Hotteok (Korean Sweet Filled Pancake)

About This Recipe

Hotteok is Korea's classic cold-weather street snack, sold from carts with steam curling into the winter air as vendors press the dough flat on a hot griddle. The dough is a yeasted, slightly sticky batter enriched with glutinous rice flour for chew, rested until puffy, then wrapped around a filling of brown sugar, cinnamon, and crushed peanuts or walnuts that melts into a hot caramel as it cooks. Pressed flat with a special disc, each pancake develops a crisp golden crust while the center stays soft, and the first bite always risks a rush of scalding syrup — a hazard regulars know to respect and let cool for a minute.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 2 cupsall-purpose flour
• 1/4 cupglutinous rice flour
• 1 tbspsugar
• 1 tspinstant yeast
• 1/2 tspsalt
• 3/4 cupwarm milk
• 1/4 cupwarm water
• 1 tbspvegetable oil(plus more for cooking)
• 2/3 cupbrown sugar(for filling)
• 1 tspground cinnamon(for filling)
• 1/3 cupchopped walnuts or peanuts(for filling)
• 1 pinchsalt(for filling)

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough

   Whisk flour, rice flour, sugar, yeast and salt, then stir in warm milk, water and oil until a sticky dough forms.

2. 2

   Let it rise

   Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, until doubled and very bubbly.

3. 3

   Mix the filling

   Stir together brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped nuts and a pinch of salt.

4. 4

   Fill and seal

   With oiled hands, flatten a golf-ball portion of dough, spoon in a tablespoon of filling, and gather the edges to seal completely.

5. 5

   Griddle and press

   Place seam-side down on a hot oiled griddle, then flatten firmly with an oiled hotteok press or wide spatula into a 4-inch disc.

   Press hard enough to spread evenly but not so hard the filling breaks through.

6. 6

   Flip and finish

   Cook 2-3 minutes per side over medium heat until deep golden brown, then rest 1 minute before eating so the syrup doesn't burn your mouth.

Variations

• •

  Seed-and-nut hotteok (ssiat hotteok) replace some nuts with sunflower and pumpkin seeds for crunch.

• •

  Savory hotteok filled with japchae noodles are sold in some regions as a lunch snack instead of dessert.

• •

  Gluten-free versions substitute a rice-flour blend, though the chew is noticeably different.

Storage

Best eaten hot off the griddle; leftovers keep a day at room temperature and reheat well in a dry skillet, though the filling hardens and needs a minute to re-melt.

Frequently Asked Questions