Milky Mochi Cookies

When it comes to holiday cookies, I'll admit I don't usually go for those that call for breaking out the piping bags and royal icing. After the work of making, chilling, rolling, cutting, baking and cooling, I really just want to be able to chuck the biscuits in a bag and forget about them (though if you've ever received one of my gift boxes, you'll know it's never that simple). This year, for some odd reason, I made three batches of cookies calling for frosting. While the other two were fairly run of the mill vegan sugar cookies (one "normal", one gluten free), the texture, taste and snowy-white porcelain finish of these so-called "mochi biscuits" I found on the blog The Indolent Cook captivated me. I had never seen a gluten free recipe with such a simple combination of ingredients, made in such a fool-proof fashion before. I made a few changes to get the texture just the way I wanted it - and with a dough like this it really does depend on the heat and humidity in your kitchen.

But the results? Unlike any cookie - gluten free or not - I've ever had. Slightly chewy, slightly crisp, tender yet toothy, plain yet complex. They hold their shapes well when baked and the surface stays snow-white, uncracked and almost identical to when it's raw - the only difference being a slightly firmer texture upon cooling. To add a touch of holiday flair to the cookies (especially since they needed to be decorated anyway) I made a rich egg nog royal icing which turned out better than expected - setting firm enough to stack the cookies, but not so rock hard you wind up with cookie lollipops instead of nibbly treats.

I actually liked these best after chilling the dough, rolling and cutting it into smallish shapes, then freezing the cut-outs before baking them from frozen - a technique only discovered out of necessity, timing and trying to mete out my energy over the season! I did the chill-portion-freeze-bake technique with all my cookies this year and am so glad I did! It's the secret to success when you're making enough recipes to fill an Excel spreadsheet in the span of two weeks!

Milky Mochi Cookies
Makes 16
1 ½ oz butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
pinch of salt
1 ½ cups sweet rice flour

1. In a small pot, combine butter, sugar, milk and salt.
2. Bring to boil, stirring constantly.
3. Immediately pour into the sweet rice flour mixture and with a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon beat until a moist but workable dough forms.
4. Wrap in clingfilm and chill 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
6. Roll out cookies to 1/8" thickness between sheets of wax paper and cut into desired shapes.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
8. Cool completely on the sheets before decorating with royal icing.

*Note: if you want to be festive, make your typical royal icing using eggnog instead of water!

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 103.4
Total Fat: 2.5 g
Cholesterol: 6.1 mg
Sodium: 16.9 mg
Total Carbs: 18.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.4 g
Protein: 1.3 g

Sent to Gluten Free Monday and Gluten Free Fridays