Hoddeok is a popular Korean street food, especially during the winter season. Hoddeok, sometimes spelled hotteok, is known as a sweeter version of the Western pancake.
It’s basically flat, circular dough, filled with a mixture of cinnamon, honey, brown sugar, and small pieces of peanut cooked on a grill.
The delicacy has an enticing flavor, crunchy exterior, and smooth interior.
Hoddeok: Sweet Korean Pancakes
- Author: Romae Chanice Marquez
- Recipe Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: Korean
Hotteok is a popular street food from Korea made from simple yeast dough with a sweet syrupy filling made with brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnut. It makes a delicious snack or dessert, and might even be enjoyed at breakfast.
The whole preparation and cooking time is at least two hours. This recipe is suitable for at least four servings.
Here’s an easy recipe for you to follow at home. Photo credits to: @gt_kitchen.
Hoddeok: Sweet Korean Pancakes Ingredients
- 1 cup of lukewarm water
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons of chopped walnuts
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Hoddeok: Sweet Korean Pancakes Instructions
Step 1: Stir together the lukewarm water, sugar, yeast, oil, and salt in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer’s bowl. Let the yeast proof for about 5 minutes until it gets foamy.
Step 2: Add the flour to the yeast mixture and knead until smooth with the mixer. This could also be done by hand or only using a rubber spatula, but letting the dough hook do the work is more straightforward.
Step 3: Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap, allowing it to rise at room temperature for 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size. Coat your hand in a cooking spray gently and punch the dough to absorb gas bubbles, then cover it again and let the dough rise for another 20 minutes.
Step 4: Mix the filling ingredients together in a small bowl over the last rise. Turn it out onto a floured surface when the dough is ready, and cover your hands with flour. Split into 8 pieces of equal size and shape into balls.
Step 5: Working with one dough ball at a time, flatten it out and mound about a spoonful of the center filling. Then, pinch the disc’s edges together around the mixture, completely enclosing it in the center of the dough ball, as seen in the pictures. Repeat with remaining dough balls and fill. If the dough starts sticking too much, you may need to re-flour your hands between dough balls.
Step 6: Heat over medium heat in a large pan. Add a little oil (about 2 tablespoons) to the pan when hot, and let it heat up, too. Place a dough ball in it when the oil is hot, with the sealed area down, and cook until the bottom is lightly golden brown (just about 30 seconds), then flip. Press down on the hotteok using a large, flat spatula to flatten it into a full pan and cook until the bottom is golden brown.
Step 7: Flip the hotteok one last time and bring the heat down to low. Cover the pan with a lid, and cook for another minute or so until the bottom is golden brown and the inside filling is melted and syrupy. If your pan is big enough, you can cook multiple hotteok at a time. Only make sure you leave enough space between each dough ball, so they can be flatly pressed into disks.
Hoddeok: Sweet Korean Pancakes Additional Information
- Over the winter season, Hotteok is usually eaten. A single hotteok may have as many as 230 calories, due to its high sugar content.
- Although many prefer conventional cinnamon and peanut filling, the types of hotteok have continuously changed. Since the beginning of the 21st century, many variations have developed, such as green tea hotteok, pink bokbunja hotteok, maize hotteok, pizza hotteok, and more.
- Cook/prep time is around 2 hours.
- Serves 4 people.
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About Hoddeok: Sweet Korean Pancakes Recipe
In general, Hotteok is believed to have originated from Chinese merchants who immigrated to Korea after the late 19th century. Unlike many Chinese pancakes that often contain savory fillings of meat, hotteok is stuffed with sweet fillings to match the tastes of Koreans.
Conclusion
The brown sugar, cinnamon, and black sesame seed filling have plenty of spice to make up for the overall taste of the pancakes. This recipe is a good start if you want to make your own unique and original pancakes at home.
For more international recipes, click here.
Featured Image: @ddongcat / Instagram, @jy_joanne / Instagram
