Korean Honey Pastry (약과 Yakwa)
Yakgwa (약과) or Yakwa is a traditional Korean sweet pastry or cookie that is rich with flavors of ginger and honey. Yakgwa was my most favorite snack growing up and I tasted hundreds of Yakgwa in my life but I have never tasted one that is as light and flavorful as this one.
This recipe that I learned from my mother-in-law is the most authentic recipe since I learned that Yakgwa was created by an ancestor of my husband, 450 years ago. (Story of Yakwa and Yaksik) Once you taste this recipe, you will never be happy eating the stuff sold at markets. The Yakgwa/Yakwa sold at markets are chewy and almost gummy whereas these are flaky and has a melt-in-your-mouth crumbly texture.
BTW, I promised simple recipes and I admit that this is not a simple one but it is just too good and too important to not post. If you have any experience making a pie crust dough and frying in oil, it shouldn’t be too difficult. It will also be easier if you have a friend to help you since it gets pretty busy when it’s time to dunk the fried Yakwa or Yakgwa into the syrup. I promise you though – if done right, you will be glad you tried making it.
Prep time: approx 30 min. Cooking time: approx 40 min.
Our Family Yakgwa Recipe
- vegetable oil for deep frying (1 litre is plenty)
- 3 C pastry flour (medium-protein flour, all purpose flour)
- 1/3 C sesame oil
- 1/3 C soju (sake can be used but soju is best)
- 1/3 C honey
- 1/4 C chopped pine nuts
- 1/4 tsp salt (optional – original recipe omits salt)
Ingredients for the Ginger Honey Syrup
- 1 C rice syrup (jochung 조청) – if not available, you can substitute honey
- 1 C honey
- 2 C water
3 T1 T grated fresh ginger (1 -2 tsp ginger powder is OK too) – add more or less to taste * revised on 12/21/11
Needed Kitchen items
- wok/pot for frying, tong or long chopsticks to pick up fried yakwa
- sauce pan
- rolling-pin
- mixing bowl
Directions
- Prepare oil for frying and heating the oil in a wok/pot. Note for Yakgwa, we want to start frying at a low temperature.
- Make the syrup by mixing the rice syrup, honey and water in a sauce pan or frying pan. Heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once it boils, turn the heat off and add the chopped ginger, mix and set it aside.
Honey Syrup for Yakgwa
- Let’s make the dough. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour (add salt – optional) and then the sesame oil. Mix the flour with the oil by rubbing the mixture thoroughly with your hands, until you feel the oil is all blended in with the flour.
Mixing sesame oil and flour
Mixing Yakgwa dough
4. Mix the Soju and honey in a separate cup/bowl until the honey is all dissolved. Pour the soju/honey mixture into the flour mixture and gently press the dough to form a ball. Add more soju if you feel the dough is too dry. This is a picture of my mother-in-law’s dough, I think she ended up adding a bit more soju because it came out too dry.
Dough for Yakgwa
Rolled out Yakwa dough
5. Divide the dough in half. Roll out one half of the dough into 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick rectangular shape. Cut the dough into 1 inch wide strips and then cut the strips at an angle to make diamond shapes. Pierce a hole in the center using a chopstick – this is so the dough gets heated evenly in the oil.
Cutting dough for Yakgwa
Cut yakgwa dough with holes in center
6. Yakgwa is fried in 2 different temperatures and this what makes it tricky. For the first part, oil should be at a low temperature around 130 ° C (265 °F) – the yakgwa pieces should not rise to the top right away. When the Yakwa rises to the top, it is ready for the next step.
For the second part, when all pieces have risen to the top, raise the heat to medium high to reach normal frying temperature . Continue frying until Yakgwa turns rich brown in color. Remove yakwa from oil and put it in a colander lined with paper towel and let oil drain for a bit.
