Garlic Bread Gets A Creamy Korean-Style Makeover

In the same way South Korean street food vendors perfected the corn dog, their bakers have taken our beloved, Italian-American garlic bread to new heights. Korean cream cheese garlic buns are a recipe that initially blew up on this side of the pond five years ago, but it's coming back around, and this writer, for one, is definitely not sad about it. Essentially, they're 3-inch boules filled with cream cheese, dunked in garlic butter, and baked.

While these popular, South Korean baked goods still possess irreverent amounts of garlic and butter — similar to the garlic bread you see at almost any Italian restaurant in the States — from there, they part ways in both shape and flavor. Made from baked white bread or milk bread boules, the buns are split into six or eight wedges, still connected at the bottom. Mildly sweetened cream cheese is piped into each split and then the whole boule is dunked into a garlic butter mixture containing eggs, honey, and chopped parsley. The prepared boules are then sprinkled with potato flakes and baked for only a few minutes until golden brown.

Though, we are familiar with sweet and savory combinations — think hot honey drizzled on pepperoni pizza or using jam as a sweet twist on your ham and cheese sandwich — a sweetened version of garlic bread may seem unapproachable, at least right up until you take your first bite. Korean-style garlic bread is loaded with garlic, some recipes calling for as much as 2 minced cloves per bun, and the sweetness both tames that spicy garlic flavor while simultaneously making you want more.

Recipes for Korean cream cheese garlic buns vary, but if you don't want to make your own boules or rolls, you can buy them from a bakery or the grocery store and try this recipe for yourself. You may find you like the added sweetness, but if you don't, simply pull back on the sugar or eliminate the honey from the garlic butter mixture. Although not original, it's likely they'll still be delicious.