Chocolate Ganache & Strawberry Daifuku for Valentine's Day

• 200 grams Shiratamako
• 100 grams Jyoshinko
• 100 grams Caster sugar
• 500 ml Water
• 2 grams Salt
• 1 Food Coloring (red)
• 1 good amount for handling the mochi Katakuriko
• 80 ml Heavy cream
• 140 grams Baking chocolate = equivalent to 2 chocolate bars' worth
• 1 tsp Mizuame
• 1 Liquor (optional)
• 15 small Strawberries

1. Put the shiratamako into a heat-resistant bowl.
2. Crumble the powder with your fingers.
3. Then add in the jyoshinko, caster sugar, and salt.
4. Whisk together.
5. Add in half of the water to the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated before adding another half.
6. Dissolve the mixture into the water, being careful not to form clumps.
7. At this point, the mixture will be silky smooth.
8. Dissolve the red food coloring in a little bit of water (not listed) and add to Step 2.
9. Mix well.
10. Hull and wash the strawberries.
11. Pat dry well.
12. Make the ganache cream.
13. Warm the heavy cream in a double boiler.
14. Add the baking chocolate (or finely chopped chocolate bar) and slowly melt.
15. Once melted, add the mizuame.
16. The mixture will become shiny.
17. Add liquor if you prefer.
18. Cover a small metal tray (but large enough to line up 15 strawberries, as seen in the photo at Step 7) with plastic wrap in a way that's easy to remove later.
19. Pour in the ganache.
20. Once the ganache has cooled slightly, line up the strawberries.
21. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour, until the ganache hardens.
22. Since the strawberries will be wrapped in the chocolate later, be careful not to let them chill too long because the ganache will become too hard.
23. Use a scraper or something similar to divide the ganache into 15 portions, then wrap up the strawberry as shown in the photo.
24. Spread the mochi on your palm and wrap the strawberry in it with the pointy end facing down.
25. Once it's sealed closed, dust with katakuriko one more time and place it in a cupcake liner.
26. Microwave at 600 W for 4 minutes then stir with a whisk.
27. At this point it's not really that warm.
28. Microwave for 2 minutes.
29. Switch to a heat-resistant rubber spatula.
30. Now the mixture will be warmed in some places, but not all the way through.
31. Microwave for another 2 minutes.
32. Now the mixture will be piping hot and sticky.
33. Lastly, mix very well with a rubber spatula.
34. Plop the piping hot Step 11 onto the tray with katakuriko from Step 10.
35. Flatten and stretch it out with a spatula.
36. Divide it into sections using a scraper or something similar.
37. Since ganache has a gluing effect, I spread the katakuriko on the outside, but if you're just using anko, it will lose it's stickiness, so it's unnecessary.
38. Once the hot mochi mixture has cooled down a bit, hold it in the palm of your hand and wrap it over the ganache covered strawberries.
39. If you do this while the mochi is too hot, the ganache will melt.
40. It's a good idea to cover your hands with katakuriko while wrapping.
41. Obviously, since my hands were busy, I couldn't take a photo of this process.
42. Spread the mochi on your palm and wrap the strawberry in it with the pointy end facing down.
43. Once it's sealed closed, dust with katakuriko one more time and place it in a cupcake wrap.
44. Let it cool for a little while to let the ganache settle, and then enjoy.
45. They're also super chewy the next day.

shiratamako, sugar, salt, cream, baking chocolate, mizuame, liquor, strawberries

Taken from cookpad.com/us/recipes/143066-chocolate-ganache-strawberry-daifuku-for-valentines-day (may not work)