Hoddeok (Korean pancakes with brown sugar filling)

Traditional pancakes are pretty delicious, but these little sugar filled treats are way better (in my opinion, at least). Yes, they are a little more time consuming, but it's so worth it. Brown sugar is placed inside freshly risen dough and fried in butter until the dough is cooked and the sugar has melted into a warm syrup. Yuuum!

The recipe I used came from Maangchi, a really awesome site with tons of great Korean dishes. Maangchi does a great job of photographing every step, and everything looks so delicious! I haven't tried hardly any Korean cuisine before, but I'm excited to try more of her recipes.

Hoddeok (Recipe from Maangchi)

You need:
1 cup warm water
2 cups flour
2 tbs white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
1 tbs oil

Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
crushed walnuts (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon (I used pumpkin spice) 

Making hoddeok dough:
1. Place 1 cup of lukewarm water into a mixing bowl.
2. Add 2 tbs white sugar, 2 ts yeast, ½ ts salt, 1 tbs vegetable oil, and stir it well.
3. Add 2 cups of all purpose flour and mix it with a rice scoop, or by hand.
4. Let the dough rise. It should sit with the lid closed at room temperature for 1 hour.
5. After an hour the dough will rise to double its size. Knead it to remove the gas bubbles in the dough.
6. Let it rise for another 10-20 minutes.

Make filling (for 8 hoddeok):

Mix ½ cup brown sugar, 1 ts cinnamon powder, and 2 tbs chopped walnuts in a bowl.

*tip: you could use mozzarella cheese for stuffing. Invent your own fillings with your favorite ingredients!

1. Knead the dough again to remove the gas bubbles.

2. Place and spread about ½ cup flour on your cutting board.
3. Put the dough on your cutting board and knead it. Make it into a lump, and cut it into 8 equal-sized balls.

4. Take 1 dough ball, flatten it, put some filling in the center of the dough, and then seal it to make a ball.

Repeat this 8 times to make 8 stuffed balls.

5. Heat up your non-stick pan over medium heat and add some vegetable oil.
6. Place 1 ball on the pan and let it cook for 30 seconds.
7. When the bottom of the dough ball is light golden brown, turn it over and press the dough with a spatula to make a thin and wide circle (about the size of a CD).
8. Let it cook about 1 minute until the bottom is golden brown.
9. Turn it over again and turn down the heat very low.
10. Serve hot!