Which sweet Korean pancake is usually filled with brown sugar, honey, peanuts, and cinnamon? Hotteok is the answer.
Hotteok is a popular Korean filled pancake and street food. Its dough is usually made with wheat flour, water, milk, sugar, and yeast, then left to rise. A ball of dough is wrapped around a sweet mixture containing brown sugar, honey, peanuts, and cinnamon before being placed on an oiled griddle and pressed into a flat round.
The filling melts as the pancake cooks, producing a hot, syrupy center. Traditional versions are especially associated with winter, while newer varieties may use walnuts, seeds, green tea, vegetables, japchae, or even pizza-style ingredients.
Hotteok is believed to have entered Korea through Chinese merchants during the late nineteenth century, when Korea was under the Joseon dynasty. It is distinct from bungeo-ppang, a fish-shaped filled cake, and songpyeon, a steamed rice cake traditionally associated with Korean holidays.