A delightful, photo-filled guide to making mochi (in its many forms) at home. Becker opens the book with a brief history (both general and personal) of mochi, and I would have loved for this section to be even longer! She also provides a list of ingredients and needed equipment, noting that beginners shouldn't buy new equipment to start and should first attempt to make mochi using the tools they already have. The recipes are lavishly and mouthwateringly photographed, with individual photos included for step-by-step processes. Between the photos, beginner-friendly language, and step-by-step instructions, the recipes themselves are extremely beginner-friendly, especially when Becker shares that the quicker, easier microwave method results in virtually the same final product as the longer, more intensive steam method.

Highly recommended for baking and Japanese cuisine enthusiasts.

This easy-to-follow cookbook is perfect for those wanting to try making their own mochi creations. I highly recommend it for those who are mochi pros as well as mochi beginners.

Kaori Becker creata art! She makes the process of mankind mochi so easy and approachable! Still I felt intimidated to even attempt a try to make some myself. Delightful book!

Oh what a great life saver.
I always thought making Mochis would be too hard for me. But with Mochi Magic - it was exactly this: MAGIC!
Still, I didn't found it easy, but manageable.

While I won't be posting up any of my attempts, I can certainly say that they were delicious.
I loved following along with this book while in quarantine. The photos are clear and well lit, and the instructions are easy to follow. I LOVE making mochi and cute things are wonderful, so when a book came out that combined the two, I was all over it.
Thank you #NetGalley for giving me the chance to review this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved this cute little book and although I don't think I will try making my own mochi, I can really appreciate how much work goes into it and how creative and skillfull it is.

I just discovered mochi last year, and I am in love! This book is a god-send! The author breaks everything down to the very basics, and she goes step-by-step with wonderful color pictures. I love how easy she makes it to make them, and decorate them, so that my mochi turn out just like the pictures! I highly recommend this cookbook!

I loved this book! The recipes where super simple and the child and I had so much fun creating new and exciting recipes.

Mochi Magic: 50 Traditional and Modern Recipes for the Japanese Treat. By Kaori Becker. 2020. Storey Publishing (ARC eBook).

Mochi Magic shows how the traditional Japanese treat, mochi is versatile and yummy! With definitions of ingredients, a list of tools and magical pictures of pretty and cute mochi, the step-by-step recipes are informative and will offer up possibilities for any occasion. The matcha truffle, haupia pudding and ice cream daifuku sure do look sweet to me!

I absolutely loved this recipe book! It was charming, well written and very accessible. Not only did the author give us practical tips for making mochi, a five step guide and plenty of step by step pictures, but she also explained the cultural significance of the recipes and the history of mochi. When describing ingredients, she provided substitutions and gave advice on how to use them. I am sopleased by this sweet cookbook, a d can’t wait to try making mochi someday!

Mochi is a new food technique that interested me. I found it easy to make with regularly found ingredients. There is some practice needed in shaping and filling the Mochi. The book provides the different ways of making it, steaming or microwaving, along with many different flavorings and fillings. This is a fun family activity that is also edible:

Kaori Becker’s Mochi Magic is an excellent, well-detailed, and beautiful recipe book. I love the range of easy-to-follow sweet and savoury recipes as well as the stunning full-coloured pictures. This book is so amazing that I bought the ebook before I even finished my review!

Mochi is a type of delicious sticky rice cake made from sweet Japanese short-grain rice. I love mochi and I had no idea it was so versatile. I learned a lot about Japanese culture in this book. The recipes are clearly written, easy-to-follow, and wonderfully detailed. They are accessible to all levels of cooks. Becker’s writing is simple and approachable. I like all the little stories and the great tips.

The book is divided into informative chapters on Mochi-Making Basics; Daifuku (Filled) Mochi: The Dough; Daifuku (Filled) Mochi: The Fillings; Decorating Mochi; A New Year’s Tradition: Pounded Mochi; Odango: Balls of Fun; and Baked Mochi. Becker introduces us to traditional mochi tools and ingredients like steamers and mallets as well as mochiko (the flour), matcha, and sweet bean pastes. We also learn about the various ways to make mochi: there’s hand-pounded, steamed, and the convenient microwave!

There are recipes for traditional treats like Matcha Mochi and Chocolate Mochi but there are also interesting dishes like Japanese Plum Wine Mochi and Rosewater Mochi. The book also includes many recipes for unique mochi fillings like Haupia Pudding, Black Sesame Cream Cheese Filling, and Earl Grey Truffle Filling. There are lots of recipes for dessert mochi but the book also includes savoury ones. There are traditional dishes like Ozoni Soup and Yaki Mochi with Sweet Soy Sauce but there’s also modern dishes like Bacon Wrapped Mochi! Mochi is so versatile that we can even make baked treats like Mochi Muffins, Coconut Chi Chi Dango, and Mochi Waffles.

