Easy Homemade Santa Strawberry Mochi
Let’s make the CUTEST Strawberry Mochi with a little strawberry Santa Hat! These adorable little mochi faces are the perfect holiday party dessert! They’re so simple to make completely from scratch – you’d be surprised. There’s nothing more fitting for the holidays than these strawberry and whipped cream-filled daifuku. The best part is – you only need a few simple ingredients to make this easy dessert!
Santa Hat Strawberry Daifuku
The best part is that you only need five simple ingredients to make the homemade mochi you need as its base. Then, you can customize it however you like. Since it’s the holiday seasons, we’re decorating these tasty little daifuku with a little strawberry Santa hat! There’s nothing more festive than Santa Mochi for any holiday party. It’s simply too adorable! Made with ingredients everyone will love like strawberries and homemade whipped cream, this will be a hit with any age.
What is a Daifuku?
These plump little mochi dumplings, also known as daifuku 大福, are traditionally holiday desserts packed with red bean paste, eaten to celebrate the harvest and holidays. Today, it’s a much more casual treat, with tons of creative fillings you can add in.
When you bite into a daifuku, the little pocket explodes with fillings, giving you a bite full of tasty surprises. As you chew, you get a deeper flavor of that natural sticky rice sweetness. It’s a treat I love any time of the year.
Santa Strawberry Mochi Ingredients
MOCHI
- 80 g Glutinous Rice flour
- 15 g Cornstarch
- 25 g Sugar
- 150 g Milk
- 15 g Butter
FILLING AND TOPPINGS
- 6 strawberries
- 1 cup homemade whipped cream
- ½ cup chopped strawberries
- 12 black sesame seeds
OTHER
- ½ cup glutinous rice flour, prevent it from getting sticky
Homemade Milk Mochi
If you have yet to try making homemade milk mochi, you are missing out! Homemade mochi is delightfully chewy, with a soft, doughy consistency. As you bite into it, that soft resistance turns into a smooth, sticky chewiness. It’s like biting into a delicate cloud that is sticky in the best way. I love that it only takes 5 ingredients, because whenever I crave mochi, I don’t have to put in that much work.
I really wanted a recipe that can stay chewy, even in the fridge. So, I tested a few variations for homemade mochi recipe. With this recipe, you can pre-make the mochi up to 3 days ahead. The mochi is still SUPER chewy and soft, even after you leave it in the fridge!
Butter
For the Santa Mochi, you will need glutinous rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, milk, and butter.
What makes the Santa mochi SUPER soft and chewy is butter!
After steaming all the ingredients, add butter and knead until it gets nice and smooth. When the butter is worked into the mochi, it becomes chewy and stretchy!
Glutinous Rice Flour
Have you made a mochi recipe, only for the mochi to come out bitter? Many recipes often don’t mention this, but the mochi is bitter because the rice flour on the surface is not cooked yet.
The secret tip is toasting the glutinous rice flour and dusting it all over the mochi. Toasting the glutinous rice flour removes that bitter flavor, and adds a subtle sweet and nutty one instead. It also makes it easier to work with the mochi, preventing it from sticking to everything.
Your Mochi Filling
For today’s mochi, I used a strawberry and whipped cream filling to match our Strawberry santa hats. You can add in any filling of your choice. Other fillings that I LOVE are chopped mango, crushed Oreos, matcha paste, red bean paste, kiwi, and just any flavor of whipped cream.
Mochi is flexible, so you can overfill it a little bit. But, still keep in mind that if your mochi to filling ratio is not right, your mochi will fall apart! Make sure to be pinching it closed every time.
Decorating Your Strawberry Mochi
To decorate the mochi, I chose a festive Strawberry Santa hat. I started by adding black sesame seeds for the eyes. Then, I added a strawberry with some whipped cream on the bottom to make it easier to stay. For the puffy little white ball on top, I added another tiny dallop of whipped cream.
