Japanese Sweets: How to Make Yatsuhashi (八つ橋)

Yatsuhashi (八つ橋) – when I think of souvenir from Kyoto, it’s the first thing that comes to my mind. I remembered I ate a lot of yatsuhashi samples during my first visit in Kyoto (Actually, every time I visit Kyoto…). From the classic matcha to strawberry flavor, you can find many variations. I particularly like the black sesame seeds flavor yatsuhashi. As I said before, I would like to try to make more Japanese sweets this year. So this time, I tried making yatsuhashi. Surprisingly, it only requires few ingredients and it’s easy to make. Let’s get ready and here’s how to make your very own yatsuhashi!

Ingredients

For dough:
– 100 grams of non-glutinous rice flour (same flour to make dango)
– 50 grams (or less) of sugar
– 130 ml of lukewarm water

For coating:
– 20 grams of kinako (roasted whole soybean powder)
– 5 grams of sugar
– cinnamon (as much as you like)

For filling:
– red bean paste

Directions

1. Mix the ingredients for dough and coating in separate bowls.
2. Add water to dough mixture and mix well.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrapper and microwave for 2 minutes in 600 watts.
4. Take it out and mix using a spatula.
5. Microwave it once again for 1 minute and 40 seconds in the same watts.
6. Again take it out and mix until it gets glossy.
7. Lay down a plastic wrapper on the table and spread some coating mixture.
8. Transfer the dough on top of the plastic wrapper and spread some coating mixture on top of it.
9. Spread the dough thinly and evenly using a rolling pin. As much as possible, shape it into a square.
10. Then, cut it into a desired size of square shape.
11. Get a small amount of red bean paste and place in the middle of the square dough. Don’t put to much red bean paste otherwise it will be difficult to fold it. Now, fold it to make a triangle shape.
12. Seal the sides by pressing lightly and we’re done!

Steps 1-2: Mix dough ingredients and water…

Steps 1-2: …until smooth

Steps 3: Cover with plastic wrapper and microwave!

Steps 4-6: Mix until it gets glossy

Steps 7-8: Cover it with the coating mixture

Step 9: Roll, roll, roll!

Steps 10-11: Fill with anko

Step 11: ..and cut the rest.

Aside from the usual red bean paste, you can also use different fillings. For example, strawberry jam, chocolate, sesame seeds paste or maybe peanut butter? Hm, not sure if that would go well with cinnamon and kinako though.

Overall, it was easy to make. Maybe it took me time in cutting out the dough because of the desire to make a perfect squares. I still can’t believe I was able to make this one. The outcome isn’t that bad, don’t you think? Next time, I’ll try to make it with my favorite black sesame seed filling.

Cinnamon-kinako and cocoa flavor yatsuhashi. Yes, I made choco version by just coating it with cocoa powder.

Oh by the way, don’t waste those offcuts. Me, I just rolled it. I like it as it is even without any filling. Actually, you can even find no-filling yatsuhashi sheets at supermarkets.

What’s your favorite yatsuhashi flavor? or Kyoto sweets? Have you tried making any Japanese sweets? Share with me your experience. Thanks for reading!