Mochi and Fortune Cookies

[eala]

All the freshers are comming into the dorm and we want to have a nice snack buffet. Mochi and fortune cookies are on the list. Does anyone have any tips for making mochi? We tried last night but they ended up looking like silicon breast implants and tasting just as good :ugh: We are going to buy mochi flour next time but tips would be appreciated!

We tried making fortune cookies last year and failed. Anyone have any tips for these? Or good fortunes? Our hall is called "E-Entry" and we are trying to attract people to us (we are small and don't have stuff like pool tabes and plasma screens that the other halls have. We aslo have a crappy view). Fortune ideas welcome!

[Meadhbh]

To make mochi rice cakes, the hot rice is pounded over and over with a wooden palletsweaty work until it is pulverized. The resultant sticky dough is shaped into cakes, used both for shrine offerings and to eat. Mochi, which has an extensible texture like taffy but more so, is considered auspicious, for the word also means "to have," and thus connotes prosperity for the new year. My favorite treat is mochi ice cream balls, in which a ball of ice cream is wrapped with mochi dough so you can hold it in your hands while you eat it.

[eala]

Ah, yes, see that is what we did, but I think we didn't pound enough. You can buy the rice pre-pulverised and make it that way; it is called mochi flour.

I love the red bean icecream ones :9

[Mnemosyne]

Is it hard to make mochi though? It sounds kind of complicated. To be honest, it might be easier to just buy it at the store. They sell it at Trader Joe's. But then again, that's a more pricey option.