White Bean Mochi Mooncakes (Vegan + Gluten Free)

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This white bean mochi mooncakes are vegan, gluten-free, naturally sweetened, and naturally colored. Well, our busy summer completely flew by! Trying to make up for all that lost time last year and tried to jam pack everything in a few months. Didn’t have much time to post since we were in complete vacation mode. It was a much-needed break!

I wanted to make something special for my kid’s first week of school and they love mochi desserts so I figured these would be a perfect little surprise in their lunch box. Since purple sweet potato is out of season and I happen to have a lot of cannellini beans on hand, I thought these could make a nice tasty filling. I’ve had white bean desserts before and always loved the mildly sweet flavor. Now you can use any white bean like navy and butter bean. Just make sure to find ones that are unsalted. You can also cook some dry beans as well. 

I’ve also found the secret to mochi skins from drying out. It’s the type of glutinous rice used! I’ve had mine in the fridge for a few days to see if it was true and it never hardened. No need for warming up in the microwave after storage. I actually liked the texture of the mochi when it was refrigerated. These would be perfect for making mochi ice cream.

The glutinous rice brands like Mochiko typically sold at Asian markets or online can dry and harden quickly in the fridge. The special kind of glutinous rice is called Shiratamako Sweet Rice Flour and is only produced in Japan. It’s made from mochigome, glutinous short-grain Japanese rice. I tried looking on Amazon for this and everything was overpriced, like 20 dollars for a small tiny package. I was able to find it at a specialty online store called Yummy Bizarre that sold international foods. The price was really reasonable and I’ll link it here. The online market also had a wonderful selection of very intriguing international foods from other countries as well. So definitely worth checking out their selection.

I make my own sweetened condensed milk from coconut milk and date sugar. Here’s how to make it:

• a can of coconut milk
• 1/3 cup of date sugar

Place these ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook over medium-low heat for about 20 – 25 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Let cool and store in the fridge for a week.

Why is this healthier?

I’ve replaced a lot of the typical ingredients with more wholesome ones. 

• It’s naturally sweetened with date sugar and maple syrup. 
• I use arrowroot starch instead of corn starch
• I made a homemade sweetened condensed milk made simply from a can of coconut milk and date sugar that I reduce over the stove. I used to recommend using a Brand of coconut milk since it has no guar gum and fewer additives.
• I recommend this brand of cannellini beans since it’s unsalted and has no other additives. 
• I wanted these to look bright and summery so I added natural food coloring. I used safflower powder and matcha powder to give it that nice yellow-green color.

How-To Video

Let’s Make this White Bean Mochi Mooncakes

What you’ll need

Filling

• 1 1/2 cups white cannellini beans unsalted (about 2 cans) can also use navy beans or butter beans
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed coconut milk ( I make my own, see notes on how to make)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2/3 cup arrowroot starch can also you tapioca or corn starch

Wrapper

• 1/3 cup arrowroot starch (about 35 g) can also you tapioca or corn starch
• 2/3 cup rice flour (about 75 g)
• 2/3 cup glutinous rice flour (about 75 g)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/4 cups  almond milk
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (about 45 g)

Wrapper

• Add arrowroot starch, rice flour, and glutinous rice flour in a large heat-safe bowl and mix well.
• Add the almond milk, maple syrup, and coconut oil and mix well.

Add a shallow wire wrack to the bottom of a large pot and fill it with water. Bring to boil and add the heat-safe bowl with the wrapper mixture.

Steam for 25 – 30 minutes or until there is no liquid coming out when you poke the mixture.

Transfer to an electric mixer with the dough attachment. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. If no electric mixer let the dough cool down and wrap in plastic wrap to prevent sticking and knead the dough with your hands.

Transfer dough to plastic wrap and wrap dough. Place in fridge to cool for 1 hr

White Bean Filling

• Place cannellini beans in a mesh strainer and press beans using a back of a spoon to remove the skin.
• Measure mashed beans to weigh 300g and place in a food processor or blender.

• Add coconut cream, water, coconut oil, sweetened condensed coconut milk, maple syrup, and arrowroot starch into the food processor. Blend all the ingredients until nice and smooth.
• Place white bean filling into a non-stick pot.

• Cook over medium heat for 8 – 12 minutes or until the mixture has thickened and pulls from the sides. See video for details.

• Place in a heat-proof container and cover in plastic wrap. Let cool in the fridge for about an hour.

Assemble

• Cut about 3/4ths of the dough. Add about 1 tsp of canary yellow safflower powder to the dough. Knead powder into the dough until well incorporated.

• I’m using medium-sized molds so measure 23 grams of dough. Make sure to dust hands and surface with some rice flour to prevent sticking.
• Roll the dough into a ball and gently press into a 3-inch diameter disc.

• Scoop 20 grams of filling and roll into a ball. Place filling in the center of the dough disc and wrap it between thumb and index finger while pushing down on the filling and sealing the top of the dough. Watch how-to video for details.

• With the other half of the dough add the matcha powder and knead the powder into the dough until well incorporated.

• Wet the top of the mochi and add a small piece of the green-colored dough on the top. Place into the mold and gently press a few times.

• Slowly push out the mochi out of the mold.
• Serve immediately and enjoy!

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