Chocolate Mochi Brownie Squares

Chocolate Mochi Brownie Squares

Recently, I transferred to a new position at work. Still working for the same library system, but a new position at our headquarters. I'm tardy in posting photos of my going away party at my former library - they hosted a lovely dessert buffet...it was so sweet. Those are coming soon!

At my new workplace, one of my co-workers is on a gluten-free diet (darn you Celiac). I keep bringing in desserts she can't eat so I wanted to make something gluten-free. I love, love, love all things mochi (my family's history with mochi is well documented in my New Year's Mochi Making posts) so this recipe on my friend's blog JustJenn Recipes was a perfect fit.

Since these brownies are made with rice flour (I only use Koda Farms Mochiko rice flour), they have a distinctive "mochi" chew. They aren't too sweet and are a nice morning or afternoon treat.

I cut all my work treats "petite" size...I usually cut a 8 x8 pan into 16 or 25 pieces.

This is a great gluten-free recipe...and enjoyed by all! It's super easy to make...no electric mixer needed. I hope you make a pan full of yum soon!

P.S. Thanks for all the comments about my last post mourning the loss of Picnik. Picnik certainly had many fans!!! I used PicMonkey to add the text to the first photo. It is easy to use and the fonts are stylin' - I jumped for joy seeing Lobster Two! They say collages are coming soon! Some Picnik folks went to PicMonkey and you can see it. It is web based, but you need to pull your photos in from your computer, and can edit one photo at a time.  I hope they are able to add direct integration with Flickr at some point and make the whole process online, but it a great start!

Recipe:
Find the recipe on my friend's justJENN Recipes blog for Chocolate Mochi Brownies

My changes and notes:
- 1 cup mochiko (Koda Farms brand) was 4 7/8 ounces by weight
- I used 1/2 cup Nestle semi-sweet morsels for the melting
- I mixed 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips into the batter then put the pan into the oven. After 15 minutes of baking, I sprinkled the remaining 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips on top. I think this helped prevent the chips from falling to the bottom of the pan.
- I used an 8 x 8 pan and baked it for 52 minutes.

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Matcha Mochi Cupcakes - Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from The Food O'Librarian

Today, I'm celebrating my Japanese and Irish roots.
What?
Yes, I may be 100% Okinawan, but somehow, my grandparents named my father Patrick!

My grandfather traveled from Okinawa, Japan to Hawaii in the early 1900's to work on the sugar plantations...as did many Issei (first generation Japanese Americans). Later, he went back to the little island of Okinawa and met my grandmother. They settled in California as farmers and began to raise their family of six kids. When son #3 came along, they named him Patrick. They were Christian (named the first two sons John and David), but not Catholic so I'm not quite sure where the name came from. However, I attribute this bit of Irish to my craving for some corned beef and cabbage every March 17th. And the McDonald's Shamrock Shake. :)

So, to combine the Irish and Japanese (hee hee), I whipped up some Matcha Mochi Cupcakes. Using matcha (green tea powder) and mochiko flour (sweet rice flour), these cupcakes are chewy and a bit dense. And they are such a pretty color of green! It is similar to my Blueberry Mochi Cake, Cherry Mochi Cake, and Matcha Mochi Bundt but it uses whole milk and oil instead of butter and evaporated milk. It is less buttery than the other cakes, and I enjoyed it a lot!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Recipe:
Find the recipe here on my friend Azusa's blog, Humblebean. Check out all her beautiful photos and food! This recipe is gluten-free too!

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