Hi Salena, we don't have Miyoko's Creamery here but I've had it before in the US and I think it might work. That being said I haven't tried it in this particular recipe so I can't make any guarantees. If you end up trying it out I'd love to hear how it goes.

You should be able to replace the water and mochi flour with an equal amount of cooked mochi rice (about 350 grams). I would recommend adding the sugar as you pound the rice, but you'll probably want to integrate the butter after it's been pounded.

Hi i am wanting to make this but without flour. Can i use cooked mochigome rice and make adjustments after the rice is pounded?

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! Here's another one for you to try: https://norecipes.com/chocolate-mochi/ It's a bit more work, but if you like chocolate it's even better than this one.

This is the best microwave mochi recipe I've tried by far! The butter makes all the difference!

Oops I meant to say I saw steam; not smoke LOL. In any case, I love how easy it was to make your butter mochi. With time I'm sure it'll turn our like yours. Definitely will make them in the future. Thank you Marc.

They look good, and I love the idea of coating them in kinako! Yes, you don't definitely don't want to touch the mochi mixture as it's a burn waiting to happen. It's best to use a wet wooden spoon or a stiff silicone spatula to knead it. It sounds like the lumpy issue may have been caused by overheating it. It will release some steam as it cooks but it should not smoke. There's still going to be a small amount of liquid on top after the second time in the microwave, but as you knead it together the residual heat should cook that though. If you cook it for too long there are going to be some parts that are much harder than other parts, which might make it difficult to knead together uniformly.

Sorry for the small photo as when I tried to attach the regular one but it didn't take.
 
I only buy Koda Farm mochiko. That's the only one I know in Canada.
 
I didn't try to touch the mochi mixture from the microwave as your instructions said it will be extremely hot. I did see smoke.
 
By the way, I'm attaching a photo of the chilled mochi sprinkled with kinako powder for some colour. The butter mochi are very tasty even if they wobble and open like a flower. LOL edible success in my book.

Hi Christina, thanks for sending over the photo. If you've used that type of rice flour before for mochi and it worked then it should work for this recipe too. I think the issue your mom ran into might be that lower quality mochiko is made with a mix of glutinous rice flour and regular rice flour. Even in Japan, I have to check the label to make sure it's 100% shortgrain glutinous rice. The photo came through really small so it's a little hard to see exactly what's going on, but it does look a little lumpier than mine. How hot was the mochi when you put it into the mold? Regarding mixing, it does require a fair amount of kneading to get it smooth and elastic as it tends to be be a little more doughy and crumbly when it first comes out of the microwave.