How To Make Your Own Korean Dalgona Candy From Squid Game

Squid Game is Netflix’s newest addition to their original series. This Korean TV thriller, and slightly terrifying, drama is about “hundreds of cash-strapped players [who] accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits- with deadly stakes” (Netflix). If you haven’t watched Squid Game yet, then you should definitely give it a try. It’s been Netflix’s number one streamed show since it came out; it’s been an extremely popular watch. With nine episodes at around an hour each, it won’t take too long to binge this show that will have you on the edge of your seat. We recommend watching it in Korean with English captions so you don’t miss out on any important pieces of information, as we’ve been hearing that is what has been happening with watching the English dubbed voice over. One of the challenges the contestants have to partake in is to successfully cut out a shape in a piece of dalgona candy. Many struggle to do so without breaking the entire piece of candy. And since the show has been so popular, many are trying out this challenge by making their own dalgona candy. Want to get in on the fun challenge, with no deadly stakes of course, but don’t know how to make the candy yourself? Don’t worry, because we at Society19 researched and found the best recipe to make your own dalgona candy, complete with tips to make it just perfect like in the show itself.

Where Dalgona Candy Comes From

Dalgona, or ppopgi, as it is known in South Korea, is actually a pretty common treat. Reading more about the origin of this candy from the New York Times article “Why is Everyone Talking About Dalgona Candy?”, we’ve learned a bit more about the creation of the candy, and the game that goes alog with it, too. Vendors would set up their booth with a stove and sell this candy for ten cents. They would cut fun shapes like an umbrella, a star, or a circle, and challenge the children to cut the shape out of the candy. If they did so successfully, then they would get another piece for free. Morales writes that “the toffee-colored honeycomb candy became common in the 1960s, and was sold outside elementary schools and toy stores”. It lost it’s popularity in the early 2000s with many more candy options becoming available and toy stores closing. But, Squid Game has brought it back into the spotlight, sparking a feeling of nostalgia in those who remember playing this game themselves as children. Next, we’ll get into how you can make your own Dalgona candy at home.

How It’s Made

Dalgona candy is made with just a few ingredients and utensils. All you’ll need is granulated sugar, baking soda, cooking spray, a baking sheet, parchment paper, a metal ladel or skillet, cookie cutters of your choosing,  a measuring cup or spatula, and one chopstick. Yay, you probably have everything you need in your kitchen already! Gather everything together before starting to cook.

Prep

There’s one more thing you need to do before you can actually start cooking. Before starting to actually cook, you’ll need to do a little preparation. First, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Then, decide what cookie cutters you’ll be using to create those fun shapes!

Time To Cook

Now we’re all ready to start cooking these sweet South Korean treats!

• In your ladle, or small, non-stick skillet, add two tablespoons of granulated sugar. Place the ladle or skillet over your stove burner, setting it to about a medium flame. Start to stir the sugar with the chopstick as it begins to melt. Keep stirring as you don’t want the sugar to burn or get too sticky.
• Once all of the sugar has melted, and looks orange-ish brown in color, remove the ladle or skillet from the burner. Add just a pinch of baking soda, careful not to add too much or it will bubble over and ruin the candy, and you’ll have to start over. You know you’ve added enough when the mixture looks a light-brown color. Continue to stir as you add in the baking soda. Just keep stirring, just keeping stirring.
• Next, pour the mixture into two even circles on the baking sheet you prepared with parchment paper. Take the flat side of a measuring cup, or use a spatula, and spray it with cooking spray. Then, press the measuring cup or spatula, whichever you’re using, onto the candy until it is about a quarter inch in thickness.
• Then it’s time to have fun and press the cookie cutter into the candy, don’t press all the way though, you don’t want it to come out before you have the chance to play the game!
• Let the candy cool, and then you can serve it!
• 2 tablespoons of sugar will make two pieces of dalgona candy, so you can definitely make lots for you and your friends or family can try figuring out the best strategy to getting the shape out of the candy successfully!

There are certainly specific shapes that are easier to cut out than others. Like, the circle has got to be far easier than the star and especially the umbrella. If you have the upperhand in choosing one, definitely go for the circle to have the best odds at winning the game. Or make a super difficult challenge and if you have any gingerbread man cookie cutters around from the holidays, you can try that one instead and see if you would survive on the show by carving out the gingerbread man.

Squid Game has given us the chance to learn one small aspect of Korean culture that many of us hadn’t known before. We love that television shows are being ore inclusive! Because of this we get to hop on the trend that we’ve been seeing everywhere since the release of Squid Game in September and have some low stakes fun playing this game!

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