In what will go down as one of the greatest marketing tricks ever, the South Korean makers of a cookie stick have successfully integrated their product into their local culture by inventing a holiday named after itself. Touted as a day for love, like Valentine’s Day, Pepero Day is for exchanging and eating of Pepero sticks with as many family, boyfriends, girlfriends, and acquaintances as you can. Pepero is a cookie stick, dipped in chocolate syrup, manufactured by Lotte in South Korea since 1983. It comes in ten flavors, including strawberry, almond and …..cheese? The date of November 11 was chosen because when written as 11/11, it resembles four, long Pepero sticks.

To share with your family, try this homemade version of sugar cookies dipped in chocolate.
Ingredients
1 cup butter (2 sticks
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the chocolate dip
1 package (8 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup butter
1 cup finely ground walnuts or pecans

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray cookie sheets with no-stick cooking spray or grease lightly.

In large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar; beat well. Add egg and egg yolk, beating after each addition. Add vanilla; beat well. Gradually add combined flour, baking powder and salt; beat until well blended.

Scrape dough into heavy-duty plastic food storage bag; seal tightly. Snip off one corner of bag to make a 1/2 inch diameter opening. Squeeze dough onto prepared cookie sheets using kitchen scissors to cut dough into 2-inch long strips and spacing strips 3 inches apart.

Bake 11 to 13 minutes until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; transfer to wire rack. Cool completely.

While cookies cool, prepare chocolate dip.
Place chocolate and butter in medium microwave-safe bowl. Cover loosely with waxed paper and microwave on high, stirring every 20 seconds, until chocolate is smooth and fully melted.

Place nuts in shallow dish.

Dip one end of cookie (about 1/2 the cookie) into chocolate and then immediately into the nuts to coat. Repeat with remaining cookies. Let cookies stand at room temperature until chocolate is set.