These small Korean cookies are fried until golden brown, then soaked in honey and rice syrup. Sesame oil gives the dough a nutty aroma, while ginger balances the sweet, firm cookies. Allow at least three hours for soaking.
Yakgwa are Korean fried cookies made with wheat flour, sesame oil, honey and ginger. They’re often enjoyed with tea and served in small portions: the cookies are compact and sweet, with a firm, slightly crumbly bite. The name is generally linked to the Korean words for medicine and sweets; this refers to an older way of talking about honey, not to any medicinal effect. This recipe keeps the cookies small so they cook evenly and are easy to share.
First, rub the sesame oil into the flour. This gives the flour a fine, sandy texture and distributes the oil evenly. Only then mix in the liquid, and knead the dough as little as possible: kneading it for too long makes the cookies chewy rather than crumbly. A short rest gives the flour time to absorb moisture. You can shape the cookies with a small cutter; a simple round shape also works if you don’t have a cookie stamp.
Pay close attention to the frying temperature. If the oil is too hot, the outsides brown before the centers are cooked; if it’s too cool, the cookies absorb more oil. Keep the oil around 130 °C and fry in small batches so the temperature doesn’t drop too much. A kitchen or deep-fry thermometer makes this much easier. The cookies brown gradually and may puff up a little as they fry. Use a deep-sided pan and never leave the oil unattended.
After frying, the cookies absorb the syrup and become glossy and aromatic. Let the syrup cool first, then give the cookies a few hours to soak; they may look ready on the outside before they are soaked through. Rice syrup, also sold as Korean rice syrup or jocheong, gives them a soft sheen. If you can’t find it, use extra honey; the syrup will have a stronger flavor. Dry sake is a suitable substitute for the rice wine. Freshly grated ginger gives a bright, warming flavor.
Serve yakgwa at room temperature with green tea or a mild roasted tea, so the aroma of sesame and ginger comes through. Two small cookies per person is usually enough. Store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container in a cool, dry place and eat them within a few days; moisture can soften them. Don’t keep them somewhere warm, or the syrup will get sticky.
To make the syrup, stir the honey, rice syrup, water and ginger slices together in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, take out the ginger and let the syrup cool completely.
Put the flour and salt in a large bowl. Drizzle the sesame oil over the flour and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine, damp sand.
Stir together the honey, rice wine and ginger juice. Pour this into the flour and mix until the dough comes together. Knead briefly, just until no loose flour is visible. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1 cm thick. Cut out 12 small cookies; press any scraps together and reroll them if needed. Prick each cookie several times with a fork so steam can escape during frying.
Heat the neutral oil in a deep pan to 130 °C. Fry the cookies in small batches for 6–8 minutes, turning them occasionally and keeping the temperature as constant as possible. Remove them when they are evenly golden brown and let them drain briefly on a wire rack.
Place the warm cookies in the cooled syrup. Let them soak for at least 3 hours, carefully turning them halfway through. Let the excess syrup drain off and serve at room temperature.
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