The book’s design is bright and eye-catching. I love that it is brimming with pictures of everything! There are stunning full-colour full-page pictures for almost every single recipe. There are even pictures of the mochi making processes as well as the various ingredients like adzuki beans. Even the text is fun and colourful! I especially love the section on making cute animal mochi like bears and chicks as well as the adorable illustrations that pop up on several pages.

Mochi Magic is a wonderful, comprehensive, and gorgeous cookbook. I cannot wait to see what else Becker puts out!



🍡 🍡 🍡 🍡 🍡 odango out of 5!

I not long ago discovered what mochi are, having seen them on Instagram, and it looks like they could be the latest food trend. This book will help you make some adorable and delicious treats and impress your friends and family with your skills. The book helps you at every stage and also explains the history and some traditions behind the sweet Japanese treat.

Having a rice cooker would help but it's not necessary.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a cute book that introduces the art of decorative mochi making, but I would not utilize it exclusively for instructional purposes. It requires a great deal more instruction for you to make these creations yourself.

This book contains easy to follow techniques for creating and cooking mochi. I was super surprised that making mochi was this easy. I expected it to be a complicated process that I could never recreate. But the way the process is described and modified to use modern tools is easy enough to follow that even a cooking novice like me can do this. There are a ton of recipes. I cannot wait to try them. I also learned a lot about mochi, what it is and the history behind it. My family is excited to start a new tradition of making mochi at the beginning of the year. I can't wait for my copy to come to my local bookstore.

My daughter loves mochi and all things kawaii, so I thought this would be a fun book we could enjoy together.

I really enjoyed reading about mochi and the recipes sounded delicious but I couldn't quite muster the energy to make anything.

Mochi Magic by Kaori Becker is a recipe book that any mochi fan out there will want to try. It is a delightful and entertaining process that is well explained in the book. The easy to follow instructions and whimsical images will have any beginner creating mochi in no time.

The way the author has written and organized this book gives a relatively easy process to make mochi. There is also a very detailed introduction that describes the author’s experiences and how she came to be a mochi expert. It is quite interesting to read about her workshops for teaching how to make mochi. As she explains, the process is a way to not only create delicious treats, but to also connect with one another.

❀ INCLUDES WONDERFUL DESCRIPTIONS OF JAPANESE CULTURE

This is more than just a book of recipes, as there are many wonderful descriptions of Japanese culture. It also includes some stunning imagery and a handy set of Q & A questions for each recipe. It is incredible to discover the different techniques to create mochi. The contents of the book are as follows:

Mochi Making Basics
Daifuku (Filled) Mochi: The Dough
Daifuku (Filled) Mochi: The Fillings
Decorating Mochi
A New Year’s Tradition: Pounding Mochi
Baked Mochi
Odango: Balls of Fun

❀ EASY TO FOLLOW RECIPES

The recipes in this book are really easy to follow and will definitely produce amazing results. I tried my hand at the coconut mochi and had such a fun experience! The mochiko (sweet rice flour) was easy to source on Amazon and the other ingredients were ones already in my cupboard. Using the microwave method made the entire process super quick. While it was really easy to create the mochi, it is a process that requires a bit of refinement to get it just right. The ones that I created were absolutely tasty, but they didn’t appear as pretty as I had hoped. With a little more practice, I am certain that I will make some stunning mochi from this book.

❀ SOMETHING A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT

Mochi Magic by Kaori Becker is a recipe book that is something a little bit different from your ordinary dessert cookbook. The treats are easy to create and the instructions are simple to follow. This is a fun addition to your kitchen bookshelf that will provide lots of enjoyment, especially during times of social distancing.

Mini Review: I didn't get the chance to make any of the recipes from this book, but they all sounded good! I learned a lot about mochi, and how to make it/the ingredients for it. This is definitely a book I'm going to try and check out in the future to make mochi!

I have enjoyed eating Mochi, but I have never made Mochi before this book and it wasn't too hard at all! Please read this book about a wonderful family's way of making Mochi. It was such a delight! I highly recommend it!

If you ask almost anyone who has been to Japan, they will say that mochi is something that you should not miss out on. It is soft and chewy and sweet, the perfect post-tea snack.

Mochi Magic is broken down into 7 different sections: Mochi-making basics, Daifuku (Filled) Mochi: The Dough, Daifuku (Filled) Mochi: The Fillings, Decorating Mochi, Pounded Mochi, Odango, and Baked Mochi. With everything being so well explained in each seperate section, you will not get things mixed up as to how mochi is crafted.

Mochi Magic is filled with easy to follow instruction, as well as some very handy photos of the more difficult steps. I personally cannot with to give everything in here a try, although I think it may take me a long time to get through all the recipes that are supplied in here!

If you like mochi and would like to learn to make it yourself, then Mochi Magic is a great starting place.