Mochi Ice Cream

What’s tiny, tasty, and totally easy to make? Mochi Ice Cream! These delicious little desserts are a combination of traditional Japanese mochi, or pounded sticky rice dough, wrapped around a frozen ball of ice cream. Yum! The soft, chewy, outer layer of dough melts like magic on your tongue — and it also makes Mochi Ice Cream easy to hold in your hand. No mess!

Feel free to choose your favorite ice cream flavor, but remember that smooth ice cream works best. We take the time to shape and freeze the ice cream balls separately so they’re nice and solid when you’re ready to wrap them up. Sound simple? It is! Make your next party a Mochi Ice Cream party!

Makes:

Serves 6-8

Hands-on time:

30 minutes

Start-to-eat time:

3 hours

Ingredients

1 pint ice cream (any flavor)
1 cup rice flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 cup water
1-2 drops food coloring (optional)
cornstarch, for dusting

Kids kitchen skills:

whisking
rolling
creative presentation

Tools:

2 baking sheets
parchment paper
small ice cream scoop or spoon
medium microwave-safe bowl & whisk
plastic wrap
rubber spatula & rolling pin
3-inch round cookie cutter

Step-by-step

Grown-up steps

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small scoop or spoon, scoop the ice cream onto the baking sheet, lightly pressing each ball to form a flat bottom. Work fast. Freeze for about 1 hour.
In the meantime, in a medium microwave-safe bowl combine flour, sugar, and powdered sugar. Stir in the water and food coloring, if using.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for 1 minute.
Dip a rubber spatula in water and fold the mochi dough mixture a couple times. Then return to the microwave for 1 more minute. Repeat the process and microwave in 30 second increments until the dough is shiny.
Set another baking pan to the side and place a piece of parchment paper on the counter and dust with cornstarch. Carefully scrape the mochi dough from the bowl and onto the parchment paper. The dough will be slightly hot.
Dust the top of the mochi dough with cornstarch. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle about ¼-inch thick. Dust with cornstarch if the dough starts to get sticky. Place the dough with the parchment paper onto the pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge and use a 3-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out circles. (The circles needs to be big enough to cover the ice cream balls.)
Lightly dust the top of the circles with cornstarch. Take one ice cream ball at a time from the freezer. Place ice cream in the center of the mochi and cover the ice cream pinching it together to close. Place mochi on a small piece of plastic wrap. Work fast, and repeat for the rest of the mochi.
Freeze for an hour, unwrap, and enjoy a colorful handheld treat!