Strawberry Mochi Ice Cream

Vegan Strawberry mochi ice cream with a soft and chewy strawberry mochi exterior, and vanilla ice cream and strawberry jam filling. This mochi uses lots of fresh strawberries and is fun to make!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Japanese

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 6

Freezing Time 3

Total Time 3 51

Servings small ice cream mochi

Calories 108

Author Anthea

Ingredients

Filling

1 ½ - 2 cups (225g - 250g) vegan ice cream of choice
3 tablespoons (60g) strawberry jam optional

Mochi dough

1 ¼ cup (150g) sweet glutinous rice flour or mochiko sweet rice flour
1 cup (240g) strawberry puree from fresh or frozen strawberries (note 1)
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
Few drops of pink food coloring optional
¼ cup (30g) cornstarch / corn flour or potato starch (or as needed)

Instructions

Prepare the ice cream:

Line a small tray with parchment paper or place some cupcake liners in a muffin tin.
Optional: Dollop the jam onto the ice cream.
Use a small ice cream scoop or a spoon to scoop the ice cream into balls (about 2 tablespoons large). Try to make sure your ice cream scoops have no 'gaps'. Place the scoops on your baking tray or in your cupcake tin. Freeze the ice cream for 2 hours or until solid.

Prepare the mochi dough:

Add the flour, strawberry puree and sugar to a medium mixing bowl. Mix until combined and there are no lumps.
Cover the bowl with microwave-safe wrap (or a microwave-safe plate). Microwave for 2 minutes on high. Stir the mixture with a spatula or the dough hook of a hand mixer. (note 2 for steaming method)
Microwave the mochi dough for 1 minute then mix again. You may want to coat your spatula with cornstarch or cover it with oil to prevent it from sticking. Repeat the process 2-4 more times or until your mochi dough is sticky and glossy, and comes together in a loose ball. The color of your mochi dough will change the more you cook it. If you'd like a more vibrant pink color, mix in some food coloring. The final mochi dough will be very sticky.

Assemble the mochi:

Generously coat your work surface, hands and any utensils with cornstarch. Or you can coat your hands with oil. Divide the mochi dough into 12 parts.
Use a rolling pin to flatten each mochi ball into a flat round circle around 1/4 inch (6mm) thick. Each circle should be large enough for wrapping your ice cream. If the mochi dough sticks to anything, dust it with cornstarch.
Pick up one mochi circle and dust off any excess cornstarch. If desired, place the mochi circle in a small dish to hold it while you assemble the mochi. Place one scoop of ice cream in the middle of the mochi dough and quickly wrap the mochi around the ice cream. After you wrap the ice cream, if there's any excess mochi dough, cut it with a pair of scissors. Invert the mochi, place it in a cupcake tin then freeze. Repeat with the remaining mochi. Make sure you're wrapping only one mochi at a time while leaving the rest in the freezer.
Freeze the strawberry mochi ice cream for 1-2 hours.

Serving and storing the ice cream mochi:

When you're ready to eat the mochi, let them sit at room temperature for around 5 minutes to let the mochi skin soften. If you eat them immediately, the mochi will be very hard.
Store leftover ice cream mochi in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Notes

To puree the strawberries, can use a blender, food processor or stick blender. Make sure there are no lumps. If you prefer, you can use a sieve to remove the strawberry seeds but I don't they're noticeable in the mochi.
If you don't want to microwave your mochi dough, steam it on low to medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Stir the mixture 1-2 times with an oiled spatula while it's steaming. The mochi dough is ready when it's glossy and sticky.

Nutrition