Combination of two popular Japanese brands promise a “forbidden” level of tenderness.

Among the competitive array of frozen snacks in Japan, Yukimi Daifuku is a solid perennial favorite by combining the classic taste of vanilla ice cream with the quintessential Japanese treat of daifuku, which is sweet bean paste encased in the pummeled rice cake known as mochi.

▼ In the case of Yukimi Daifuku, vanilla ice cream is surrounded by a velvety layer of mochi

When put together it makes for a sweet and chewy snack, but hardly a component for a complete breakfast…until now!

Forbidden Yukimi Toast was originally developed by Yukimi Daifuku maker Lotte in early October. A few weeks later it caught the attention of Pasco, which produces the popular Chojuku brand of sliced bread.

▼ Yukimi Daifuku’s original unveiling of Forbidden Yukimi Toast

After complimenting each other on their respective products’ tenderness, Pasco offered to lend its expertise on bread to further enhance Forbidden Yukimi Toast. The result was the following recipe which I’ve just recreated for breakfast.

Ingredients

● One slice of Chojuku bread (from a 6-slice pack)
● One slice of cheese
● One Yukimi Daifuku
● Aluminum foil (or, failing that, aluminium foil)

For those unfamiliar with sliced bread in Japan, it tends to come in compact loaves that are sliced into four, five, or six. The size of the loaf remains the same, which means a four-slice pack will give you a mighty thick piece good for a light breakfast on its own, while a six slice piece is better for making a hearty enough sandwich with.

▼ Pasco Chojuku six-pack slice (left), and four-pack slice (right)

This is an important factor, as this recipe is very particular to texture. Pasco’s Chojuku bread actually is quite tender and probably your best choice when attempting this recipe. We even crowned it the best bread to cuddle with in 2015.

▼ Our reporter getting intimate with a slice of Pasco Chojuku

Since texture is the name of the game here and we’re dealing with ice cream, Pasco determined that temperature and moisture control are the most crucial elements to this recipe.

First, preheat your toaster oven and prepare a sheet of aluminum foil to place the bread on. Pasco says that both of these steps are important to keep the moisture in the bread at an optimum level and keep it soft.

Then, prepare one slice of bread with a slice of cheese on top and set a Yukimi Daifuku out on a plate for about three minutes to soften up a bit. By this time the toaster oven should be sufficiently heated and you can place the bread, cheese, and Yukimi Daifuku all into the oven for about four minutes.

That’s right, this ain’t no a la mode nonsense. You are actually going to toast the frozen snack. Normally, toasting ice cream is an idea my cousin who enjoys smelling permanent markers might come up with, but Yukimi Daifuku’s mochi coating blends with the ice cream while melting to give it more cohesiveness, and therein lies the beauty of the Forbidden Yukimi Toast.

▼ Melting at 10x speed

After four minutes of toasting the Yukimi Daifuku was only somewhat melted and kind of resembled a poached egg.

Still it all looked gooey enough that I decided to tackle it with a knife and fork. Thanks to Pasco’s advice the bread was still quite soft and combined with the cheese and ice cream it was a lot like a little cake.

It was good but at this point I realized I had made a rather crucial mistake. When setting the Yukimi Daifuku out to thaw for three minutes and taking pictures of it, I had left it on top of the bread and cheese.

As a result, the cheese had become chilled and even after toasting was still a little firm, almost as if it was straight out of the fridge.

It still wasn’t bad though, because the smooth texture of the cold cheese complemented the velvety texture of the mochi surprisingly well. Still, I don’t think this was what best buddies Pasco and Yukimi Daifuku had intended.

So, I set out to try again, but this time I decided to get really decadent and used a chocolate Yukimi Daifuku instead. These are the same as regular Yukimi Daifuku but with chocolate ice cream and chocolate blended into the mochi.

Making sure to keep it away from the cheese beforehand, I repeated all of the above steps. I also left it in the toaster about twenty seconds longer than before.

▼ The full toast at 10x speed

This time a bit of the bread was browned as was the mochi coating, but everything was still very tender. The cheese too had completely melted this time around and mingled in with the chocolatey mess.

This one was a lot more sweet and creamy but everything blended together in a delicious way. Actually, even though the first attempt was a bit of a screw-up, I think the texture of the chilled cheese might have been slightly better because it really brought out the mochi component, which is what ultimately separates Forbidden Yukimi Toast from regular cheese toast a la mode.

In the end it is a nice dish for those who appreciate the subtle texture of their foods. For those who don’t really care about that stuff, however, Forbidden Yukimi Toast probably won’t bring much more to the table than other ice cream and bread combinations.

Also, considering how easy it is, I could see this being a really fun treat to make with kids, if you happen to be stuck at home on a rainy afternoon.

Source: Twitter/@yukimi_lotte via Netlab
Photos ©SoraNews24
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