Yakgwa 약과

Hey guys, so I am back with another blog post this week. Today I am going to be posting up a dessert recipe.

Today I am posting up a post about Yakgwa or 약과. This is a Korean dessert cookie that has a long history that is pretty hard to trace. The dish is more commonly referred to as a confectionery because it is part of the long list of Korean confectioneries.

Yakgwa is a type of cookie made by kneading wheat flour with sesame oil, honey and refined rice wine. It is pressed into a square mold, or flattened with a mallet and cut into a square. It is then fried in oil and dipped in honey. This is the most luxurious and tasteful traditional Korean cookie. It is served without fail on festive days, at ceremonial feasts and memorial services.

I'm not going to go too into it, so I'll start with the recipe now.

Ingredients
- 150 g wheat flour
- 2tbsp sesame oil
Honey cookie seasoning
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp refined rice wine
¼ tsp salt
½ tbsp ginger juice
pinch ground white pepper
¼ tsp cinnamon powder
Honey syrup
300 g honey
¼ tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
- 2 g pumpkin seeds
- 8 g jujube
- 4 cups edible oil

Preparation
1. Sieve wheat flour, mix with the sesame oil thoroughly and sieve again.
2. Add seasonings to the wheat flour, mix thoroughly and knead it softly like as making a snowball.
3. Roll the dough flat with roller, fold over three times, roll and fold again. Finally roll it down to 0.5 cm-thick, cut it into 3.5 cm-square and make 5~6 holes with a chopstick.
4. Blend honey syrup.
5. Remove tops of the pine nuts, wipe pine nuts and pumpkin seeds with dry cotton cloths. Wipe jujube with damp cloths, cut the flesh round and make it flower shape.

Method
1. Pour edible oil into the pan and heat it up for 5 min. on medium heat. When oil temperature comes up to 85~90 ℃, put the cookie dough, oil-fry for 15 min. When the dough float on the surface, raise the heat to high heat. When oil temperature comes up to 140~145 ‘C, fry it for another 10 min. until the both sides color turns to brown.
2. Drain oil on a strainer for 5~10 min, dip in honey syrup for 5~6 hours, put them on a strainer again for 2 hours.
3. Garnish with pine nuts, jujube and pumpkin seeds.




And there you have it, a yummy dessert cookie that is both presentable and delicious.

I hope you guys enjoy that, and until next time stay healthy keep warm and enjoy your food. Next time I am going to being posting a dish that can be eaten during the Lunar new year celebration.