Top 10 Traditional Desserts For Chinese New Year / Spring Festival 十大過年/春節拜拜甜點

Top 10 Traditional Desserts For Chinese New Year / Spring Festival 十大過年/春節拜拜甜點

 

 

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most important festival throughout the year. Spring Festival traditionally starts from the last day of the lunar calendar, 除夕 (chú xì, New Year’s Eve), to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, 元宵節 (yuan xiāo jié, Lantern Festival). During Spring Festival, usually falls in January and/or February, we have a lot of traditional desserts with special meaning. Today we are going to learn top 10 classic desserts for Chinese New Year in Taiwan!

 

 

Âng Ku Kué (紅龜粿/红龟粿) Red Turtle-Shaped Rice Cake

1.      Âng Ku Kué (紅龜粿/红龟粿) Red Turtle-Shaped Rice Cake

Âng ku kué (紅龜粿/红龟粿) is literally translated as red turtle-shaped rice cake. Actually it is made of glutinous rice and shaped in a wooden mold with a turtle shell shape. Another similar dessert is mī ku (麵龜/面龟), red turtle-shaped bun, which also has sweet stuffing inside like red bean paste. Since turtles symbolize longevity, both âng ku kué and mī ku are often used as offerings to worship gods and ancestors.

 

Muâ Láu (麻粩) Rice Puff With Sesame

2.      Muâ Láu (麻粩) Rice Puff With Sesame

Muâ láu (麻粩) is a traditional snack and now also becomes a popular gift for Chinese New Year. Muâ láu has a sweet maltose with sesame taste and a puffy texture inside. Other similar things are bí láu (米粩), the one with poprice outside and thôo tāu láu (土豆粩), the one coated with peanut powder. The pronunciation of “láu (粩)” sounds like “lǎo (老)” meaning old. People said that eating muâ láu and you can live to be very old.

 

Tshùn Tsó (寸棗) Fried Flour Candy

3.      Tshùn Tsó (寸棗) Fried Flour Candy

Tshùn tsó (寸棗) is a classic sweet snack that people usually have it during Chinese New Year. Tshùn tsó is finger-sized fried dough and is golden brown or pink. It is made of glutinous rice flour, maltose, and sugar. Tshùn tsó looks like bullion so it is quite pleasing especially for the Spring Festival.

 

Gān Nà Dòu (甘納豆) Candied Bean

4.      Gān Nà Dòu (甘納豆) Candied Bean

Gān nà dòu (甘納豆), candied bean, is simply made of beans, sugar, and water. Gān nà dòu was called甘名納糖 (あまななっとう) and was introduced to Taiwan when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Gān nà dòu is like the general size of beans and is very sweet, which is in accord with the Taiwanese proverb that “食甜甜好過年 (tsia̍h tinn tinn hó kuè nî),” having sweet food can bring about good luck in New Year.

 

Nán Zǎo Hé Táo Gāo (南棗核桃糕) Walnut And Date Cake

5.      Nán Zǎo Hé Táo Gāo (南棗核桃糕) Walnut And Date Cake

Nán zǎo hé táo gāo (南棗核桃糕) is date paste mixed with chopped walnuts and cut in small cuiboid. Nán zǎo hé táo gāo is a popular dessert not only for festivals but also a great choice for souvenirs because it is considered an expensive and healthy dessert.

 

Nián Gāo (年糕) / Tinn Kué (甜粿) Sticky Rice Cake

6.      Nián Gāo (年糕) / Tinn Kué (甜粿) Sticky Rice Cake

Nián gāo (年糕), or called tinn kué (甜粿) in Taiwanese, is a classic dessert that almost every household in Taiwan will eat during Spring Festival. Nián gāo is basically made of glutinous rice, usually with some honey red beans as well. Nián gāo sounds like nián nián gāo sheng (年年高升), which means having career advancement every year.

 

Fā Gāo (發糕/发糕) / Huat Kué (發粿/发粿) Steamed Sponge Cake

7.      Fā Gāo (發糕/发糕) / Huat Kué (發粿/发粿) Steamed Sponge Cake

Fā gāo (發糕/发糕), or called huat kué (發粿/发粿) in Taiwanese, is also a popular dessert during Chinese New Year. Fā gāo is made of rice flour; there are usually two colors: brown and pink. The meaning of “fā (發)” can be making a fortune; besides, Hakka people think the cross-shaped crack on fā gāo means full of laughter, which implies life will go well this year.

 

Sing Lîn (生仁) Peanut Sugar

8.      Sing Lîn (生仁) Peanut Sugar

Sing lîn (生仁), or called shēng rén in Chinese, is made of whole peeled peanut kernel wrapped in thick frosting, which are white or pink colors. Sing lîn, a popcorn-sized sweet, is a traditional snack only for festivals. The pronunciation of “仁 (rén)” in Chinese is the same as “人 (rén, people),” so sing lîn has the meaning of family flourish.

 

Ko Á Lia̍p (糕仔粒) Cake Cube

9.      Ko Á Lia̍p (糕仔粒) Cake Cube

Ko á lia̍p (糕仔粒) is a bite-sized cake, which is mostly made of glutinous rice flour and green bean flour. Ko á lia̍p has white and pink colors, just as sing lîn (生仁) does. It is said that ko á lia̍p is made in the shape of gold grains and silver grains for worshiping Tiān Gōng (天公, Heavenly Grandfather).

 

Dōng Guā Táng (冬瓜糖) Candied Winter Melon

10.  Dōng Guā Táng (冬瓜糖) Candied Winter Melon

Dōng guā táng (冬瓜糖) is known as candied winter melon, which is cut into strips, boiled with sugar water, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Since there are lots of seeds in a winter melon, and the Chinese of “seed” is “籽 (zǐ),” which sounds the same as “子 (zǐ, child),” so dōng guā tang symbolizes that it is a blessing to have many offspring and descendants (多子多孫多福氣). Another saying is that the Taiwanese of “冬瓜 (winter melon)” is “tang kue,” which sounds like “tang kuè (冬過),” meaning winter is over.

  

These are the traditional and classic desserts for Chinese New Year in Taiwan. There are more creative and innovative sweets springing up in Taiwan waiting for you to discover! If you find this article is informative, please share to you friends and family! We will keep publishing this series of articles.