Peach Mochi (Daifuku with peach jam filling)

What is a peach mochi?

A peach mochi is made of its pink, soft, sticky, and chewy mochi skin with an aroma of fresh peaches, filled with fluffy whipped cream, plus delicious homemade peach jam with big peach chunks!

Three methods to make mochi skin

The key to making delicious mochi is to make a chewy and stretchy mochi skin.

I have tried three different methods to make mochi skin. All of these methods have been working great for me:

1. Microwave

• Mix all the mochi dough ingredients in a microwave-safe container, cover the bowl tightly with a food wrap, use a toothpick to poke about 12 holes on the wrap.

• Microwave the mixture for 3 minutes.

• Take the container out to check the texture by poking a toothpick into the mixture: if the toothpick tip is dry, the mochi dough is fully cooked; If the toothpick tip is wet, cover the food wrap back, microwave for 30 more seconds.

See more detailed steps in my strawberry mochi recipe.

2. Steamer

• Mix all the mochi dough ingredients in a bowl, cover the bowl tightly with a food wrap, use a toothpick to poke about 16 holes on the wrap.

• Steam the mixture over high heat for 30 minutes until fully cooked.

See more detailed steps in my chocolate mochi recipe.

3. Frying Pan

In this peach mochi recipe, I tried to cook the dough with a frying pan. Now this method has become my favorite one among these three methods!

The frying pan method not only cooks the dough quickly (10 minutes pan frying vs 30 minutes steaming), but also makes it easy to check the status of the dough at any time.

See more detailed steps in instructions below.

How to make a peach mochi look like a real peach?

1. Make the mochi skin with fresh peach juice

We usually use milk or vegan milk to make original flavor mochi. But since the last time I tried to make strawberry mochi skin with strawberry juice, I have unlocked the door to a brand new mochi world!

To get my peach juice, I blended two peaches with their skins on, because peach skin contains more color than the pulp.

However, the color of peach juice is still much lighter than strawberry juice. So I secretly added a drop of red food coloring into my peach juice.

One drop of food coloring is way enough. Make sure you don’t add too much, otherwise the peach mochis are going to look very fake.

Mochi skin made with fresh peach juice is going to smell, look, and taste more like real peaches!

2. Freeze the mochi in its mold

After we fill the mochi skin with whipped cream and seal the edge, if we directly flip the mochi over, it is going to be flat like a thick pancake, because the whipped cream filling is not hard enough to hold its shape.

To make our peach mochis look as plump as real peaches, a simple trick is to leave the mochi in its mold and freeze it for at least 20 minutes before taking it out.

Look how perfectly plump this peach mochi is!

3. Easy decorating tips

If you are going to draw a peach on paper, you will probably start with a circle. What are you going to draw after that? Suture and leaves.

To mimic the suture (the line running from the stem to the blossom end of the peach), we can carve a line with the back of a knife. Like this:

Then use a mint leaf to mimic the peach’s leaf.

Ta lang~ A three-year-old can recognize it as a peach!

Peach mochi troubleshooting

1. What can I use to substitute glutinous rice flour?

I’ve been asked this question a hundred times under all of my mochi recipes. I really wish I could find out a easy-to-get substitute for glutinous rice flour.

Unfortunately, nothing can substitute glutinous rice flour in a mochi recipe. Neither wheat flour or regular rice flour can make the mochi skin chewy and stretchy enough to wrap up the filling without breaking up.

Glutinous rice flour is made from glutinous rice, also known as sweet or sticky rice, which is actually gluten free. Therefore, if you could find glutinous rice in your local grocery store, you could actually make glutinous rice flour at home by finely grinding glutinous rice.

2. Why is my mochi so sticky?

Mochi skin is made from glutinous rice flour, which was famous for its stickiness. It’s more than normal for a mochi dough to be sticky.

Here are some tips for preventing the stickiness:

• Cooked glutinous rice flour

Pan fry about 5 tbsps of glutinous rice flour over medium low heat without oil, until they turn slightly yellow and smell like popcorn. Transfer out to cool down under room temperature.

In Chinese, we call these cooked glutinous rice flour 手粉 (hand powder). Applying some hand powder over your hands, on the surface of the mochi dough, on the working surface, and on the mochi mold can effectively prevent the stickiness.

    Some recipes would tell you to use raw glutinous rice flour/corn starch as the hand powder. However, according to livestrong.com, “eating raw cornstarch may cause stomach upset such as gas and bloating”. It’s the same for glutinous rice flour.

