Coconut and Peanut Tapioca/Mochi Bread

So here's another variation of the tapioca bread I talked about in my last post. The version with just coconut will be posted soon when I stop making these variations and go back to the "basics". Anyways, did you know that peanuts and coconut go really well together? Well, if not, you do now. I just used the same recipe for sesame tapioca bread and filled each tin/cup of the cupcake tin a quarter full, so not even halfway full. Then added a tablespoon of a peanut, coconut, and sugar mixture and poured the rest of the batter to cover the filling. The end result is a bread that's not only delicious but incredibly fragrant. You can omit the sesame seeds and just add in the filling but I liked the extra fragrance the sesame seeds provided. I kind of eyed the amount of mixture to use but here are my estimates for the filling (keep in mind that these measurements are not in any way exact):

8 Tbsps ground roasted peanut*
6 Tbsps sweetened shredded coconut
3 Tbsps sugar (add more or less to your taste)

*I just used a food processor to grind them until they resembled course breadcrumbs. And you can buy peanuts that are already roasted or you can roast them yourself: just put them in a 350°F oven for a few minutes. Be careful not to let them burn!)

Sesame Tapioca Bread (Sesame Mochi Bread)

A few weeks ago, I went to a Brazilian steakhouse for the first time. The food was delicious and I had great company so it was a wonderful experience. We were served mini-cheese puffs/bread and after tasting one, I knew I had to find the recipe and make them . They're called pão de queijo and as I searched online through different recipes, I found a Korean sesame tapioca bread that was similar except instead of cheese, the bread contained, well, sesame. (This type of bread uses tapioca flour/starch and thus, can be called tapioca bread. Its texture is similar to mochi, but baked, so it's also known as mochi bread.) However, I couldn't find a recipe for the Korean sesame bread since all the recipes I found included using the bake mix for the bread... In the end, I just browsed through more recipes for pão de queijo, made some adjustments, and constructed my own recipe:

Sesame Tapioca Bread

1 egg
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 whole milk
1 1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt (use 1 tsp if you prefer a more salty bread)2 tsps black sesame seeds and more for decoration (see note)

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F and lightly grease 8 cups of a cupcake pan. (You can use a mini-muffin pan to make smaller breads but since I don't have one, I just used a cupcake pan.)
2. Blend all the ingredients in a blender until everything is combined.*
3. Pour the batter into the greased pan until each cup is 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, until they're puffed up and the tops are golden brown.

*You don't have to blend for a long time. If you do, more air will be incorporated into the batter, making the resulting bread have more/larger air pockets and less of the mochi bread.

Note: This is optional, but I like to sprinkle the tops of each bread with some black sesame seeds as garnish before placing them in the oven.

**These breads are best eaten hot/warm when they're just out of the oven. They start to deflate as they cool and if you keep them overnight, make sure to microwave them for about 15 seconds before eating to get the nice mochi texture again.**

You can make this bread sweet or salty depending on your preferences. I have substituted coconut in place of the sesame seeds to make a sweet tapioca bread, which was delicious as well. That recipe will most likely be posted sometime this week since I'll probably make the coconut version of this soon... It feels like I can't get tired of these, they're just so tasty. The texture has a lot to do with it though. If you love mochi like me, you'll love these too!