Yakwa in oil (Just starting to rise to top)
Yakwa frying in oil (all cooked)
7. Soak fried Yakwa in the ginger honey syrup.
Yakwa in syrup
When it has soaked up all the syrup (about 20 min?), take it out of the syrup and place onto a plate. I have seen recipes that soak yakgwa in syrup for up to 12 hrs! I have not tried that long but it’s up to you – I really don’t think it will make a big difference. Sprinkle the top with chopped pine nuts while it is still wet and the nuts will stick to it.
Storage Tip for Yakgwa
Yakwa/Yakgwa can be stored at cool room temperature for several days or can be kept in the fridge for longer periods. You can also freeze it and it will keep fresh longer.
- 3 cup pastry flour (medium-protein flour, all purpose flour)
- 1/3 cup sesame oil
- 1/3 cup soju
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup chopped pine nuts
- 1/4 tsp salt (optional – original recipe omits salt)
- 1 cup rice syrup (jochung 조청) – if not available, you can substitute honey
- 1 cup honey
- 2 cup water
- 1 Tbsp ginger grated, (1 -2 tsp ginger powder is OK too)
- Prepare oil for frying. Note for Yakgwa, we want to start frying at a low temperature.
- Make syrup by mixing rice syrup, honey and water in a sauce pan or frying pan. Heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once it boils, turn the heat off and add the chopped ginger, mix and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour (add salt – optional) and then sesame oil. Mix the flour with the oil by rubbing the mixture thoroughly with your hands, until you feel the oil is all blended in with the flour.
- Mix the Soju and honey in a separate cup/bowl until the honey is all dissolved.
- Pour soju/honey mixture into the flour mixture and gently press the dough to form a ball.
- Divide dough in half. Roll out one half of the dough into 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick rectangular shape. Cut the dough into 1 inch wide strips and then cut the strips at an angle to make diamond shapes.
- Yakgwa is fried in 2 different temperatures and this what makes it tricky. For the first part, oil should be around 265° F (130°C). Yakwa will slowly rise to the top.
- For the second part, when all the pieces have risen to the top, raise the heat to medium high to reach normal frying temperature . Continue frying until Yakgwa turns rich brown in color.
- When Yakgwa pieces turn rich dark brown, removec from oil and let oil drain in a colander lined with paper towel.
- Soak fried Yakgwa in prepared ginger honey syrup.
- Leave for few min until it has soaked up all the syrup, take it out of the syrup and place onto a plate.
- Sprinkle top with chopped pine nuts while it is still wet so the nuts will stick to it.
- NUTRITIONAL FACT NOTES - these are only approximate values as only part of the syrup is used to make yakgwa. Calories maybe higher or lower depending on how much of the syrup is absorbed into your pastry.
- STORING - Yakgwa can be stored at cool room temperature for several days or can be kept in the fridge for longer periods. It can even ben FROZEN for even longer storage.
- Adjust amount of liquid by adding a bit more soju if you feel the dough is too dry.
Hello~ They look very nice~ ^^ I am a bit surprised that the ingredients are fairly ordinary for such a unique tasting treats.
I assume those are your hands in the photos?
Keep up the good work~~
I know…I guess they didn’t have too many fancy stuff way back when. Hands are actually my mother-in-law’s. Thanks for your comments!
They look like really delicious. I want to make Yakwa at my home. : )
Thank you! You should definitely try it at home. It really is totally different and tastes way better than the yakwa you buy from the store.
I have everything but the pine nuts. And they are certainly not in my budget. Do you think I could substitute them for sliced almonds or chopped peanuts or sunflower seeds? I soooo want to try this, but I don’t want to alter the flavor too much if at all. Thank you for the information and detailed recipe.
You can certainly do without or substitute walnuts instead. It won’t affect the taste too much. If you said you didnt have ginger then that would be a problem! So don’t worry! Go for it!! Remember not to knead the dough -just like pie crusts..thanks for asking!!
hi.. i’m from Kuala Lumpur. I love trying out recipes from other countries. thanks for sharing this recipe. the pictures you posted really helps. now i can compare mine with your pictures to make sure i’m on the right track.
