Ingredients

• 200 g wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• a little black pepper
• 38 g sesame oil
• 50 g honey
• 40 g soju
• 5 cups cooking oil
• 170 g sugar
• 200 ml water
• 3 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. Sift the flour with the salt and black pepper, add the sesame oil, and rub together well; sift again.
2. Mix the honey and soju, add to the oiled flour, and mix until no dry flour remains to form a dough.
3. Cut the dough in half, stack and press it together, then cut and repeat the folding 2 to 3 times.
4. Roll the dough to 0.8 cm thick, cut into 3.6 cm squares, and prick the center with a fork.
5. Combine the sugar and water in a pot, bring to a boil over medium heat without stirring, and when the syrup reduces to about 1 cup, turn off the heat and mix in the honey to make the dipping syrup.
6. Fry the dough pieces in oil kept at about 90°C until they rise and form layers, then increase the oil temperature to 140–160°C and fry until browned.
7. While still hot, dip the fried yakgwa into the syrup.
8. Once the syrup has soaked in, remove with a strainer and let excess syrup drain off.