Korean Wheat Hoddeok (Original Recipe by Maangchi)
Maangchi’s Hoddeoks
This is the first Korean food recipe I ever tried. And also the best idea I’ve ever had. Now, I am not going to take all of the credit, my sister was the first to introduce me to Maangchi’s recipes. She did so because I was obsessed K-dramas and K-pop. It was around the time I started my first drama, Boys Over (before) Flowers. What she showed me was different than what I ended up trying (these Hoddeoks) but I was so happy that she suggested it. When I first watched the video (here) I was so excited to make them but my mom was not. I was running around saying, “Can we go to the store so that I can make sweet pancakes for you guys?! I really want to make them!” And my mom was saying “Sure, baby.” But then we never did it. I guess I shouldn’t have called them “sweet pancakes” (I wasn’t the best at pronouncing the literal name for them at the time), because we have “sweet pancakes” all of the time, and my mom wasn’t really interested in trying something new that she’d already eaten before. But when I finally got the ingredients necessary, I woke up extra early (noon :)) so that I could make them for my mom for breakfast. I was so excited when my first time making them wasn’t a disaster that as soon as they woke I was stuffing their faces with them. Little did I know that I was never going to get to stop. These things are so good that I have had to double, triple, and even quadruple the recipe all in one night. They joke that it is like a sweat shop in the kitchen, but I actually believe it. So I warn you, when you first make these you will never again get to just make eight. We now eat these in replace of actual donuts, and we can have them any time we want which is great for them but unfortunate for me. Now, the ingredients to these wonderful gifts from the kitchen:
Keep in mind that all of the ingredients are healthy, and/ or 100% natural. The flour is wheat, the sugar is raw, and the salt is from the sea. :p
Okay, I want to make one thing clear before we move on, I didn’t change the recipe (much). I switched out a few of the ingredients to make me feel less guilty when eating them and that’s all, the process is still the same unlike the goguma bap that I made earlier. So still follow the steps on Maangchi’s blog just switch out the white flour for whole wheat, the white sugar for raw sugar, and the iodized salt for sea salt. It’s called eating clean, and it is much better for you in the long run. Literally, you should eat this way if you plan to run for a long period of time. Wait, no, you should eat this way all of the time not just when you plan to run but you should still eat this way when you are running… never mind. Moving on, this is what the dough looked like after I mixed together all of the ingredients:
When mixing them, because I didn’t have a rice spoon like Maangchi did in the video, I used a broken mixing spoon that we had in our utensil drawer.
I had photos of the rising process, but they turned out blurry and the lighting wasn’t the best so I tossed them. But, one thing I suggest when waiting for your wheat hoddeoks to rise for both the hour and the 10-15 minutes is to store the container or bowl they are in, in a cool dark place. It will double the rising size, and they will be a lot more fluffy and light when it finally comes time to cook and eat them. When the hoddeoks are rising for that ten minutes after you’ve mixed them to release air pockets from when they raised for an hour, you want to make the fillings and prep your station for preparing the little sweet cakes. One last thing I want to mention, I didn’t have walnuts when preparing these (one: because my little sister is allergic, and two: I don’t really like them all that much). Usually I use almonds, but we didn’t have those either. So, because I didn’t have any nut-type substance in my house I used another sugar along with cinnamon and brown sugar. I used maple sugar, which is absolutely delicious—but also a little strong in taste, so if you decide to use it, you only need about a half of teaspoon to a teaspoon for a little over 1/4 cup of brown sugar.
Writing this post, I realize that I was very much so unprepared when I made these. Along with everything else I forgot or didn’t have, there was no shredded mozzarella cheese in the fridge. But that just proves to you that if there’s a will there’s a way. I cubed a huge block of mozzarella that we had in the fridge and it worked just as well if I would’ve had a shredded cheese. So if you are like me and still want to make these pockets of sunshine, even though you are not all the way prepared try this:
The numbers are backwards, but you get the gest. And any left overs can be used for snacks. Now because I like a lot of room when making these, I sprinkled flour on the table before putting the Hoddeok dough down.
It’s a mess but it’s also fun. Making the sweet pockets is quite easy and the way I make them, they have a little star shape on the bottom half. I’ll explain to you how, it’s very simple:
Take the hoddeok in your hand and after you’ve put your filling inside fold in each corner, one by one into the center and then press down so that they look similar to this:
And when you fry them they will have a little star or flower shape on the bottom. It’s not only delicious but pleasant to look at. For the cheese, if you had to cube them stack a few of them in the middle and when they are cooked there will be pockets of cheese all throughout the hoddeok:
Wow, I can’t believe we’re nearly done. After you’ve fried them you can finally delve your face into healthy deliciousness! These are the finish products:
I swear looking at these pictures just makes me want to go stuff my face with some more. Like Johnny Bravo would say, “Man , they’re pretty! Huh!” You can basically stuff these pretty young things with anything… wow that sounded wrong. Clear your mind of all filthy thoughts! Haha. But, anyways, I’ve also had them with chocolate, cream cheese (not the healthiest, but still delicious), and jelly. Flipping delicious.
I made this recipe to show that eating healthy is just as easy as not eating healthy and you can still eat what you want… healthily. So if you have a recipe that you would like me to try and make healthy email me or leave a comment below. My email: sagedandconfused@gmail.com
This way you can enjoy your nonhealthy snacks healthily and they will still taste delicious. Tell me what you think, I really want to know!
Saged & Confused 