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Yakgwa (Korean Deep Fried Honey Cookies)

Korean wheat cookies that are deep fried twice and then soaked in honey syrup
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Soak Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 50 minutes
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

For the dough
  • 2 cups (240g) all-purpose wheat flour
  • 2 tablespoons (28g) sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) cooking oil vegetable, avocado, etc.
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 2 teaspoons ginger juice grated and squeezed
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • a pinch of ground black pepper
  • ¼ cup (85g) honey
  • ½ cup (110g) soju unflavored/plain
For the Honey Syrup
  • 1 teaspoon ginger juice grated and squeezed
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup (170g) honey
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
Miscellaneous
  • cooking oil for deep frying
  • pine nuts for garnish

Method
 

Make the Dough
  1. In a large mixing bowl, sift the wheat flour. Then drizzle in sesame oil and cooking oil. Add the cinnamon powder and mix while removing lumps.
  2. If you have ginger root, you will need to turn this into ginger juice by grating and squeezing. Make sure to make enough for the dough and the honey syrup!
  3. In a small bowl, mix the ginger juice, salt, honey, soju, and black pepper until well combined and honey is dissolved.
  4. Add this to the wheat flour mixture and mix or knead until a dough is made.
  5. On a lightly dusted surface, roll the dough out to about ⅓ inch thick with a rolling pin. The dough will be a little springy.
  6. Shape your cookies using fun cookie cutter shapes. Use a smaller size as they will expand when frying. Poke a single hole in the middle of each cookie.
  7. Begin heating your oil for deep frying. You want to target 250℉ for oil temperature.
Make the Honey Syrup
  1. In a large saucepan, combine ginger juice, honey, water, and sugar. After frying, the cookies will soak in the mixture so make sure the sauce pan you choose is big enough.
  2. Cook this over medium heat for 10-12 minutes or until little bubbles begin to cover the surface. The final consistency should be runny.
Make Cookies
  1. Drop the cookies in the frying oil heated to 250℉, and fry for about 5 minutes or until the cookies are light brown on both sides after flipping.
  2. Remove cookies from oil and set aside. Raise the oil temperature to 330℉.
  3. Fry the cookies again at this higher temperature for about 2 to 3 minutes until they turn dark brown.
  4. Remove the cookies from oil and place somewhere the excess oil can drain. This could be a wire rack on a baking pan or a plate with paper towels.
  5. Next, add all the cookies to the honey syrup mixture and let them soak for 3 to 4 hours. Be sure to flip them so both sides of the cookie soak up the sweetness
  6. Once the soaking process is over, garnish with a single pine nut (or whatever garnish you'd like). Serve and enjoy!