Did you know that you can make baked mochi donuts from a butter mochi recipe?? I did not until recently! As much as I love deep fried mochi donuts, deep frying does require a bit more effort. These baked mochi donuts are way easier, while still retaining that dense mochi chewiness. The matcha white chocolate glaze is equally easy. Because it’s spooky season right now, I added some candy eyeballs to turn this into an easy, GLUTEN-FREE Halloween dessert that even my toddler could help decorate.
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Baked Mochi Donut Ingredient Notes
I based this mochi donut batter off my chocolate butter mochi recipe, with just a few changes. The original butter mochi recipe is very gooey on the inside, but I was trying to get a slightly more cakey texture, so I increased the amount of eggs. But with that change the chocolate flavor was a little less intense. I increased the amount of cocoa powder slightly, but I still HIGHLY recommend you use dutch process cocoa instead of regular cocoa powder to get a darker chocolate flavor.
As usual, I also used a whole box of Blue Star Mochiko, which you can find at your local Asian grocery store (or Amazon). Some friends have asked me for matcha recommendations. My favorite matcha is the matcha love brand, but it is a little bit more expensive. I’ve used a whatever brand I found at our local market, and it works fine. If this is your first time using matcha, just know that it is NOT the same as green tea! For more clarity on these Asian food ingredients, feel free to take a look at my food glossary.
The last special ingredient you’ll need if you’re going to turn this into a spooky monster donut for Halloween are some mini eyeball candies. You can get them at stores like Michael’s or Target. Alternatively, you could use a fun sprinkle medley!
Equipment For Mochi Donuts
In terms of special equipment, you will need at least a couple donut pans. I know I have friends out there who think “Oh, I don’t want to buy another kitchen item that I’ll barely use.” To those friends I say, STOP THINKING THAT. Donut pans are inexpensive, don’t take up much space, and baked donuts are really easy and fun to make anyway. Just get them. Or borrow mine. It’s cool. I also used piping bags to put the batter in the pans. I bought these compostable ones off Amazon, but you could even use a ziploc bag in a pinch. Or just pour the batter with measuring cup and wipe off any drips.
How to Bake Mochi Donuts
As with any mochi recipe, make sure your batter is mixed really well before piping. Because mochi doesn’t rise that much, you’ll want to fill your donut pan all the way to the top in order to get a nice rounded shape.
For the matcha white chocolate glaze, you can either heat up your milk in a saucepan on the stove or in the microwave. I put my matcha and milk in the microwave for 20 seconds. Then I poured it over the white chocolate. The chocolate didn’t fully melt from that so I threw the whole thing back in the microwave and zapped it for another 10 seconds. Because all microwaves are different, just be really careful not to overheat your glaze.
Decorate Mochi Donuts for Halloween (Kid-Friendly!)
Dip your cooled donuts in the glaze and top with candy eyeballs or sprinkles. Or just leave it plain for a classy donut look. That’s it! Mochi donuts taste best the day they are made.
One last note: the recipe makes enough for 24 donuts. If you don’t have enough donut pans to bake them all at once, you can cover your bowl of leftover batter with a towel to keep it from drying out while you wait for the first batch to bake. The donuts cool quickly so the wait time isn’t too long. However, if you’d prefer not to bake in batches, you can make 12 donuts, and the rest will fit nicely in an 8×8 inch brownie pan.
Make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make these! I’d love to see them!
Baked Chocolate Mochi Donuts with Matcha White Chocolate Glaze
Equipment
- Donut pans
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 1 16 oz box mochiko (about 2 and 1/2 cups)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
- 4 eggs
- 1 14 oz can coconut milk
- 1 12 oz can evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted
For the glaze
- 1/4 cup Whole milk
- 2 tsp matcha
- 1 cup white chocolate (around 6 oz)
Decorations
- 1 pack candy eyeballs
Instructions
- Spray donut pans with nonstick spray and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk mochiko, baking powder, salt, sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder.
- In a separate mixing bowl, beat eggs, coconut milk, evaporated milk, and melted butter until combined.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.
- Pipe batter into donut pans, filling them all the way to the top. Leftover batter can be covered with towel or plastic wrap and left at room temperature until the first batch is done baking.
- Bake donuts for 20-30 minutes or until cooked all the way through. You can tell it's done when the edges pull away slightly from the pan, the top feels springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow donuts to cool to room temperature.
- For the glaze, heat matcha and milk until steaming. This can be done on stovetop or in the microwave, but be careful not to overheat.
- Whisk matcha and milk until well combined and pour over the white chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted and everything is combined.
- Dip cooled donuts in the white chocolate glaze and top with sprinkles, if using.