Chapssal Yakgwa without Soju

Make ginger syrup

Mix rice syrup, honey, water in a saute pan. Turn on heat and keep mixing because it will mix more easily when it's warmer. Keep stirring until everything is mixed then bring to boil then quickly lower to simmer. Let it simmer for 2-3 min then TURN OFF HEAT and add grated ginger. Leave it on the stove because you will need to reheat it when the Yakgwa is all fried.

Pre-mix syrup for dough

In a small bowl, add sugar, water and rice syrup. Microwave for about 30 secs and mix until sugar melts completely. If you don't have a microwave, you can also just make syrup by heating it in a pot until the sugar is fully melted.

Make Dough

In a large mixing bowl, add flour, sweet rice flour, salt. Mix.

Add sesame oil to flour mixture

Mix and rub the flour between the palm of your hands so the oil is well mixed with the flour. Keep doing it until no big lumps remain. Optionally, you can sift the flour mix through a sieve to ensure there are no big lumps but I usually don't and it turns out fine.

To the sesame oiled flour, add the syrup and mix with a spatula then with your hands and gather the dough to form a ball. BE CAREFUL not to handle the dough too much because you don't want to form any gluten and make it too chewy.

Shape the dough.

Use a Yakgwa mold like above - the mold comes in silicone or from wood or even cast iron. For the silicon yakgwa mold, about 26-28 g size of dough is perfect. Brush the mold with a little sesame oil first then push the dough into the mold. Press gently and evenly with the palm of your hands. Then release the yakgwa cookie from the mold and set aside.If you don't have any mold, roll out the dough and cut into shapes or use a cookie cutter.In the center of each Yakgwa, poke 1-2 holes with a toothpick.

Deep Fry

Start frying Yakgwa at 265℉ and continue frying until the pieces float to the top (which should be about 6-7 min or so). Maintain the temperature because you want to make sure the inside is all cooked before it starts to brown outside.

Once all the pieces rise to the top, turn up the heat and raise the temperature. Keep frying until the pieces become nicely browned. Turn over the pieces 1-2 times so both the top and bottom are cooked evenly. The oil should not get hotter than 300℉ - 320℉ (150 to 160 ℃) so check the temperature often and adjust heat to maintain the right temperature. Turn heat off if it starts to go above 300.

Take out Yakgwa from the fryer and let oil drain for a few seconds then soak fried yakgwa into the ginger honey syrup. It should quietly sizzle (see my video.. ;) ). After letting the syrup absorb for a bit, turn over each yakgwa piece so it soaks up the syrup evenly. Depending on how you like it, take out the Yakgwa from the syrup after few mintues or leave it longer for a more syrupy but less crispy cookie.

Transfer Yakgwa from syrup to a cookie rack and let it dry and cool on the rack. Let it completely cool and dry before serving or storing in a container.