When it comes to cute video game characters from Japan, Kirby, with his pink, spherical body, stubby arms and legs, pink cheek blushes and oval eyes, undoubtedly ranks near the top of most people's list. His popularity has inspired gas tanks painted in his image and even a line of Kirby lingerie and loungewear. However, perhaps even more prevalent are Kirby-inspired desserts. Officially, we've already seen Kirby pancakes and macaron cookies at a limited-time Kirby Cafe. Fans of Kirby have also expressed their love of the pink "puffball" by creating colorful Kirby sweets and cookies.

Now, another sweet creation by a Kirby fan has garnered attention. In a flash of inspiration, Kirby lover, illustrator and Twitter user Amedama (@Akaki_4207) realized that daifuku, a traditional Japanese confection made with mochi rice cake and usually stuffed with an, a sweet bean paste made with red azuki or other types of beans, was the perfect medium to make a Kirby.

"I made Kirby daifukus!"

Amedama's tweet created a sensation, with over 176,000 likes and nearly 66,000 retweets at the time of writing.

Fellow Kirby lovers wasted no time asking Amedama to reveal how these cute confections were made. The pink body was made with a pink version of shiratamako, a type of flour made from ground, uncooked glutinous rice. The eyes were drawn with a food decroating pen, the cheeks were painted with red food dye diluted in water, and the filling was a home-made sakura-an, a bean paste flavored with salt-preserved cherry blossom petals.

However, it wasn't long before Amedama posted an official recipe!

Kirby Odaifuku (10 pieces)

Ingredients:

• Pink shiratamako 200g
• katakuriko flour (you can substitute potato or corn starch) 2 tbsp
• sugar 3 tbsp
• water 250 cc
• an of your choice 400g
• chocolate for food decorating pen - plain and white chocolate

Method:

Note: If you can't get pink shiratamako flour, you can make it by crushing strawberries or red food dye.

1. Prepare 10 balls of an stuffing in advance.
2. Combine shiratamako flour, katakuriko flour and sugar in a frying pan and pour in water.
3. Heat on medium and stir until ingredients are well combined into a smooth dough. (In very dry environments, the mix may still be dry, so add water as needed to adjust.)
4. Turn heat down to low and stir continuously until the surface of the dough is shiny.
5. Remove the dough from the pan and spread onto on a cutting board or cooking tray that have been powdered with katakuriko flour.
6. Separate the dough into ten pieces and wrap them around the balls of an.
7. Draw the eyes with food decorating pens filled with plain and white chocolate filling and paint the cheeks with a brush dipped in red food dye diluted in water.
8. Eat

Did you get all that?

Now go and make some Kirby daifuku and spread some joy! And please be sure to check out Amedama's cute Kirby-inspired art here on Pixiv.