If Dr. Choi’s mother had a specialty, it was her encyclopedic knowledge of Korean ceremonial foods like yakgwa and how to present them. That’s why the recent commercialization of the cookie, with its ubiquity among young people who respect the tradition enough to reinterpret it, has delighted Dr. Choi. Today, Koreans enjoy yakgwa outside of those rites of passage, like as an after-school snack or weekday dessert with vanilla ice cream. When fresh, the cookie’s sticky, amber syrup should drip off slowly, drenching your fingers, like Winnie the Pooh’s paw, in honey. (The YouTube star and cookbook author Maangchi uses the word “juicy” to describe biting into fresh yakgwa.)

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Persons: Choi, Choi’s, ”, Winnie, Maangchi Locations: Dang, Manhattan