Stick to this

One of my favorite parts of being 10 years old was that my mom would let me ride my bike up the road to the convenience store. Packaged powdered donuts at 7-Eleven was my go-to, with a little cup of hot chocolate.

There’s definitely something special that these local, mom-and-pop spots have. The promise of a stop for a musubi is enough to hurry even my most grumbly child out the door. We have our favorite family-run stores; each one seems to have their own specialty, like fried chicken or a maki sushi roll.

When we lived in Punaluu, we had easy access to Ching’s butter mochi. I think theirs is the best. While I have a good enough butter mochi recipe, I won’t even try to compete with the masters. Instead, I’ll look for a way to make it my own. I won’t blame you if you make extra.

Cinnamon Roll Butter Mochi

Ingredients:

• 1 box mochiko flour

• 4 eggs

• 1 can coconut milk

• 1 can evaporated milk

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 1 cup butter, melted

• 2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• Cinnamon roll spread (see the following for recipe)

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-by-12-inch baking pan. In a very large mixing bowl, combine the ~ our, eggs, milks, sugar, butter and baking powder, whisking until the ingredients are consistently incorporated.

Pour the batter into the pan. With your cinnamon roll spread, pipe circular swirls, like cinnamon rolls, onto the surface of the batter. Use about half of the spread and save the rest for later.

Bake the mochi for 1 hour. The top should be well browned. Let the mochi cool for about 20 minutes, cut and serve.

You can serve it with the extra spread as a frosting topping, or if you want to leave the top crunchy, just serve as a dollop on the side.

This will keep, covered at room temperature for a day, but store the spread in the fridge.

Makes one 9-by-12-inch pan.

For cinnamon roll spread:

• 1 can coconut milk

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

• 1 package cream cheese (8 ounces)

Directions:

In a small saucepan heat the coconut milk and sugar over high heat. As it reaches a simmer, stir it quickly to dissolve the sugar.

Turn it on medium heat and simmer/low boil the coconut milk for 8-10 minutes or it begins to reduce and thicken. Remove it from the heat.

Let it cool for 15 minutes. In a blender, combine the coconut syrup, cinnamon and cream cheese. Blend for 30 seconds. It should be a warm frosting consistency.

Pour the spread into a plastic Ziploc and snip the very corner for piping. Alternatively, you can use a pastry bag with a frosting tip. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Mariko Jackson writes about family and food. Email her at thelittlefoodie@gmail.com.