Kabocha Mochi Muffins

We cannot get enough of these kabocha mochi muffins. These muffins have a crusty outer layer, encasing a slightly chewy and soft portion of the mochi cake. They are also bursting with pumpkin spice flavors, and the scattered toasted black sesame seeds make every bite a delight! These are also gluten-free, and vegetarian-friendly. In short, your new favorite dessert!

What goes into kabocha mochi muffins?

For the dry ingredients, you will need:

• 225 gram (8 oz.) mochiko, this will be half a box of Koda Farm mochiko. Or you can also use Thai sticky/glutinous rice flour too.
• 100 gram (1/2 cup) sugar
• 100 gram (1/2 cup) brown sugar, you can also use coconut palm sugar for this
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Alternatively, you can use 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice powder instead of the combination of cinnamon powder, grated nutmeg, ginger powder, and cloves powder.

For the wet ingredients, you will need:

• 200 gram (1 cup) mashed/pureed kabocha pumpkin
• 250 ml (1 cup) coconut milk
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoon) unsalted butter, melted but not hot to touch
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I also folded in 2 tablespoons of toasted black sesame seeds into the kabocha mochi muffins batter. This is optional, but I highly recommend adding this to your muffins.

How do I bake kabocha mochi muffins?

Before we go into the step-by-step, I want to say that if you are starting from one whole kabocha pumpkin and have no idea how to cut it, please read my kabocha pumpkin primer on my simmered kabocha in shio koji recipe.

Baking kabocha mochi muffins, step-by-step guide.

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius). Lightly grease a standard 12 cup muffin pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, sieve together all the dry ingredients.
3. In another mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, mix together mashed/pureed kabocha, coconut milk, unsalted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients to the kabocha mixture, and continue mixing until the batter is smooth.
5. If using black sesame seeds, fold in the same seeds into the batter.
6. Divide batter into the muffin pan, they should be close to level. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
7. Remove the pan from the oven, and place it on a wire rack. After 10 minutes, gently remove the muffin from pan. Serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an air-tight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.

What if I don’t have a muffin pan?

You can bake this lovely kabocha mochi muffins in a standard 8-inch square cake pan. It will take about 55-60 minutes of baking time using the same oven temperature (180 Celsius/350 Fahrenheit). Probably you will want to rename it to kabocha mochi cake instead. :)

Other mochi cake recipes for you to try

If you love these kabocha mochi muffins, you may want to try my other mochi cake recipes:

• chocolate mochi muffins
• Hawaiian butter mochi cake

If you have leftover kabocha pumpkin and want to use them up, please try some of these kabocha recipes:

• kabocha miso soup
• kabocha soup with dumplings
• kabocha shimeji stir-fry
• inside-out kabocha muffins