What Do You Get When You Cross Some Meringue and a Chocolate Mochi?

 

Mini Mochi Baked Alaska. It's yummy!

 

 

 

I love Mochi ice cream.  Have you had them before?  In case you haven’t, they’re these wonderful ice cream treats–pounded sticky rice (mocha) with ice cream inside!  D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.  They’re perfect.  So, now that we’ve got that all cleared up, I happened to have an entire pack of them in my freezer!  Chocolate ones…mmmmm.

I was thinking the other day, man, I better do something with these soon….

And then, I had it!  I had the perfect idea to try out for my leftover Mochi!

Wait for it…

Mini Mochi Baked Alaska!

Ahh!

Okay, so it’s not exactly like a baked Alaska, there’s no cake involved in these little guys, but the concept was similar–ice cream wrapped up in meringue and put in the oven for a few minutes.  Delish.

I have to admit, I was thinking about this experiment all day today.  Seriously, all day.  An hour and fifteen minute film class (which I love) was overpowered by my mind racing at the thoughts of all the different possibilities and outcomes involved in the experiment that was to take place later.  Last night as I lay in bed reading a book, my mind kept distracting me with the need to find a meringue recipe.  Yes, I was am a woman entranced by an intriguing culinary experiment.

This weekend is Easter weekend in case you don’t know.  I’m from Ohio and go to school in Massachusetts, so traveling back for Easter, which I don’t even celebrate really, doesn’t happen.  Two of the three roommates are gone this weekend, leaving only two of the usual four.  Things are pretty quiet this weekend.  I figured it would be the perfect time to experiment in the kitchen.

This evening after I had a yummy dinner and spent some time browsing Netflix, I carried out the experiment.  And I must say, I was quite pleased with the results, and I hope you will be too if you decide to try it!

Meringue Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Mocha-Chip Meringue Recipe 

Here’s What You Need:

Mochi*

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp espresso

*Note: I used chocolate Mochi just because I LOVE chocolate and I happened to have this flavor around the house.  Feel free to experiment a little and try different flavors of meringue and/or Mochi-feel free to make it your own if you want!

I made just one, but I had A LOT of meringue left over.  This recipe for meringue would definitely be enough for an entire six pack of Mochi if that is what you so choose

Here’s What You Do: 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees 

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch

Your first step!

Next, whisk together 3 egg whites and 1/4 tsp of salt with an electric mixer on medium speed until frothy.

Like this…

Frothy!

Okay.  Now you’re going to keep on whisking! But add in the sugar/cornstarch mixture one tablespoon at a time until it’s all in there!

Keep whisking until you get stiff, glossy peaks like these….

Look at those peaks!

Now that you’ve got those lovely, stiff peaks, add in the espresso and cocoa powder and vanilla extract 

Fold in the additions

More fun than folding laundry!

Don’t forget to get any leftover from the electric mixer!  You might get your hands messy…I know I did!

Look at those messy hands!

Now it gets really fun…. cover the Mochi in the meringue.  There’s not an official or proper way to do this, just make sure it’s entirely covered like this….

Mochi+Meringue=??

Put it in the oven for about 3 minutes, make sure the meringue is stiff and a little crisp when you take it out.

Here’s what I got…..

Whoa! A mocha covered in meringue!

A view of the inside after I took a much anticipated bite….

It looks strange, but I assure you, it was DELICIOUS. Try it!

All in all, this experiment proved to be successful and full of lots of possibilities for getting creative in the future.

It was definitely worth all the obsessing I was doing beforehand.

So, if this meringue recipe made SO MUCH meringue and I only made one  mini Mochi Baked Alaska, you’re probably wondering what on earth I did with that spare meringue? 

I’m glad you asked….

Well, when life gives you meringue, you make meringue cookies.  Naturally.

Put a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet, spoon the meringue onto the baking sheet and then pop them into an oven at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  The result is yummy

Look at those beauties. I just wanna eat 'em up! Yum!

I hope that this has been an enjoyable post for anyone reading, I know that creating it was enjoyable for me! Have fun with this recipe and experiment a little if you want!  That’s one of the best parts is trying out fun combinations and seeing how they turn out.

As I said before, it’s a pretty quiet weekend over here, so hopefully between working on papers/brainstorming for papers/doing my accounting homework, I’ll have a chance to make some more stuff in the kitchen!

To everyone who celebrates Easter, Happy Easter!  To everyone who celebrates Passover, Happy Pesach!  Last year, I had my first Passover Seder (for those of you who don’t know, I’m going to be converting to Reform Judaism in a few years when I can fully commit the time needed for the conversion process), I wanted to have one this year, but sadly it did not happen.  Next year, it will

If you do not celebrate Easter or Passover, then Happy Weekend!

I want to leave everyone with this image below of a cute kitten sleeping.  Michael is in China right now for Semester at Sea, and saw this little guy in the window of a pet store in Shanghai.  Behold the cutest freaking thing ever….

OH. MY. GOD. CUTE. OVERLOAD.

Okay, that’s not all.  He also sent me a picture of these cutecutecute puppies…

good gravy!

So with those two super super super cute pictures, I wish you a great day, a great weekend, and warm wishes for lots of fun in and out of the kitchen!

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