Butter mochi

Butter mochi is a chewy baked dessert from Hawaii. The batter is built on mochiko, a glutinous rice flour used in Japanese mochi, and it is enriched with melted butter, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla and baking powder. Coconut is a common addition: a University of Hawaii recipe uses grated coconut, while another from the university uses coconut milk.

The batter is mixed until smooth, poured into a pan and baked. The university recipe calls for a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan, a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven and one hour of baking, and it makes 24 pieces. The top should be golden and the edges should pull away from the pan, and the cake is cooled completely before it is cut into squares.

Because the flour is glutinous rice rather than wheat, the crumb is dense, springy and chewy rather than fluffy.