South Korea is not particularly well known for its sweet treat, but they do in fact have a sweet tooth. You will even pick this up in their 'savoury' food (which you can read more about here).
These are just some of the sweet treats you will find in South Korea:
HOTTEOK
This Korean pancake is an especially popular street food available all over the country in some form or other. The dough is made from wheat flour, water, milk, sugar and yeast. Handful sized dough balls are filled with a sweet mixture of honey, brown sugar and cinnamon before being placed on a well-greased griddle and pressed flat to form a pancake. Served fresh and warm, they are a really delicious sweet treat!
SSIAT HOTTEOK
Busan’s style is somewhat unique as the Hotteok is cut open and filled with a variety of seeds and nuts, which just make it even more delicious and crunchy! You will find many stalls making these all over BIFF square in particular. Some are shallow grilled which give them a lighter, fluffier texture and others are deep grilled in butter which makes them both richer and crispier on the outside. I (Lisa) preferred the first version, but Andre preferred the butter one, so you will just have to try both and decide for yourself!
32cm TALL ICE CREAM CONES
If an ordinary soft-serve ice-cream is never enough, then this is for you! The stall at BIFF Square allows you to measure and check that the ice-cream is, in fact, 32cm tall – we think they cheated a little by stretching the last bit of ice-cream, but non-the-less, our yoghurt and mango almost 32cm ice-cream was delicious and refreshing!
BUNGEOPPANG / SWEET FISH CAKES
Formed in the form of a fish, this sweet batter caked usually have a red bean filling and are best served warm straight out of the waffle iron.
HODO-KWAJA / WALNUT CAKES
These sweet little cakes in the shape of walnut are filled with both red bean paste and walnuts. Good for a street-side munch.
COTTON CANDY
You're probably thinking “how exciting can cotton candy be?” – Well, in Korea you can get cotton candy bigger than your head and in an array of shapes and patterns! Good fun but definitely too much sugar!
SUGAR LOLLIPOPS
These lollipops are more about the fun of trying to eat around the pattern made in the lollipop rather than the actual taste of the lollipop.
BINGSU
Bingsu is probably the most popular Korean summertime dessert. It's a big bowl of shaved ice and various toppings, most traditionally including a red bean porridge.
KKULTARAE
Kkultarae is made of fine strands of honey and maltose, often with a sweet nut filling.
SONGPYEON
These bite-sized rice flour dumplings can be filled with red bean paste, honey, chestnut or sesame. They are often bright colours and are sweet, nutty and chewy with a similar texture to mochi.
CHAPSSALTTEOK
The Korean version of mochi, these glutinous rice flour cakes are usually filled with red bean paste or fruit.
