Peanut Butter Mochi Puffs

I've not been shy about expressing my mad love for mochi on this blog. There's something about those chewy, pouffy little brown rice squares that I just can't get enough of.

Last week, I made a delicious batch of mochi vegetable dumplings from a recipe in Clean Food. Before making that recipe, I'd never thought of stuffing the baked puffs. You see, mochi comes in a hard square of pressed brown rice. When baked, its chewy guts kinda run out, creating a hollow space inside. That hollow area is the perfect place for filling mochi with all sorts of goodness. I thought, if this works for a savory dish, why not try a sweet stuffed mochi?

Thus Peanut Butter Mochi Puffs were born:

Don't let the picture fool you. I know it doesn't look like much, but hey, mochi isn't very photogenic. The chewy insides fall out in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and cutting the mochi for stuffing causes it to deflate a little. But it's the taste that matters, right?

I used the Grainaissance Raisin Cinnamon mochi and stuffed it with my very favorite PB — Mighty Maple by Peanut Butter & Company. The sweet, nutty mochi were the perfect accompaniment to salty, smoky tempeh bacon at breakfast time.

Peanut Butter Mochi Puffs
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1 pkg. Grainaissance Raisin Cinnamon Mochi
7 1/2 Tbsp. peanut butter (or other nut butter)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut mochi into 15 equal-sized squares. Bake for 10 minutes or until mochi is puffed and a little brown.

Cut a hole in each puffed square and insert a half-tablespoon of peanut butter into each. Eat!

Note: If you're like me and only need to prepare one serving for breakfast each day, cook three squares at a time and leave the uncooked squares in the fridge for later. Cooked mochi should be served fresh.