You don’t have to make these hats the same way I did. The fun part about this recipe is how you decorate! You can also use melted chocolate or any other edible decoration of your choice.
Step By Step Guide To Strawberry Mochi
- Mix 80 g glutinous rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, and milk in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Cover, and let it steam for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, toast ½ cup of glutinous rice flour in a pan on medium-low heat for 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove and set aside. This will be used for dusting to prevent the mochi from sticking to any surfaces.
- Once the mochi is safe to touch (warm), add the butter to the steamed mochi, and using your hand, knead until the butter is fully melted and incorporated into the mochi. Keep kneading until the mochi gets soft and sketchy.
PRO TIP: rub a little butter over your hands to prevent the mochi from sticking; you can also wear food-safe gloves to make this process easier! - Dust the toasted glutinous rice flour over the surface area to prevent it from sticking over the rolling pin and your workstation.
- Optional – I am using a muffin tin, so it is easier to fill the mochi. Line the muffin tin with Saran wrap.
- Divide the mochi into six even pieces. Roll out the mochi to around 3-inch circle.
- Place the mochi on top of the muffin tin, and add in any filling of your choice; I added homemade whipped cream and chopped strawberries.
- Fold the outside in, and pinch close. Cut off any excess mochi with scissors and dust on extra glutinous rice flour to prevent it from sticking.
- Flip over, and you get the perfect mochi!
- To decorate, start with whipped cream in the middle, add strawberry, and lightly press on black sesame seeds using a toothpick as the eyes!
More of my Go-To EASY DESSERT Recipes You’ll LOVE!
- Taiwanese Donuts (Super Fluffy!)
- Holiday Reindeer Snack
- Air Fryer Bread Pudding (15 Minutes ONLY!)
- Mango Pudding (5 Ingredients ONLY!)
Easy Homemade Santa Strawberry Mochi
By Tiffy Cooks
Ingredients
MOCHI
- 80 g Glutinous Rice flour
- 15 g Cornstarch
- 25 g Sugar
- 150 g Milk
- 15 g Butter
FILLING AND TOPPINGS
- 6 strawberries
- 1 cup homemade whipped cream
- ½ cup chopped strawberries
- 12 black sesame seeds
OTHER
- ½ cup glutinous rice flour
Instructions
- Mix 80 g glutinous rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, and milk in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Cover, and let it steam for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, toast ½ cup of glutinous rice flour in a pan on medium-low heat for 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove and set aside. This will be used for dusting to prevent the mochi from sticking to any surfaces.
- Once the mochi is safe to touch (warm), add the butter to the steamed mochi, and using your hand, knead until the butter is fully melted and incorporated into the mochi. Keep kneading until the mochi gets soft and sketchy. PRO TIP: rub a little butter over your hands to prevent the mochi from sticking; you can also wear food-safe gloves to make this process easier!
- Dust the toasted glutinous rice flour over the surface area to prevent it from sticking over the rolling pin and your workstation.
- Optional – I am using a muffin tin, so it is easier to fill the mochi. Line the muffin tin with Saran wrap.
- Divide the mochi into six even pieces. Roll out the mochi to around 3-inch circle.
- Place the mochi on top of the muffin tin, and add in any filling of your choice; I added homemade whipped cream and chopped strawberries.
- Fold the outside in, and pinch close. Cut off any excess mochi with scissors and dust on extra glutinous rice flour to prevent it from sticking.
- Flip over, and you get the perfect mochi!
- To decorate, start with whipped cream in the middle, add strawberry, and lightly press on black sesame seeds using a toothpick as the eyes!
Hi. I tried the recipie and ended up with goo. I tried to salvage it but it didn’t work. Could you please give some advice about it? Over here in southamerica we don’t use grams for milk, and I think that’s where I messed up. We usually use cups, not grams either.. I did my best to convert it.
Im a bit sad and discouraged because the title says super easy and I failed at it.