Mochi Ice Cream Has Been My Best Snack Discovery This Year

Scouted Report: Mochi ice cream from Mochidoki and My/Mochi is the perfect snack to cure anyone's afternoon cravings.

My snacking habits have been exacerbated by working from home and being around, well, all of my snacks. Chips and salsa is my go-to at 3:00pm, or sometimes I’ll go healthy and douse cucumbers in chili crisp. But there’s one snack that I know will continue to be something I reach for far after we’re not stuck at home anymore and that’s mochi ice cream.

If you’re not familiar with mochi itself, let me break it down for you. Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made from glutinous rice, which is pounded out into a gelatinous, thick, sticky paste that can be rolled into balls and stuffed with sweet or savory ingredients. Pair that with ice cream and you have the perfect bite for an afternoon sweet treat. The best part of eating mochi ice cream is that it requires some patience to get the best experience — it helps me slow down a bit. You have to let it sit after you take it out of the freezer, allowing the mochi itself to soften and the ice cream to slightly melt — this is the best way to experience the squishiness of the mochi with the creamy, firmness of the ice cream. My two favorites have been from Mochidoki (which just opened their first shop in NYC) and My/Mochi. I gravitate towards classic flavors like chocolate and vanilla, but the red bean from Mochidoki is probably my all time favorite — red bean is an underutilized ingredient in western desserts, in my opinion. It’s sweet with a slight hint of savoriness which helps hit all my cravings.

Being stuck at home for an entire year has made me take stock of what I’m eating and enjoying. I don’t want to settle for just okay, which has actually helped me eat better and finding this little bundle of joy in the form of an ice cream-stuffed rice cake has been a true highlight.

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