarella cheese, before giving way to more brownie below. In these brownies, the mochi adds a whole separate dimension, a pop of texture, a gentle tug that’ll pull you back in bite after bite.

I first saw a version of this made by Emmy Cho, the cook behind the popular YouTube channel Emmymade, who learned it from RoseAustin C.’s cooking channel. Emmy describes the texture of these brownies as “really fun, playful, and stretchy,” adjectives that you don’t often hear used for describing brownies, but they are definitely welcome additions. Emmy and Rose use a boxed brownie mix in their recipes, but for a bit more control over the taste, I made my own—extra rich, extra chocolatey (thanks to chopped dark chocolate and cocoa powder). Like most brownie recipes, this one is no-fuss and low-lift. Melt the butter and chocolate, then whisk in eggs, sugar, and the dry ingredients. As for the mochi, you can cook it the traditional way, by steaming; or for an exponentially quicker way, just nuke a slurry of mochiko flour and water in the microwave for 2 minutes and slice it up with a well-floured bench scraper. If you don’t have easy access to mochiko flour, glutinous rice flour makes for a stellar substitute. (In Southeast Asia, where I’m from, we use the coarser glutinous rice flour in both sweet and savory applications.) Either way, drop the pieces of mochi onto your baking tray in between lashings of brownie batter. A 30-minute bake later, and you’ll have a tray of rich, fudgy brownies made better with pockets of gooey, cheese-pull-worthy mochi within.

Note: These brownies can be baked for up to an hour to achieve a cakier texture.
—Jun