Yakgwa Korean Honey Cookies Recipes

YAKGWA: KOREAN HONEY COOKIES

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Place the flour in a large bowl.
• Add sesame oil and mix by hand, rubbing the flour between your hands and fingers to combine.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the honey, sake, and water together.
• Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and knead gently with your hands to form a dough.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/2-inch thick.
• Cut the dough into 1-inch strips to make diamond or rectangle shapes. Or cut into a flower shape if you have at hand a yakgwa-pan exclusively made to shape these cookies.
• With the help of a fork or toothpick, pierce a small hole in the center of each cookie. Set aside.
• Gather the ingredients.
• Place the rice malt syrup, honey, and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Bring to a simmer and then remove immediately from heat.
• Carefully pour into a rectangular dish or glass baking pan large enough to hold the cookies in a single layer.
• Place a sturdy, flat-bottomed fryer or saucepan onto the stove. Add enough oil for frying, at least 2 to 3 inches.
• Heat over medium heat until the oil temperature is 212 F.
• In small batches, drop pastries in oil and fry, gently turning them until they puff and float, about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Raise the heat of the oil to about 300 F and continue frying until the yakgwa turns golden brown.
• With the help of a slotted spoon, remove the yakgwa from the oil and place them into the ginger syrup. Repeat the frying process with the remaining cookies, being careful to allow all cookies to go through the 2 oil temperature stages. When you're done frying one batch, you need to allow the oil to come back down to 212 F.
• When all of the yakgwa have been placed in the syrup, turn each one over once so they are coated.
• Soak in the syrup for 2 to 3 hours. Remove with a slotted spoon onto another dish lined with parchment paper.
• Sprinkle with pine nuts and sesame seeds. Enjoy!

YAKGWA

Steps:

• For the cookies: Whisk together the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the sesame oil and toss with a rubber spatula until some, if not most, of the flour granules are hydrated in the oil and become pea-size pieces.
• Transfer the flour mixture to a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl. Use a metal spoon to scrape the mixture in the sieve to help it pass through. The resulting dough will resemble a coarse ground cornmeal.
• Add the soju and ginger-infused simple syrup and toss together with the rubber spatula until just combined. Put your hands in the bowl and gently knead and press the dough into a ball until there are no specks of dry flour. Do not overwork the dough. Keep in mind that the dough is supposed to be very dry and crumbly. It's OK if some dough breaks apart. You'll know the dough is ready when it's pressed and pinched together, but holds its shape.
• Gather the dough, adding 1 teaspoon of soju at a time if needed. Gently pat down the dough into a square and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate and let rest for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, make the coating syrup.
• For the coating syrup: Bring the jochung, honey, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl to cool.
• Roll the rested dough into a 1/2-inch-thick large square (about 7-inches-by-7-inches), lightly brushing the work surface or rolling pin with sesame oil as needed. Cut the dough in half vertically. Flip over one half and place it directly on top of the remaining half. Press down on the dough and roll it out into a 1/2-inch-thick square again. Repeat the process of cutting, flipping, layering and rolling out the dough two more times.
• Cut the final dough square into 16 pieces (each about 1 3/4 inches). Make a small hole in the center of each cookie with a toothpick and set aside.
• Heat at least 1 inch of oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 300 to 320 degrees F. Line a sheet tray with paper towels.
• Add all the cookies into the oil (it is OK to overcrowd in this case) and fry, carefully stirring constantly with long chopsticks or a long-handled wooden spoon, until the cookies are deep golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to the prepared sheet tray and let cool.
• Toss the cooled cookies in the coating syrup in a large bowl and let sit for 4 to 8 hours. Tranfer the cookies to another sheet tray fitted with a cooling rack and garnish the center of each cookie with 3 pine nuts. Let sit for 1 hour and serve.
• For the ginger-infused simple syrup: Bring the sugar, ginger and 1 cup water to a boil in a small pot over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and whisk in the honey. Let cool and discard the ginger slices.
• The syrup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Use it to sweeten hot coffee or tea, or in a cocktail.

KOREAN HONEY COOKIES (YAKGWA) RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Place the flour in a large bowl.
• Add sesame oil and mix by hand, rubbing the flour between hands and fingers to combine.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the honey, sake, and water together.
• Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and knead gently with hands to form a dough.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to ½-inch thick.
• Cut the dough into 1-inch strips to make diamond or rectangle shapes. Or cut into a flower shape.
• With the help of a fork or toothpick, pierce a small hole in the center of each cookie. Set aside.
• Gather the ingredients.
• Place the rice malt syrup, honey, and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Bring to a simmer and then remove immediately from heat.
• Carefully pour into a rectangular dish or glass baking pan large enough to hold the cookies in a single layer.
• Place a sturdy, flat-bottomed fryer or saucepan onto the stove. Add enough oil for frying, at least 2 to 3 inches.
• Heat over medium heat until the oil temperature is 212 degrees F.
• In small batches, drop pastries in oil and fry, gently turning them until they puff and float.
• Raise the heat of the oil to about 300 degrees F and continue frying until the yakgwa turns golden brown.
• With the help of a slotted spoon, remove the yakgwa from the oil and place them into the ginger syrup. Repeat the frying process with the remaining cookies, being careful to allow all cookies to go through the two oil temperature stages.
• When all of the yakwa have been placed in the syrup, turn each one over once so they are coated.
• Soak in the syrup for 2 to 3 hours. Remove with a slotted spoon onto another dish lined with parchment paper.
• Sprinkle with pine nuts and sesame seeds. Enjoy!