Happy Pepero Day!
These brightly colored boxes of Peperos are hard to miss when walking down the aisle at your local Korean grocery store. With flavors ranging from chocolate to matcha, Peperos are one of Korea’s beloved snacks.
That’s why it’s no surprise there is an actual Pepero Day in Korea. Very similar to Valentine’s Day, the purpose of Pepero Day is to show appreciation and affection to your loved ones. But rather than gifting chocolates or flowers to your significant other, a box of Pepero is given to friends, family and/or your significant other.
This year, I decided to give myself a DIY project and make my own Pepero sticks – free of any dairy and refined sugars!
I wanted to keep the recipe as simple as possible because let’s face it – buying a box of Pepero is as easy as buying a cup of coffee or a pack of gum.
So, for the base, I decided to use my quick and simple 2-ingredient vegan pie crust recipe. The pie crust recipe gives the base a buttery, crunchy stick. Once cooled, the sticks are dipped into a bowl of melted chocolate and sprinkled with crushed almonds and dried strawberries. Any topping will work if you don’t have almonds or dried strawberries on hand. Next time, I plan to sprinkle crushed pistachios or dried apples!
Have fun with these fun Pepero sticks as the combination of toppings are endless!
quick notes
- I recommend slicing the sticks a little thicker than the normal Pepero width because they tend to break if too thin.
- Make sure to roast your almonds in the oven for 10 minutes at 400F for a deeper flavor.
Pepero Day
Crust
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup (149g) all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
Pulse dry ingredients together in a food processor. Alternatively, in a bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.
Wet ingredients
- 7 tbsp (98g) cold vegan butter
- 2 -3 tbsp cold water
In a food processor, pulse the vegan butter until it’s roughly incorporated in the dry ingredients. But make sure not to over mix as small chunks of butter is fine. Then, add in 1 tbsp of cold water at a time and pulse a couple of times. Keep adding 1 tbsp of cold water at a time until the dough begins to roughly stick and come together.
Alternatively, mix in cold butter to the dry ingredients with a pastry blender. Once the butter is roughly incorporated into the dry ingredients, add in 1 tbsp of cold water at a time and mix. When the dough roughly sticks together, the dough is ready.
Wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Chocolate mixture
- ½ cup (55g) dark chocolate
Add dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the chocolate mixture does not touch the water. Occasionally stir until smooth until all chocolate pieces are dissolved. Take off heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Flour your countertop and rolling pin. Roll out the cold dough cut into thin 6″ strips. Place the sticks on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes. Let the sticks completely cool.
Toppings
- Almonds, roasted and crushed
- Freeze dried strawberries, crushed
Lastly, dip the sticks into the melted chocolate and liberally sprinkle almonds and freeze dried strawberries.
Enjoy!
p.s. If you like this recipe, click the icons below to share and leave a comment below! Make sure to tag me @girlmeetsradish & #girlmeetsradish so I can see what you are making!