Hello there! Glad you found my blog and hope you will enjoy the pastry. Good luck!
awesome!
I really like Yakwa, but never had the recipe before discovering your site.
So I try your recipe, very clear and well explained. The result is quite good and I found the taste of the one coming from Korea
Thank you
Wow! So happy that you tried my recipe and you like it! and thank YOU for letting me know. I am hoping to make some Yakwa this holiday season..Great as gifts too!
Hi Jinjoo-sshi! Did you use the US measuring system or the Metric System?
I always use US measuring cup unless I state otherwise. Thanks so much for asking!! I just made some yakwa during the holidays and I used this recipe. It worked perfectly in Korea but somehow in the east coast, the dough came out a bit dry for some reason. The dough is supposed to be a little flaky but if you feel it is so dry that it falls apart, don’t be afraid to add some more soju/honey. Just add 1-2 tsp at a time and make sure you work it well in before you add more. If the dough is too wet, it can come out too hard. If the dough is too dry, it may start to fall apart while frying. Good luck!!
Hi, so as I am writing a post about measurement differences between Korea and US.(Thank you for reminding me – I have been meaning to write one for a long time..) And then of course, the US and Metric, I tested the ml of my measurement cup I used for this recipe and it’s 250 ml and not 240 ml as I thought it was. Apologies..and thank you so much for asking. I am going to make it clear on my recipes from now on. Thank you again!!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I didn’t think it would be such a simple recipe. My mom bought some of these at the Korean store and has been in love with it since. I tried to get them when I’m at the store but seeing this recipe I have to give it a try! Thank you!
Hi Sunny – yes, the dough is pretty simple to make. And if you do it right, my recipe will taste WAY better than the store bought one. You do have to be careful not to handle the dough too much. Good luck! Thanks for dropping me a note.
This looks so delicious-I can’t wait to try making them!
I just have one question. Is there anything non-alcoholic that could be substituted for the soju or sake?
Hi! So glad you are going to try it! Because soju acts as a leavening agent I am not sure if it can be substituted. Thank you for asking!
Hi, Jin Joo!
Such an intriguing recipe! My son is going to try cooking an authentic Korean dinner for the family on New Years Day and asked me to bring a dessert. I think this will be a great addition to the feast! Your directions are great and so are the pictures to supplement them, but I’ll admit that I’m not entirely clear on cutting the strips of dough on an angle to form triangles and the picture doesn’t show what I think I need to see to understand better, either. Can you provide me with a bit more detail? For example, the angle of the cut in relation to the edge of the one inch strip might clarify things for me. Also, I have vegetable and peanut oil. I’m tempted to use peanut oil for a subtle flavor addition and am curious to hear if you’ve ever tried that.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Karen! If you make it correctly, everyone will LOVE you for it!! So, you just basically want to cut it into a diamond shape (equal length on each side) but you can also cut it into regular squares – that works well too I found. You basically want to handle the dough as little as possible so that you don’t mess up the layers. I have not tried using peanut oil and have not heard anyone using it in Korea but I wonder if that flavor will fight with the sesame oil aroma in the dough. I would recommend just using vegetable oil for your first time. The key to having your yakgwa puff up properly is to keep the oil temp really low (against your normal intuition). I think my recipe says 265 F but I would say even lower works better. It should almost seem like nothing is happening after you put the yakgwa in the oil but you will see that after few seconds,tiny bubbles will start coming up and puff up VERY slowly. If it rises to the top quickly (before it is puffed up) then it’s too hot. I don’t remember the exact time but it should take couple minutes (at least) for it to puff up fully. And you will need an extra set of hands to help you dunk the fried yakgwa in syrup and take them out pretty quickly. I would love to see a picture of how it comes out! I have a FB group (Korean Food with Kimchimari), you can join there and post pictures?? Just a suggestion.. haha.. no pressure! Good luck and thank you for asking. Happy New Year!!
Oh, so you may wonder what temperature – try 250 F the first time.