Soboro-ppang (Jennifer’s 10-bun recipe)
Ten soft, sweet yeast buns with a crisp, peanut butter streusel topping, shaped by hand and baked until golden.
Modern adaptation
Hotteok
Hotteok (호떡) · Hoddeok
Maangchi’s eight-piece hotteok wraps a brown-sugar, cinnamon and walnut filling in yeast dough, then fries and presses the parcels in a pan.
A sweet street snack with a changing history
Maangchi's hotteok is an eight-piece, yeast-raised dough filled with brown or turbinado sugar, cinnamon and walnuts, then pressed flat and cooked in a lightly oiled pan. The recipe says to serve it hot, soon after cooking, when the sugar has melted into syrup.
The Academy of Korean Studies encyclopedia records a historical account connecting hotteok's arrival in Korea with Chinese migrants in the 1880s. A 2022 Korean folklore study cautions that older foods called hotteok were described as steamed or brazier-baked as well as griddled, and may not have resembled today's sugar-filled pancake. The modern recipe here is not assigned an ancient origin.
Fill and seal eight pieces
Mix lukewarm water with sugar, yeast, salt and oil, then add the measured dough flour. The dough rises for about an hour at room temperature until doubled, is deflated, and rises again for 10–20 minutes. Mix the filling while it rests.
Divide the dough into eight balls, keeping unused dough covered. Flatten each piece, add the sugar mixture in the middle and pinch the edges closed. A careful seal helps keep the syrup inside while the dough is pressed and turned in the pan.
For making ahead, Maangchi says in a comment that the unfilled dough can be refrigerated for up to a day and should be filled just before cooking and eating. She does not specify when in the proofing sequence to refrigerate it or how to resume the dough, so this note does not add a separate schedule.
Sources for this section
Press, brown and cool briefly
Cook one ball at a time in a lightly oiled nonstick pan over medium heat for about 30 seconds. Turn it when the underside is lightly golden and press it into a thin round with a broad spatula. After about a minute, turn it again, lower the heat to very low, cover and cook for one more minute. The source gives no numeric pan temperature.
The sugar filling melts into syrup and can be much hotter than the browned dough. Let each pancake cool briefly before biting; no exact cooling time is specified. Maangchi advises serving cooked hotteok hot and gives no cooked-leftover storage duration. Her comment gives separate refrigerated storage guidance for unfilled dough. Flour is raw before cooking, so do not taste the dough and clean hands and surfaces after handling it.
Sources for this section
History
The Academy of Korean Studies encyclopedia records an account that hotteok arrived in Korea with Chinese migrants in the 1880s and describes later changes in its fillings and cooking methods. A 2022 Korean folklore study argues that older foods called hotteok included different preparations, so the modern sugar-filled, oil-cooked pancake should not be projected unchanged into earlier periods. These sources offer historical interpretations, not a settled earliest-attestation date.
Ingredients
Yield 8 pieces · Scaling: source batch only
Lukewarm water
237 mL1 cup as recorded
for doughWhite sugar
30 mL2 tbsp as recorded
for doughDry yeast
9.9 mL2 tsp as recorded
Kosher salt
2.5 mL½ tsp as recorded
Vegetable oil
15 mL1 tbsp as recorded
for doughAll-purpose flour
473 mL2 cup as recorded
for doughAll-purpose flour
118 mL½ cup as recorded
about this amount for dusting the board; use as neededTurbinado sugar
118 mL½ cup as recorded
Brown sugar is an explicit alternative.Cinnamon powder
4.9 mL1 tsp as recorded
Chopped walnuts
30 mL2 tbsp as recorded
Vegetable oil
Amount not stated
amount not specified; for pan-fryingMethod
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Raw flour in dough
Flour is raw before cooking and can carry harmful germs; do not taste uncooked dough.
Hazard sourceMolten sugar filling
The filling melts into hot syrup inside the pancake and can burn the mouth or skin.
Hazard sourceDo not taste raw dough. Wash hands and surfaces after handling flour, then cook the pancakes according to the recipe.
Control sourceHandle the pancakes carefully and let the filling cool briefly before biting; the centre remains hotter than the browned outside.
Control sourceThe sugar filling becomes hot syrup. Let the pancake cool briefly before biting; no fixed cooling time is provided.
The source recommends serving hot and gives no storage duration.
- Put 1 cup lukewarm water in a mixing bowl. Stir in the white sugar, dry yeast, salt and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil.
- Add 2 cups flour and mix until combined. Cover the bowl and leave the dough at room temperature for about 1 hour, until doubled.
- Knead the dough to remove gas, cover it again and leave it to rise for another 10–20 minutes.
- Mix the turbinado or brown sugar with cinnamon and chopped walnuts for the filling.
- Spread some of the remaining ½ cup flour on a board as needed. Knead the dough again, divide it into 8 equal balls and keep unused portions covered. Flatten one ball, add filling in the centre and pinch the dough closed into a sealed ball. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Heat a little vegetable oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Place a filled ball in the pan and cook about 30 seconds, until the bottom is lightly golden. Turn it over and press it with a broad spatula into a thin, wide round, about the size of a CD.
- Cook about 1 minute until the underside is golden. Turn the pancake again, reduce the heat to very low, cover the pan and cook for 1 minute more so the sugar filling melts. Repeat with the remaining filled balls, adding oil as needed.
- Serve hot, as the recipe directs, but let each pancake cool briefly before biting into the syrup centre. The source advises eating them soon after cooking and gives no storage duration.
Conditions
Yield8 pieces
Fermentation1–1.33 h
Temperature controlAmbient, monitored
Places
South Korea
Documented preparation · Country evidenceMaangchi presents this as a Korean street snack; this source does not establish a birthplace.
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Sources
MaangchiRecipe · Method · Identity · Geography
Sweet pancakes with brown sugar syrup filling (Hotteok)The source's eight-piece dough formula uses one cup lukewarm water, two tablespoons white sugar, two teaspoons dry yeast, half a teaspoon kosher salt, one tablespoon oil, two cups flour and about half a cup more for the board.
The filling combines half a cup turbinado or brown sugar, one teaspoon cinnamon and two tablespoons chopped walnuts.
The dough rises about one hour until doubled and again for 10–20 minutes; filled balls are pan-cooked 30 seconds, pressed flat, browned about one minute, then covered for a final minute over very low heat. The source says the filling melts to syrup and advises serving hot, soon after cooking; it gives no storage duration.
In a comment reply, Maangchi says unfilled dough can be refrigerated for up to one day and should be filled just before cooking and eating; the page gives no stored-dough restart or proofing schedule.
Cited in: A sweet street snack with a changing history; Fill and seal eight pieces; Press, brown and cool briefly
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Academy of Korean StudiesHistorical claim
HotteokThe encyclopedia attributes an introduction of hotteok to Korea by Chinese migrants in the 1880s and describes changes in Korean fillings and cooking methods; this is recorded as an attributed account, not a settled first attestation.
Cited in: A sweet street snack with a changing history
Korean Folklore SocietyHistorical claim
호떡의 연원과 변화 양상 고찰 — 쌍화점에서 안흥찐빵까지 (Study on the origin and development of Hotteok)The 2022 article distinguishes older records that describe different methods from the current oil-griddled sugar-filled form; the continuity and origin of the modern form are treated as debated rather than assumed.
Cited in: A sweet street snack with a changing history
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionFood safety
Raw Flour and DoughRaw dough and batter may contain harmful germs; do not taste them and clean hands and surfaces after handling flour.
Cited in: Press, brown and cool briefly