Korean Dessert - Easy Baked Yagkwa/Yakwa

Step 1

Preheat oven to 250°F.

Step 2

In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Step 3

Add sesame oil to flour mixture. Mix with your hands by rubbing the oil flour mixture until oil is evenly distributed.

Step 4

Separately mix soju and honey. For pictures of steps 1 -4, refer to my original Yakwa post since this part is identical.

Step 5

Add soju honey mixture to flour. Gather pastry into a ball. (Do not overwork the dough otherwise it will become tough). This should feel and look like pie crust dough except it is less fatty.

Step 6

Divide the dough in half. Roll out one half of the dough into 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick rectangular shape about 1 inch x 1 inch. Rolling the dough too thick will make the baked Yakwa too hard. Cut the dough into 1 inch wide strips and then cut the strips at an angle to make diamond shapes or straight to make squares. It’s up to you.

Step 7

Pierce holes in the center using a chopstick or a fork.

Step 8

Lay out the Yakwa squares onto a pan.

Step 9

Brush the top of each Yakwa piece generously with butter.

Step 10

Bake at 250°F (125°C) for 15 minutes.

Step 11

While Yakwa is baking, 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.

Step 12

Chop a handful of pine nuts and that should yield about 2 Tbs.

Step 13

Raise heat to 300°F (150°C) and cook for another 10 minutes.

Step 14

Finally, raise temperature to 350°F (175°C) and cook for about 7-8 minutes depending on how thin your Yakwa is.

Step 15

When Yakwa is nicely browned, take out of the oven and immediately add it to the syrup.

Step 16

Let it sit in syrup for at least 30 minutes or for an hour or more. You can even leave it in syrup overnight. The longer they sit in syrup, the more it will absorb and will get softer. Unlike the fried yakwa where you only need to soak for couple minutes, baked yakwa needs to soak in syrup longer.

Step 17

Let it sit in syrup for at least 30 minutes or for an hour or more. You can even leave it in syrup overnight. The longer they sit in syrup, the more it will absorb and will get softer. Unlike the fried yakwa where you only need to soak for couple minutes, baked yakwa needs to soak in syrup longer.

Step 18

Take Yakwa out from the syrup when it is to your liking and sprinkle with chopped pine nuts.