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    Home » Desserts

    Published: Dec 29, 2023 · Modified: Dec 26, 2024 by Zen · This post may contain affiliate links.

    25 Best Chinese New Year Desserts 2025

    Sharing food makes everyone happy! :)

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    2 Chinese New Year desserts, muah chee and tang yuan, with text in between.

    The best sweet treats, from traditional Chinese New Year desserts, such as osmanthus jelly and tang yuan, to modern ones, such as koi fish jelly for the Year of the Snake 2025 to bring you good luck in the new year.

    CNY koi fish jelly with ang baos
    Fish is associated with good fortune and prosperity, thus is often seen during the Chinese New Year celebration, whether in the form of a real steamed whole fish, or a fish-shaped dessert!
    Jump to:
    • 🍡 Glutinous Rice Flour Desserts
    • 🍰 Cakes
    • 🍧 Jellies
    • 🍯 Tong Sui (Cantonese Sweet Soups)
    • Others
    • 💬 Comments

    In Chinese culture, desserts are eaten during Reunion Dinner (團圓飯/ 团圆饭 Tuan Yuan Fan) to usher in a sweet life in the year ahead. (If you're wondering why, it's because desserts are sweet- Chinese people are big on symbolism, which is why we love the number 8 (homonym for striking it rich) but dislike the number 4 (homonym for death)!

    When it comes to Lunar New Year: the golden brown pineapple tart represents Prosperity (as its name in the Hokkien dialect, "Ong Lai", sounds similar to the word), Chinese New Year Cake is eaten in hopes of a better year ahead (Its name"Nian Gao" literally means "A Higher Year"), uncut noodles for long life... and so on, and so on!

    Here are some easy, popular and meaningful recipes for your New Year celebrations. (They're all Chinese sweets, ranging from Hong Kong to Singapore and Shanghai- whilst I enjoy other Asian cuisines, I find it weird to serve Japanese desserts for Chinese New Year!)

    Note: click here for savory Chinese New Year dishes!

    Or, if you're looking for cookies such as Chinese almond cookies (I must point out that fortune cookies aren't really traditional Chinese New Year (CNY) cookies), click here!) For those looking to venture beyond Chinese food, here's where you click for popular Asian desserts.

    🍡 Glutinous Rice Flour Desserts

    Tang Yuan

    A bowl of colourful tang yuan and a plate of dry glutinous rice dumplings.

    These sticky rice balls are 1 of my favorite Chinese desserts, and super easy to make at home too. The round shape signifies reunion, so they're a popular traditional Chinese dessert for family gatherings.

    They can be served dry, coated in nuts or served in sweet syrup. Served either plain or stuffed with a filling, such as peanut paste, black sesame paste or red bean paste.

    Tang Yuan (With Filling and Plain)
    Tang yuan, or Chinese glutinous rice balls, are a 2 to 3-ingredient chewy snack that can be served in soup (sweet or savoury) or fried. Served at Chinese family gatherings, especially the Winter Solstice, they also come plain or with filling inside so, as you can see, this is a very versatile and easy dish! 
    Click here for the traditional Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner dessert recipe.
    A bowl of colourful tang yuan and a plate of dry glutinous rice dumplings.

    Red Bean Soup

    You can also serve these sweet rice balls in a thicker soup, such as Red Bean Soup.

    Muah Chee

    A plate of homemade steamed muah chee, or Chinese mochi, coated with peanuts
    Not a fan of peanuts? Use other crushed nuts, black sesame or even cocoa powder instead!

    If you're a fan of mochi, you'll enjoy this stretchy, chewy bite! Alternatively, you may want to try these Third-Bakery inspired matcha mochi muffins. (Vegan Hojicha version and Black Sesame version here.)

    Muah Chee (Peanut Mochi) (5 Methods)
    An easy recipe for this South Chinese street snack that can be steamed, fried, microwaved, air fried or made in a rice cooker!
    Click here for the traditional Chinese mochi recipe.
    Someone holding a piece of peanut coated traditional muah chee.

    Pumpkin Cake

    A pair of chopsticks picking up a very soft orange glutinous rice cake.
    Chinese Pumpkin Cake
    Crisp on the outside but soft, gooey and chewy on the inside, Chinese Pumpkin Cake or Nan Gua Bing is a must-make dessert in fall! If you've ever felt intimidated by the thought of making your own Asian street snacks, try this easy Chinese recipe to give you confidence! It's simple enough to make perfectly the very 1st time!
    Click here for the Chinese Nan Gua Bing recipe.
    Many fried orange pancakes with sesame seeds in a bowl on baking paper.

    Nian Gao

    Baked Chinese New Year Cake in a round cake pan.

