Peanut Butter Filled Green Tea Mochi

Peanut Butter Mochi

So I went to this bakery in Arcadia over the weekend and got some mochi, they were so cute, but strangely so expensive.. I think 3 bucks for 4 pieces... I was wondering why these things were so expensive since the ingredients are ridiculously cheap. I'm guessing they're charging for the labor involved, it wasn't that easy to work with, the dough definitely got less sticky really quickly.. so yes. I should have filled it with red bean, that would have been so tasty, but I sent all my red beans home last weekend. : ( Next time though, I will make this wonderful, for now, I put in peanut butter as a filling. Peanut butter mochi does exist, but I think it's typically in regular white mochi, not green tea, you can't taste the matcha in this one, but I think it gives and interesting look... and I'm all about presentation right? jk, I should have put these in the fridge to set a bit before I took the pics so it doesn't look like the peanut butter is oozing out of the thing... sigh oh well, here's my version of this filled mochi.

Peanut Butter Mochi

1 cup Mochiko
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp matcha green tea powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp powdered sugar
Cornstarch or Potato starch for dusting

1. Mix peanut butter, powdered sugar, and honey in a bowl, place in freezer
2. Dissolve green tea powder in 1/2 cup hot water ( I used my matcha whisk for this, took away all the clumps and made it nice and frothy!) Add 1/4 cup cold water, to make the mixture semi- room temperature, add sugar, mochiko flour and stir until combined.
3. Cover with plastic, and microwave for 2 minutes, see if it's cooked... ( I actually don't know how to tell that it's cooked haha)
4. Dust working area with cornstarch, and place mochi dough on it, knead until semi- smooth. Divide into 12 pieces.
5. Knead, roll, or stretch the pieces out to a small circle, place in desired amount of filling ( I used a 1/2 tsp.) Pleat together the ends, and dust with cornstarch to prevent sticking to the other ones
6. if the dough gets tough to work with, place back into microwave for 15 seconds.

... now that didn't cost more than a dollar to make right? Silly bakery.... : P