Chewy, bouncy eyeballs made from Japanese mochi! These soft little rice cakes are a traditional Japanese dessert that I’ve turned super creepy for Halloween by shaping them like eyeballs and drizzling them with a bloody strawberry syrup.
If you’ve never made mochi before, it’s actually quite easy! You only need 2 ingredients and a big pot of boiling water! The flour that you use is very important and critical to your success and I’ve gone into it in more detail in the ingredients section.
Serve these eyeballs on a skewer like I did, or pile them high in a bowl and drizzle the blood on top. You’re free to be as creatively creepy as you like!
Ingredients for Eyeball Mochi Skewers
- shiratama ko rice flour – This is the KEY to making mochi at home! Just mix this with water and you have mochi. It’s very important that you use this specific rice flour, not just any rice flour, as the texture can change dramatically and you won’t have success. I have been there and have made such rubbery mochi that is has bounced off of WALLS. Get the flour here!
- food coloring – The dough is very sensitive to adding any additional liquid, so I recommend using gel food coloring instead of liquid. My favorite is the Wilton Color Right collection because it’s super pigmented and comes in very easy to use squeeze bottles.
- strawberries – This is the main ingredient in the “blood”! I used whole, frozen strawberries, but sliced frozen strawberries or even fresh strawberries would work. You don’t need to thaw the strawberries ahead of time, just dump them straight into the sugar syrup!
Helpful Tools
How to Make Eyeball Mochi Skewers
Start with the bloody syrup.
Place the granulated sugar and water in a small pot and set to medium heat. Heat, while stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute. Add the strawberries and cook for about 10-12 minutes, until the strawberries are very soft and the syrup is bubbling and thick. Strain the syrup into a jar and set aside to cool. The leftover syrupy strawberries can be eaten with yogurt, pancakes or waffles!
Make the eyeballs.
Place the shiratamako flour into a bowl, and gradually drizzle in the water. Knead with a spoon (or your hands – much easier). The dough should form into one piece, and be firm enough for a piece of dough to be rolled into a ball, and retain its form when placed down. Depending on the humidity of your house, you may need to add a bit more flour or water, but do so very gradually.
Take ¼ of the dough and divide it into 5 pieces. Dye it red, green, blue, brown and black. Keep in mind that the dough will get deeper in color once it is boiled.
Roll the remaining dough into 8 balls and place it on a plate lined with plastic wrap. The dough will easily stick to plates and countertops and the plastic wrap will prevent this.
Create the iris of the eyes with the brown, green, blue and red dough by making little disks of the dough and pressing them onto the white balls.
To make the pupils, make little balls with the black dough and press them into the center of the iris.
To cook the eyeballs, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the eyeballs. Once they have risen to the surface, boil for 3-5 minutes, until cooked all the way through.
Immediately transfer the eyeballs to a bowl of ice water, to stop the cooking and prevent them from getting too soft.
Skewer the eyes!
Stick the eyeballs onto skewers and place on your serving plate.
Drizzle the strawberry “blood” on top and enjoy!
Other Halloween Recipes to Try
Other Japanese Recipes to Try
Eyeball Mochi Skewers
Chewy, bouncy eyeballs made from Japanese mochi! Drizzled in strawberry "blood", this is a perfectly spooky Halloween dessert.
Ingredients
Mochi:
- 1 1/3 cup shiratamako rice flour
- 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp water
- black, brown, red, blue and green food coloring
Syrup:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ cups frozen strawberries
Instructions
Make the bloody syrup:
- Place the granulated sugar and water in a small pot and set to medium heat. Heat, while stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute.
- Add the strawberries and cook for about 10-12 minutes, until the strawberries are very soft and the syrup is bubbling and thick.
- Strain the syrup into a jar and set aside to cool. The leftover syrupy strawberries can be eaten with yogurt, pancakes or waffles!
Make the eyeballs:
- Place the shiratamako flour into a bowl, and gradually drizzle in the water. Knead with a spoon (or your hands – much easier). The dough should form into one piece, and be firm enough for a piece of dough to be rolled into a ball, and retain its form when placed down. Depending on the humidity of your house, you may need to add a bit more flour or water, but do so very gradually.
- Take ¼ of the dough and divide it into 5 pieces. Dye it red, green, blue, brown and black. Keep in mind that the dough will get deeper in color once it is boiled.
- Roll the remaining dough into 8 balls and place it on a plate lined with plastic wrap. The dough will easily stick to plates and countertops and the plastic wrap will prevent this.
- Create the iris of the eyes with the brown, green, blue and red dough by making little disks of the dough and pressing them onto the white balls. To make the pupils, make little balls with the black dough and press them into the center of the iris.
- To cook the eyeballs, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the eyeballs. Once they have risen to the surface, boil for 3-5 minutes, until cooked all the way through. Immediately transfer the eyeballs to a bowl of ice water, to stop the cooking and prevent them from getting too soft.
Serve:
- Stick the eyeballs onto skewers and place on your serving plate.
- Drizzle the strawberry “blood” on top and enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Hi everyone! My name is Cayla Gallagher and I’m the creator of pankobunny!
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