Hotteok Cookies
These Hotteok Cookies draw inspiration from a popular Korean cinnamon, nut, and sugar stuffed pancake. Gooey cinnamon walnut filling stuffed inside a chewy sugar cookie dough.
Regular cookies are absolutely great, but I feel like everything changed for me after my first stuffed cookie. Now, I want to stuff all my cookies. It makes them more special. They are like a little present, and a fun surprise to share.
These cookies get their personality thanks to Hotteok. A Korean pancake stuffed with nuts and brown sugar. So why not use that filling in a cookie to get some epic gooey centers. It totally works and makes for the most dreamy cookie.
Why You’ll Love These Hotteok Cookies
- Easy to customize. The filling suggestion uses walnuts, but this can be changed to a variety of nut or seed fillings based on your own preference. Refer to the ingredient and substitution section for some suggestions.
- Surprisingly easy to make. The stuffed aspect of these cookies may sound intimidating, but don’t let it scare you off! The dough comes together easily like normal cookies, and is easy to stuff. And even if that doesn’t convince you, the basic base for these cookies can be used to bake up some delicious sugar cookies.
- Completely dairy-free and egg-free. Whether you avoid dairy and eggs because you’re vegan or have allergies, the substitutes used in this recipe will still give you the best cookie experience.
What is Hotteok?
Hotteok refers to a popular South Korean street food, a stuffed panfryed pancake, which can come in both sweet and savory styles. Regardless of the filling, the pancake is made using a yeasted dough. It is then stuffed based on preference, sealed and placed on a greased griddle, which is then flattened into a large circle.
The sweet varieties are often stuffed with brown sugar, honey, nuts, and cinnamon. When heated on the griddle, the filling gets nice and gooey. So, obviously, since we are talking about cookies, we are pulling inspiration from this sweet filling to stuff our cookies with.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour: I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour. I have not tested this with gluten-free flours and am not sure if the switch to a different flour will yield a flexible dough. Experiment at your own risk, but if you find success, please let me know!
- Yogurt: I’m using a non-dairy yogurt. This behaves as our egg substitute, which will help bind our ingredients together. You can use a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed with 3 tbsp water), but the downside is that visually you may see the ground speks of the flaxseed in your cookie.
- Sugar: We are using a combination of both brown and white sugar for our cookie dough base and filling.
- Butter: To keep this dairy-free, I am using vegan butter. When baking, I most often will use either Earth Balance, VioLife or Country Crock’s plant-based butter.
- Walnuts: Feel free to opt for peanuts or pecans, or if you are nut-free you can use sunflower seeds. Regardless of what you use, be sure to chop them very fine.
- Maple Syrup: Mixed with the dry ingredients to yield our filling. You can swap with your preffered liquid sweetener.
- Cinnamon: Used for our filling and the cinnamon sugar coating. Feel free to add more cinnamon if desired!
How to Make Hotteok Cookies
Add the butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl and use an electric hand mixer to beat the ingredients together until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
To the bowl, add the yogurt, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, and vanilla. Beat the ingredients again until the batter becomes a little lighter and more fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the flour and use a rubber spatula to fold it into the batter until just combined.
Cover the bowl and place in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour.
When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F. In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, and maple syrup. In a separate bowl mix together the white sugar and cinnamon.
Use a large cookie scoop (1.5 oz/3 tbsp scoop) to scoop out the dough into your hands. Lightly flatten the dough in your palm then carefully curl the edges up like a cup.
Scoop about 2 tsp of the walnut sugar filling into the middle of the dough. Using your palm bring the sides of the cup up to meet together in the middle then pinch to seal together. Roll the dough ball between your palms to smooth the sides out then roll the dough ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Once the dough ball is coated, place on a parchment lined baking tray and repeat with the remaining dough making sure there is about 2 inches of space between each dough ball.
Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.
Expert Tips
- Please chill your dough! This step impacts how your cookie will bake. Chilling the dough will allow for the cookie to spread as recommended and gives the dough a little more time in the oven so that the filling can properly melt down a little.
- Don’t feel like stuffing? This cookie base makes for an amazing sugar cookie on it’s own. After chilling the dough, just scoop out your cookies on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 11-12 minutes.
