Small Batch Baked Ube Mochi Donuts

• Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour. My hands down, all-time favorite brand of sweet rice flour is Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour by Koda Farms. You can find mochiko sweet rice flour in the Japanese or flour section of almost every major Asian grocery store. I’ve also started seeing it in the Asian and/or gluten-free baking sections of major grocery stores like Safeway, Whole Foods, and even Target! You can also buy it online on Amazon. However, I don’t recommend doing so because you can only buy it in bulk and a box at a grocery store typically costs less than $5.
  
  
• Kosher Salt. In my cookbook, I argue that kosher salt is the best salt for baking recipes. But you can replace the kosher salt in the recipe with table salt. Just use half the amount listed in the recipe when you do!
  
  
• Ube Halaya (Ube Jam). Ube halaya jam is typically found in the “Filipino” aisle of any Asian supermarket, close to jars of preserved jackfruit, macapuno (a coconut hybrid much beloved in the Philippines), and other fruits commonly found in the country. In the US, the brand I most commonly see is Monika. If you can’t find it at the store, make your own with my recipe using frozen ube!
  
  
• Ube Extract. In the United States, there’s only a handful of brands that make ube extract: McCormick and Butterfly. I’m partial to McCormick because they’re a huge company that also makes other high-quality spices, herbs, and extracts. Their ube extract also contains actual yam and ube in it. Although most McCormick spices and extracts are available in most supermarkets, you need to go to a specialty Asian market to source the ube extract. Most Asian supermarkets have a baking aisle.
  
  
• Purple Food Coloring. For these donuts, I used a purple from this “Nifty Fifty” Americolor food coloring set. You can also buy as an individual bottle online. Technically, you don’t need to use purple food coloring to make these donuts. But your donuts won’t come out the same color as mine. That’s because although both ube halaya and ube extract are purple, they don’t have enough natural pigment to really dye the donuts a deep purple on their own.
  
  
• Whole Milk. While testing this recipe, I found that you can use skim, low-fat, or non-fat milk instead of whole milk. You can also use plant-based milks like almond, coconut, soy, or oat. However, be mindful that using an alternative milk with “strong” flavors (like coconut or oat milk) will impart their flavors into the donuts, too. Specifically, your ube donuts might have a subtle coconut or oat milk flavor to them, too.

Best Recipe Tips

Ingredient Tip

• Wondering what to do with your leftover ube halaya jam and extract? Check out these other delicious ube recipes on Hummingbird High: Ube Babka, Ube Cinnamon Rolls, Ube Crinkle Cookies, and Ube Layer Cake.

Technique Tips

• To save yourself a dish, melt the butter in a large bowl. This bowl will eventually become your batter bowl! You add the sugars, eggs, and remaining ingredients directly to the melted butter in this bowl.
  
  
• Don’t panic if the butter and sugar turns lumpy once you mix them together! This is normal, I promise. Add the egg yolks one at a time—doing so will smoothen out the mixture. I add the sugar first to the melted butter first to bring its temperature down and ensure that it doesn’t accidentally scramble the egg yolks.
  
  
• Most baking recipes instruct you to spray your pan with cooking spray as the first step. However, in this recipe for baked ube mochi donuts, I instruct you to do so only right before filling the donut pan with batter. If you spray the pan too early, the cooking spray has a tendency to slide down the sides of the pan and pool at the bottom of each donut cavity! This excess oil gives the donuts an unattractive color and texture. Simply avoid it by spraying the donut pan right before filling it with batter.
  
  
• After you’ve sprayed your pan, use a liquid measuring cup or pitcher with a spout to pour the batter into the donut pan cavities. The batter is really liquidy—a liquid measuring cup or pitcher is your best bet to filling the pan without making a mess! You’ll need to fill each cavity all the way up to the top. Don’t worry! The donut batter won’t overflow since it won’t rise too much.