How to Make Dalgona Candy (Play Ppopgi from Squid Game)

Dalgona candy is a Korean Honeycomb Toffee made from sugar and baking soda. The old-fashioned Korean sweet has a hard honeycomb toffee-like texture. Street vendors will prepare it using a soup spoon and make it into a round cookie with a shape in the middle. The shape in the centre is usually a circle, star, triangle or umbrella.

Dalgona candy is also called Ppopgi or is simply known as Dalgona.

Made famous by the Netflix series, Dalgona candy is a traditional Korean candy that is sweet and fun to play with. In the show Squid Game, we see the players trying to carve out shapes from the honeycomb toffee candy without breaking it or risking their lives if they lose.

Making our Dalgona candy recipe has made us appreciate how challenging the Dalgona game is and how hard it is to make. We've simplified our recipe and added all our best cooking tips for making traditional Korean candy at home.

Jump to:

• Dalgona Candy Ingredients
• Ppopgi Tools
• How to make Dalgona candy
• Dalgona Candy Recipe | Korean Honeycomb Cookie
• Cooking Tips
• How to enjoy
• What is the Dalgona game?
• How to Win at Ppopgi
• Ppopgi vs Dalgona
• Dalgona Candy Calories

Dalgona Candy Ingredients

To make our dalgona candy recipe, you'll need sugar and baking soda.

Make sure you use refined granulated sugar for the sugar, making it easier to melt in the cooking process. You can choose from using white or brown sugar. However, traditionally, it is made using white sugar.

For the baking soda, you will only need a pinch of it. It is important to note that you can't substitute it with baking powder.

Ppopgi Tools

For our dalgona candy recipe, you can use some common kitchen tools to get great results. However, a Korean honeycomb toffee making kit that comes with a measured ladle, press and some classic moulds to use as your centre shape, can also come in handy.

In a Pan or Ladle

Traditionally, the candy is made in a mini copper pan. This is what you will use for cooking the sugar and mixing the baking soda. However, you can also use a metal ladle or a nonstick pan, which is what we used in our recipe. 

Wooden chopsticks

Stir with a disposable chopstick. We recommend using chopsticks as it typically it's made in a small ladle. The sugar will harden and stick to your chopstick. So, it's easier to throw the disposable chopstick rather than clean it as it'll take time to remove the hardened sugar.

You can also use a silicone spatula if you're making in a non stick pan. Just note that the sugar will harden and stick to your spatula too.

Silicone mat

You will pour the honeycomb toffee mixture onto this. Using a Silicone mat will help get the sweet off once it's cooled. You can also line parchment paper over a flat metal tray or baking tray.

Hotteok Press

Like a burger press, a Hotteok Press is a tool you can use to press down the honeycomb toffee mixture to get an even flat surface.

Cookie cutters

Use any cookie cutter pattern you like, but remember that a simple design will make the game easier. Make sure to pick cookie cutters that just fit within the centre of your Korean sweet. If you want to reenact the game in Squid Game, make sure to get the umbrella, triangle, circle and star cookie cutters.

How to make Dalgona candy

You can make this delicious old school Korean candy in less than 5 minutes. We'll go through the detailed measurements and steps in our recipe below, but the basic 5 steps are here.

1. Caramelise the sugar.
2. Add the baking soda and mix well.
3. Pour the mixture onto a silicone mat.
4. Use a press to make sure it has a flat, even surface.
5. Use a cookie cutter to add a shape in the centre. Leave it to cool and enjoy.

Cooking Tips

When the sugar melts, it will first turn translucent, and over time, it will turn amber or brown. 

The honeycomb mixture will only turn creamy brown as you add and stir in the baking soda.

But over time, the mixture will turn amber to brown, and the colour will turn deeper. As the colour turns darker, the honeycomb will become more and more bittersweet. 

• Creamy brown = sweet
• Darker amber = bittersweet
• Dark brown = bitter

Use the baking soda sparingly until you have formed a good mixture and consistency. Too much baking soda can make your Ppopgi bitter and make cleaning up later harder, as the mixture might stick to the ladle and other surfaces.

Use a cookie cutter to add an indented shape in the centre. Press down gently to make the game harder. On the flip side, the deeper the indent, the easier it is to remove the shape in the centre.

If you're making a large amount of this, make sure to run the ladle under hot water after each time. This will help to remove the sugar residue.

Many people find it challenging to use a cookie-cutter without it sticking to the Dalgona candy. You can use some oil around the cookie-cutter before making your shape to stop this from happening.

Another tip is to allow the dalgona to cool slightly for 30 seconds or so before pressing on it. If you press on the dalgona while it's still very hot, the dalgona will stick on the press.

On the flip side, if you allow it to cool for too long the dalgona will harden, it'll be hard to flatten it into a thin disc and it'll be hard to indent a shape using the cookie cutter. It requires a bit of finesse, so be patient and practice.

How to enjoy

You can eat this old school Korean candy by eating it by itself or with milk. However, you can also break it into small pieces and serve over ice cream or a cup of Dalgona coffee.

Alternatively, the most popular way to enjoy Dalgona candy is to play the Ppopgi game. Try to remove the indented shape without breaking it.

What is the Dalgona game?

In the Dalgona game, players have to carve out shapes from a Korean honeycomb cookie called Dalgona candy. In Korea, the Dalgona game is traditionally known as Ppopgi.

Ppopgi, which means 'to pick', was a very popular game in Korea during the 1960s and 1970s. This traditional Korean candy was sold by street vendors, mainly outside schools. Children would take up the challenge of not breaking the central shape.

Children often use a needle or toothpick to pick out the central shape. Some vendors would even give out a second honeycomb toffee if the children were successful.

Fans of the Netflix show Squid Game may know this sweet treat simply as the Squid Game Candy.

In episode 3 of Squid Game, titled The Man with The Umbrella, we see this children's game taking a twisted turn. If players fail to remove the indented shape they will lose the round and die.

Due to the show's popularity, the old school Korean candy has now become the Dalgona candy challenge or Squid Game cookie trend challenge on Tiktok! Fans of the show are challenging themselves to remove the indented shape to see how difficult the game is and whether they would survive in Squid Game.

How to Win at Ppopgi

Here are some tips to win at the popular Dalgona candy challenge that's trending on TikTok. 

Wet your toothpick or needle. This is a trick we see the contestants adopting in Squid Game. It works because it will help you get a more precise pick at the Dalgona candy without breaking around it. However, if you're under a time constraint, this might not work as well.

Heating your toothpick or needle can get you a precise pick, too, but many people will think this is cheating.

Lick the traditional Korean candy just like the protagonist does in the Netflix series Squid Game! This will help to remove the shape in the centre. This is because the surrounding area of the indented shape is thinner than the rest of the cookie!

To make the shape easier to remove, you can press down harder and create a stronger indent when making the ppopgi itself.

Ppopgi vs Dalgona

Ppopgi is the name of the game that uses Dalgona candy. The word Ppopgi means to pick in Korean. Meanwhile, Dalgona means sweet.

In the past, Ppopgi and Dalgona were two different types of traditional Korean candy. Vendors would make Ppopgi with white sugar and Dalgona with glucose solid. However, nowadays, the terms are used interchangeably. Therefore, you will find street vendors more commonly make this Korean snack with white sugar.

Dalgona Candy Calories

Dalgona candy has roughly 70 calories as it is only made with sugar and baking soda

Are you looking for more Korean treats? Then, check out our definitive guide to the best Korean snacks.