- Measure your flour properly. I cannot recommend getting a simple kitchen scale enough. You’ll get proper measurements and have less dishes to clean. If you do not have a scale, just be mindful of how you measure your flour. I recommend using the spoon and level method. Fluff your flour with a spoon and then spoon your flour into your measuring cup and level it off using a flat edge. This will help you avoid over measuring your flour and ending up with a dense and dry cookie.
- Tap your pan on the counter after the cookies are done baking. When the cookies come out of the oven they may look a little puffy. Tapping the cookies on the counter will help to compress the interior of the cookie giving you that lovely chewy center.
Frequently Asked Questions
Allow the cookies to completely cool before storing. When ready to store, place the cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days. To freeze, place parchment paper between each cookie to prevent them from getting stuck together. Freeze up to 2 months.
It sounds like you may have used too much flour. This can happen if you end up packing too much flour into your measuring cup. If not using a scale, it is best to use the spoon and level method when measuring your flour.
Compared to cooking, baking is more of a science. Making major changes can lead to some undesirable results. To get an idea of what issues might happen when certain ingredients are changed or manipulated, I recommend this simple video.
Choose a nut-free yogurt like a soy yogurt and feel free to swap the walnuts to sunflower seeds. These simple swaps will still yield a delicious cookie.
How to Serve
I love to enjoy these cookies after they have cooled on the baking tray. If frozen, place the cookie on a microwave safe plate and heat up in 15 second intervals. Usually between 15-30 seconds works for me to warm the cookie through.
More Holiday Treats to Try
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Blondies
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
Print
Hotteok Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 stuffed cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Hotteok Cookies draw inspiration from a popular Korean cinnamon, nut, and sugar stuffed pancake. Gooey cinnamon walnut filling stuffed inside a chewy sugar cookie dough.
Ingredients
- 1 stick/8 tbsp vegan butter, at room temperature, 113 grams
- 1/3 cup light brough sugar, packed, 70 grams
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 55 grams
- 3 tbsp plain unsweetened plant-based yogurt, 45 grams
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 180 grams
Walnut Sugar Filling
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 55 grams
- 1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped, 30 grams
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
Coating
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar, 36 grams
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Add the butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl and use an electric hand mixer to beat the ingredients together until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
- To the bowl, add the yogurt, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, and vanilla. Beat the ingredients again until the batter becomes a little lighter and more fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the flour and use a rubber spatula to fold it into the batter until just combined.
- Cover the bowl and place in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour.
- When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F. In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, and maple syrup. In a separate bowl mix together the white sugar and cinnamon.
- Use a large cookie scoop (1.5 oz/3 tbsp scoop) to scoop out the dough into your hands. Lightly flatten the dough in your palm then carefully curl the edges up like a cup.
- Scoop about 2 tsp of the walnut sugar filling into the middle of the dough. Using your palm bring the sides of the cup up to meet together in the middle then pinch to seal together. Roll the dough ball between your palms to smooth the sides out then roll the dough ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Once the dough ball is coated, place on a parchment lined baking tray and repeat with the remaining dough making sure there is about 2 inches of space between each dough ball.
- Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the edges are golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.
Notes
Please chill your dough! This step impacts how your cookie will bake. Chilling the dough will allow for the cookie to spread as recommended and gives the dough a little more time in the oven so that the filling can properly melt down a little.
Don’t feel like stuffing? This cookie base makes for an amazing sugar cookie on it’s own. After chilling the dough, just scoop out your cookies on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 11-12 minutes.
Measure your flour properly. I cannot recommend getting a simple kitchen scale enough. You’ll get proper measurements and have less dishes to clean. If you do not have a scale, just be mindful of how you measure your flour. I recommend using the spoon and level method. Fluff your flour with a spoon and then spoon your flour into your measuring cup and level it off using a flat edge. This will help you avoid over measuring your flour and ending up with a dense and dry cookie.
Tap your pan on the counter after the cookies are done baking. When the cookies come out of the oven they may look a little puffy. Tapping the cookies on the counter will help to compress the interior of the cookie giving you that lovely chewy center.
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