By Request

BETTY SHIMABUKURO

Wednesday, July 18, 2001

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STAR-BULLETIN.COM
Baking bounty: Mochiko Cookies, front, KCC's
Chocolate Chip in the center and Oatmeal Mochiko
Shortbread on the plate.

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Mochiko cookies
nab California tastes

THE trendy cookie of the moment is mochiko shortbread, a light, crisp confection made famous by Keith Yamamoto of Keith's Cookies.

They've even reached beyond the islands to Sunnyvale, Calif., where Rose Padin enjoyed them with tea at a girlfriend's house. "It was a mound-shaped cookie and a good dessert," Padin writes.

Also looking for a mochiko cookie recipe, but closer to home, is Florence Oshiro.

These recipes are from Susy Kawamoto, a generous baker who has frequently made her recipes available for sharing. The cookies aren't the little mounds of Keith's, but if it's taste and texture you're after, these are a good match.

Kawamoto says you can experiment with mochiko -- Japanese rice flour -- in adapting your own favorite recipes. Substitute mochiko for a portion of the flour in the recipe, but never more than 1 cup mochiko to 1 cup of flour.

Also included is Kawamoto's recipe for Layered Mochiko Manju, made with azuki beans, which is the closest I could come to Helen Kido's request for an "Azookie" cookie.

Oatmeal Mochiko Shortbread Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 pound butter, softened
1-1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup mochiko
1 teaspoon baking soda 3 cups quick oats

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-8 minutes. Add flour, mochiko and baking soda and mix well to blend. Add quick oats and mix to evenly distribute.

Spread dough evenly onto a cookie sheet, leaving a margin of about 1-1/2 inches from the edges for cookies to expand. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until cookies are nicely browned. Cut into squares while still warm.

Mochiko Butter Cookies

1/2 pound butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup mochiko
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-8 minutes. Add baking soda and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, mochiko and chopped nuts, if using; blend well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly golden.

Layered Mochiko Manju

1 pound softened butter
1 cup sugar
3 cups flour
2 cups mochiko
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cans koshian or tsubushian (azuki beans) or mixture of both

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5 to 8 minutes. Add flour, mochiko and salt and blend well. Divide dough in half.

Spread half the dough evenly in the pan. Spread the koshian or tsubushian evenly over dough. Spread remaining dough over the top or crumble evenly to cover filling.

Bake 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake another 30 minutes or until nicely brown. Cool and cut into squares.

Nutritional information unavailable.

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"I WENT to a Kapiolani Community College bake sale and purchased chocolate chip cookies that my son enjoyed," Renee Wall writes. "Could you please get the recipe for the cookie, so that I can make it for my son?"

The KCC bakeshop shares this classic recipe for a chocolate chip and oatmeal cookie packed with nuts. It was sold at a recent fund-raiser for the college's culinary programs.

In that light, KCC's Ho'okipa 2001 fund-raiser, which fell victim to the teacher's strike in April, has been rescheduled for Oct. 5 at the Monarch Room of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

The event will feature dishes prepared at live cooking stations by KCC students and their instructors, plus a silent auction. Entertainment is by the Royal Hawaiian Band, Danny Kaleikini and Jimmy Kaina.

If you made reservations for the original event, call to convert your reservation to the October affair. Otherwise, tickets are $100 for outdoor seating; $200 for indoor seating. Call 734-9570.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

1 stick (4 ounces) butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups flour
4 cups rolled oats
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugars into a smooth paste. Add eggs and vanilla slowly.

Sift together baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour.

Add oats and sifted ingredients to butter mixture until combined. Scrape down well and add chopped nuts and chocolate chips, mixing only until incorporated. Do not overmix.

Drop dough onto a cookie sheet by rounded tablespoons. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 5 dozen cookies.

NOTE: For finer texture, grind oatmeal in a food processor. For crunchy texture replace oatmeal with rice crispies.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Food Stuffs: Morsels

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
"By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813.
Or send e-mail to bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.