So it’s highly recommended to cook them before using them as hand powder.

• Allow the dough to cool down completely

Pan fried mochi dough is usually less stickier than steamed or microwaved ones, because you are able to blend in the butter as you pan frying the dough in the pan.

If the mochi dough still decides to be extra sticky, you can cover the dough with plastic food wrap, keep the dough in the fridge for 2 hours (you can do overnight) to let it cool down completely. 2 hours later, take the dough out from the fridge, it should be much less sticky, and you should be able to knead the dough without wearing non-stick gloves. 

3. I don’t want to make peach jam, what else can I use for the mochi’s filling?

The easiest mochi filling is ice cream!

Just remember to store any leftover mochis in the freezer. You can thaw them under room temperature for 5 minutes before serving.

One thing to keep in mind: if you scoop the ice cream directly onto the mochi skin, it will melt fast before you are able to shape it into a ball. 

To avoid a mess, you can make some ice cream balls with food wrap and freeze them overnight before wrapping them into the mochi skins.

Peach Mochi Ingredient List

Peach Mochi Skin

• 150 g peach pulp (Remove peach stone, leave the peach skin on)
• 70 g water
• 45 g sugar
• 100 g glutinous rice flour
• 30 g cornstarch
• 1 drop red food coloring (optional)
• 30 g unsalted butter

Peach Mochi Filling

• 250 g heavy whipping cream
• 25 g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 8 tbsp homemade peach jam (see my homemade low sugar peach jam recipe)

*Update on December 3rd 2022: you can check out my newest gelatin whipped cream recipe for a more stabilized cream filling. Since the mochi skin is so soft, we will need the cream filling to be stronger to support the mochi’s round shape.

How to Make Peach Mochi 

Preparation

1. Make homemade peach jam by following this recipe. Keep it in the fridge. Or you can use store bought peach jam.

2. Cook 50g glutinous rice flour over medium heat for about 5 minutes, whisking constantly, until it smells like popcorn. Set aside to cool down. (We will use this cooked flour to prevent from getting sticky later.)

3. Add 25g sugar, 250g heavy whipping cream, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract to a large bowl, beat until stiff peaks form. Put the whipped cream in a piping bag, seal the piping bag with a clip, keep it in the fridge.

Make Peach Mochi Skin

1. Add 150g peach pulp (with peach skin on) and 70g water into a blender. Blend until thoroughly smooth.

2. Add 170g peach juice, 45g sugar, 100g glutinous rice flour, and 30g cornstarch in a large bowl. Optionally, add one drop of red food coloring to make the mixture pink. Stir with a whisk until the mixture is smooth.

3. Put a sieve on a nonstick pan, strain the mixture through the sieve to get rid of any lumps.

4. Add 30g unsalted butter to the pan. Stir constantly over medium-high heat until the mixture starts to get lumpy. Lower the heat to medium, keep stirring until the mixture forms a smooth dough. You can use the spatula to cut open the dough to check, the inside of the dough should be the same color and texture as the surface.

5. Transfer the dough to a container lined with food wrap. Wrap the dough with food wrap while it’s still hot (to prevent a dry skin). Allow the dough to cool down to room temperature, then cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

6. Apply some cooked glutinous rice flour on your working surface, take out the cooled mochi dough, apply some cooked glutinous rice flour on the dough.

7. Roll the dough into a long log shape, cut the mochi dough into 8 equal portions. (Or you can do 6 portions if you have a larger mochi mold).

8. Use your hands or a rolling pin (covered with food wrap to prevent from sticky) to flatten the mochi doughs into 4-inch diameter circles.

Assemble Peach Mochis

1. Take a mochi skin, dust some cooked glutinous rice flour on both sides, line the mochi skin on a mochi mold (I used to use a soup ladle or small round-shape bowl).

2. Pipe in about 2 tbsps of whipped cream and about 1 tbsp of our homemade peach jam in the middle of the mochi skin. Pull the edges of the wrap together to cover the filling, press together the edges to seal well. 

3. Cut off the extra mochi skin, apply some glutinous rice flour, flip the mochi onto a paper baking cup with the smooth side facing up.

4. Carve a line with the back of a knife to mimic the suture line of the peach. Optionally decorate with a mint leaf.

5. Keep in the freezer for 20 minutes for the best texture and taste, serve. Or you can keep them in the fridge overnight.

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