Rice Blossoms Brings Korean Desserts With a Modern Twist

Find these handmade artisan rice cakes, fruit jellies and sesame cookies at monthly pop-ups around O‘ahu.

October 11, 2023

Andrea Lee,

Photo: Andrea Lee

The Instagram posts instantly caught my eye. The shiny apples and peaches, vibrant jewels and delicate black medallions looked more like tiny sculptures than things you’d pop in your mouth. I was surprised to find out they were traditional Korean desserts—with a modern twist.

Rice Blossoms’ Shana Lee. Photos: Andrea Lee

These are from Rice Blossoms, founded by Jennifer L. Ban in New York City, where the treats took off on Instagram. In Honolulu, Shana Lee, who always wanted to learn how to make Korean desserts to connect with her heritage, fell in love with Ban’s modern take on baekseolgi (백설기) rice cakes. She attended Ban’s dessert-making classes and, last year, partnered with her to bring Rice Blossoms to Hawai‘i.

Now, Lee and Rice Blossoms typically pop up once a month around O‘ahu. I went for the Chuseok (추석), or Korean Mid-Autumn Festival, pop-up in September—I figured this was the special occasion I’d been waiting for to treat myself.

Rice Blossoms Pop Up Display Pc Shana Lee

Photos: Courtesy of Shana Lee

At Kaimukī’s Daily Whisk Matcha, Lee set up a lovely display with signage identifying each dessert. I’m glad I pre-ordered a box because she was already selling out after a couple of hours.

Photo: Andrea Lee

I get the Set B ($28) so I can try everything: songpyeon (송편), yang-gaeng (양갱), injeolmi (인절미), black sesame dasik (흑임자 다식) and a handful of bean paste cookies (ang-geum cookies 앙금쿠키 or sangtu gwaja 상투과자). I spend a long time just gushing over how adorable they look.

When I do eat them, I find the bean paste cookies offer a mix of matcha, raspberry and original. They’re light, surprisingly moist and mildly sweet. The raspberry and matcha come out subtly. Nice to eat with a cup of tea.

Left: yang-gaeng, right: dasik. Photos: Andrea Lee

For the yang-gaeng, Lee uses white bean paste instead of red and mixes it with real fruit flavors—in this case, raspberry jelly. Rice Blossoms’ yang-gaeng is a bit lighter in consistency than Japanese yōkan, and the raspberry comes out delicately between the crunchy seeds. Lee likes to use seasonal fruits and is planning on kabocha in October.

The dasik, or black sesame cookie, is pleasantly chewy with a grainy texture. The pure sesame flavor is a bit salty and almost bitter, a nice contrast to the other sweets.

Left: injeolmi, right: songpyeon. Photos: Andrea Lee

The injeolmi tastes like kinako mochi, though less sweet. It’s super soft and comforting.

The songpyeon is a rice cake with filling, traditionally made in a half-moon shape and eaten during Chuseok. This is what I’m most excited to try simply because it’s so cute. Mine is apple-shaped, with a chewy, bouncy wrapper and whole sesame seeds mixed with honey and brown sugar inside. It may be cute, but like everything else, it’s not very sweet.

It’s best to have realistic expectations. The treats are small, just a bite or two each. And while “not too sweet” is the highest Asian praise for desserts, that might not be to everyone’s taste.

Also, the freshly made treats have a limited shelf life and will taste their best the day you pick them up.

Songpyeon: eat within 12 hrs
Yanggaeng: can last 5–7 days refrigerated
Injeolmi: eat by the next morning
Dasik: can be refrigerated for 1–2 days or frozen for up to one week and defrosted at room temperature to consume
Bean paste cookies: can last 5–7 days at room temperature or refrigerated

The thoughtfulness behind these desserts is apparent in not only their beauty but also how they’re prepared. Lee rolls sesame seeds into dough for dasik for hours and molds and steams the songpyeon. She mixes matcha from Daily Whisk Matcha into her bean paste cookies. This is a one-woman show, except for when her baby boy helps smash the raspberries to just the right pulpy consistency.

Photo: Andrea Lee

If you’d like custom boxes or larger orders for wedding favors, parties or other special occasions, DM Lee on Instagram, preferably two weeks in advance for big orders. She’ll even deliver in Pearl City, ‘Aiea or outside that area for a fee.

Otherwise, her next pop-ups are:

Saturday, Oct. 21, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Bloomingdale’s Ala Moana, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Saturday, Nov. 4, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Nordstrom Ala Moana, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Thursday, Dec. 7, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Central Pacific Bank Downtown, 220 S. King St.