Hodugwaja (Red Bean Walnut Pastries)
Crispy, golden pastries filled with sweet red bean paste and crunchy walnuts. These Korean walnut cakes are chewy inside, perfectly snackable, and baked in a special mold for their signature oval shape.
- Total time
- 25 min
- Servings
- 8
- Calories
- 198
- Protein
- 3g
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 whole egg
- ¾ cup sweetened red bean paste
- ½ cup walnut pieces
Instructions
- 1
Set the oven to 350°F and wait until the indicator light or beep tells you it has finished preheating, about 5 minutes.
- 2
Place the softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon for 1 minute until the mixture looks pale and crumbly.
- 3
Crack the egg into the bowl, then stir with the wooden spoon for 30 seconds until the yellow is no longer visible and the mixture looks uniform.
- 4
Sprinkle the flour over the bowl and stir with the wooden spoon for 1 minute until no white flour streaks remain and the mixture looks like thick cookie dough.
- 5
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces by scooping with a tablespoon and rolling each scoop between your palms into a golf-ball-sized sphere, placing each on a clean plate.
- 6
Press one dough ball into a hodugwaja mold (or walnut-shaped baking mold) so the dough covers the bottom and sides evenly, about 0.25 inch thick — the indent should look deep enough to hold filling.
- 7
Spoon 1.5 teaspoons of red bean paste into the indent, then sprinkle 0.75 teaspoon of walnut pieces on top of the paste.
- 8
Press the remaining dough between your palms into a thin oval, place it over the filled mold, and press down gently so the dough seals around the edges and completely covers the filling.
- 9
Flip the mold over a baking sheet so the shaped pastry slides out and lands on the sheet; if it sticks, tap the mold gently against the sheet or use your thumb to gently push it out.
- 10
Repeat steps 6 through 9 with the remaining 7 dough balls until all pastries are on the baking sheet, spaced 1 inch apart.
- 11
Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the pastries turn the color of warm honey with slightly darker edges.
- 12
Remove the baking sheet from the oven using oven mitts and set it on a heat-safe counter.
- 13
Wait 3 minutes, then lift each pastry off the sheet with a thin spatula and place it on a wire cooling rack or a clean plate to cool for 5 more minutes before eating.
Tools you’ll need
- oven
- large mixing bowl
- wooden spoon
- tablespoon
- hodugwaja mold (walnut-shaped baking mold, 8-cavity silicone or metal)
- baking sheet
- oven mitts
- thin spatula
- wire cooling rack (optional)
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