    Chinese New Year Sticky Cake usually takes forever to steam and can go wrong if the water ratio isn't exact. Which is why I've come up with this easy, quick baked version that is just as good!

    It is usually made by Chinese people the week before the start of the Spring Festival, as an offering to the Kitchen God. To bribe him to make a good report for their family to the Jade Emperor!

    EASY Chinese New Year Cake (Baked Nian Gao)
    This EASY Chinese New Year Cake Recipe, or Baked Nian Gao, is sweet, sticky, and gooey with that mochi-like consistency when piping hot. (It's also delicious pan-fried.) Traditionally, Nian Gao is steamed but that takes forever, and you have to add the right amount of water for the New Year Cake to come out right. Baked Nian Gao is so much quicker and more forgiving and the crisp exterior-soft interior is scrumptious! Plus everything is readily available, no need to head for the Asian markets! (Dairy-free version tested.)
    Click here for the baked lunar new year cake recipe.
    Baked Nian Gao in a round cake tin next to Chinese New Year flowers.

    Sesame Balls (Jian Dui)

    These sesame seed balls are a popular dim sum dessert made of glutinous rice flour and filled with red bean paste.

    🍰 Cakes

    Mandarin Orange Bake

    This citrus cake is not traditional but it's a terrific way to use up all those extra mandarin oranges! (I hate to waste food so have several recipes which use up extra food on my site, such as leftover pork jerky.)

    Delicious with some ice cream on the side.

    Fa Gao

    Literally translated as Fortune Cake or Prosperity Cake, this is served not just for CNY but also during other celebrations such as weddings.

    Chinese Sponge Cake

    Unlike their Western counterparts, Chinese cakes aren't rich and creamy but usually light, fluffy and soft.

    These are traditionally made in tall metal molds, but you can use a muffin tray if you can't find them!

    Ma Lai Gao

    The name actually means "Malay cake" but, besides Malaysia and Singapore, it can also be found in Hong Kong! I included this recipe, as it uses sourdough discard and, as mentioned, I like to minimise food waste.

    P.S. Elegant Inn restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, does a terrific Ma Lai Gao. They're cut into thin slices, steamed and then gently pan fried, giving the cake a deliciously crisp exterior which contrasts perfectly with the cloud-like interior.

    🍧 Jellies

    Jellies are a great dessert for New Year's Eve dinner as:

    • they last for a few days and can be made in advance (less party stress!)
    • the main ingredients are good for you (if you don't add too much sugar or coconut milk, jellies are filling and not high in calories, so that you don't feel bad about festive overeating!)

    Note: for more healthy sweets, try this no sugar jelly fruit salad or these no flour or sugar desserts!

    Chinese Koi Fish Jelly

    CNY koi fish jelly with ang baos
    CNY Koi Fish Jelly (Easy Chinese New Year Dessert)
    A popular CNY dessert that is easy to make yet stunning and delicious!
    Click here for the auspicious agar agar jelly recipe.
    Close-up of 2 CNY koi fish jelly

    Chinese Osmanthus Jelly Cake

    3 osmanthus jellies in brown sugar syrup on a white plate.

    Extra osmanthus flowers can be made into osmanthus tea or osmanthus sugar.

    Osmanthus jelly recipe
    This osmanthus jelly recipe (Gui Hua Gao) is a refreshing, delicious, quick and easy Chinese dessert made from edible sweet osmanthus flowers. Its shimmering gold color and floral fragrance have kept it popular through the years- you can even find it at Michelin-star Chinese restaurants today!
    Click here for the Chinese Gui Hua Gao recipe.
    3 osmanthus jellies with wolf berries on a white plate.

    Coconut Jelly

    A plate of coconut jelly and pandan jelly arranged as a flower.
    Coconut Jelly (Dim Sum)
    Coconut Jelly is a creamy and refreshing Asian dessert that is perfect for summer. You can find a pudding-like version at Melo Melo or a firmer version at Dim Sum restaurants. I focus on the dim sum version here but also share tips on how to make the Melo Melo coconut milk pudding. Either way, it's super easy to make at home!
    Click here for the popular Dim Sum jelly dessert.
    A plate of coconut jelly and pandan jelly arranged as a flower.

    Gui Ling Gao

    Also known as grass jelly or cincau, this is traditionally made by boiling Mesona Chinensis leaves to make a refreshing dessert that's sad to be good for your skin.

    However, they're not easy to find so luckily we have grass jelly powder available these days!

    🍯 Tong Sui (Cantonese Sweet Soups)

    Black Sesame Soup

    A wooden scoop of Black Sesame Paste with a white plate underneath.
    I make mine using homemade black sesame seed paste so it's extra aromatic!

    If you're not fond of something overly sweet, try Black Sesame Soup which has a grown-up, earthy and nutty flavor.

    Easy Black Sesame Soup Dessert
    A sweet and creamy Chinese recipe, with nutty overtones giving this easy black sesame soup dessert a complex depth of flavour. Moreover, this 3-ingredient traditional Chinese Tong Sui is naturally vegan, gluten-free, delicious & very nutritious!
    Click here for the black sesame Cantonese tong Sui recipe.
    2 bowls of Chinese black sesame tong sui next to pink flowers.

    Birds' Nest

    A cup of swiftlet nest in coconut juice Chinese dessert.
    Easy Swallow Nest Soup (Bird's Nest Dessert)
    The easiest Chinese bird's nest dessert you could ever make!
    Click here for the Bird's Nest (Yan Wo) recipe.
    Close-up of a spoonful of steamed bird's nest sweet soup.

    Chinese Sea Coconut Soup

    A bowl of sea coconut dessert with canned longan with calamansi lime.
    Sea Coconut dessert with longan sweet soup recipe
    A Cooling Sea Coconut dessert with longan sweet soup, the perfect tong sui for hot days.
    Click here for the refreshing Chinese dessert recipe.
    A bowl of Asian sea coconut cooling dessert.

    Peach Gum and Lotus Seed Soup

    For a dessert which is reportedly good for your skin, like bird's nest, but much less pricey, try this Peach Gum Soup that is sweetened with red dates, goji berries and dried longans.

    Papaya and Snow Fungus

    This snow fungus tong sui is light and refreshing, and only requires 6 ingredients: papaya, Chinese almonds, rock sugar, snow fungus, jujubes and pandan leaves (optional, really.)

    P.S. Papaya recipes, such as Taiwanese papaya milk, are popular with Chinese people, as they're believed (erroneously) to help in the development of a buxom figure!

    Others

    Walnut Candy

    Holding up a big pieces of Chinese walnut candied with sesame seeds.

    If you like Cantonese Hup Toh Soh (Walnut cookies), you'll love this candied walnut!

    EASY Chinese Candied Walnuts (Baked)
    These Chinese Candied Walnuts are crunchy, sweet, salty, and delicious. Easy to make, they'll done in one step in UNDER 30 MINUTES. And, they'll save you a ton of money as they're so much cheaper than those outside. Plus, they're healthier as they're baked (traditionally, they're fried, but baked ones taste just as good!)
    Click here for the Chinese walnut candy recipe.
    A tray of homemade candied walnuts with sesame seeds.

    Tofu Pudding

    Chinese people love tofu, whether it's savory salted egg tofu, or silky soft tofu pudding (豆花 Dou Hua)

    It's actually a tofu jelly as you add a gelling agent like agar agar to soy bean milk to make tofu pudding, then serve it in a sweet soup such as brown sugar syrup!

    Bing Tang Hu Lu

    If you've ever watched a Chinese historical drama, you will have heard of this sweet and sour Chinese street snack, Bing Tang Hu Lu. Usually made of hawthorns, you will also need sugar, water and corn syrup (or golden syrup.)

    All in all, a very simple street food to recreate at home!

    Mango Pudding

    It can be hard to eat Chinese food if you have allergies, so here's a gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, paleo AND refined-sugar free dessert for you!

    Shanghainese Red Bean Pancake

    Also known as Wo Paeng, this crispy and delicious pancake is an old-school Dim Sum dessert that only uses 6-7 ingredients.

    When deep-frying the pancakes, remember not to overfill the pan, to ensure the oil temperature doesn't fall.

    Nut Brittle

    This sweet and crunchy snack is made of only 4 ingredients, including sesame seeds and peanuts. Personally, I love nut recipes, which is why Chinese peanut cookies were 1 of the 1st recipes on Greedygirlgourmet!

    Egg Tart

    Egg tarts are a popular dessert at Hong Kong Dim Sum restaurants. Try this recipe by someone who did a stint at an Asian culinary school!

    If you've enjoyed these Chinese traditional desserts, would you like to subscribe for my Chinese recipes' newsletter?

    I have other recipes you may like here! :)

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      Japanese Konjac Jelly with Fruits (Vegan) (GF)

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    2 Chinese New Year desserts, muah chee and tang yuan, with text in between.
    Greedygirlgourmet eating 2 sandwiches in Scotland

    Hi I'm Zhen also known as GGG! I couldn't boil water till I was 18! However, I love creating community and nurturing people, so when I lived abroad (in St. Andrews then London) for 11 years, I started hosting regular parties for friends, and that's how I started cooking and helping out in professional kitchens. (Couldn't cook before that!) I even organised a supper club for charity (which strangers came to!) Learning to cook late, I make sure my recipes go into enough detail for those new to Asian cuisine or who love a test kitchen approach to cooking!

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