What Types of Desserts Can’t Absolutely Be Missing From Your Lunar New Year’s Tables for Good Luck?

From January 29th we say goodbye to the year of the Dragon and welcome the year of the Snake. We are obviously talking about the astrological signs associated with the Chinese or Lunar New Year, which in 2025 will be celebrated from the eve of January 29th until the 16th of February, the day of the Lantern Festival, which marks the end of what in China is better known as the Spring Festival. A very heartfelt moment that coincides with holidays, homecomings and reunions between relatives and friends in front of good food, usually in a propitiatory way, including desserts. In China, a country where the celebration has become popular in the rest of the world thanks to its numerous communities spread across different cities around the globe, during these two weeks delicious auspicious desserts will be brought to the table. From the inevitable nian gāo, also known as Cake of the Year, to jiān duī, “sesame balls”, let's discover 10 lucky desserts for the Chinese New Year.

1. Nian Gāo – Cake of the Year

A must-have for Chinese New Year is nian gāo, a cake with a pudding-like consistency, similar to Japanese mochi, made with a glutinous rice base and enriched with different ingredients depending on the region of origin, so much so that there is not just one version: usually round and small, it can be found with caramel, coconut milk, with red beans, dates or dried apricots. It can also be cut into rectangles and fried. What the different recipes have in common is the thickness of the cake, which must be “high”, as the term “gāo” (which means “cake”) has the same sound as the word “high”. This fills the cake with meaning: by bringing it to the table, one wishes for a year “higher” than the previous one, therefore better.

2. Fa Gāo – Fortune Cake

Fa gāo is another typical dessert of this holiday, but it is also found at wedding banquets and anniversaries. They are soft pastries similar to muffins that bring not only luck, but also wealth, hence also known as “prosperity cake”. Their preparation itself becomes part of the ritual: after the dough (made with rice hydrated with water and blended, flour and yeast) has doubled in volume, it is transferred into single-portion molds that are steamed covered. Once ready, the lid is removed and it is seen whether they have further swelled and split on the top, with a shape that resembles that of a flower that is blooming. If the answer is yes, it is a sign of good luck: the more the fa gāo have grown, the luckier they will be.

3. Ba Bao Fan – Eight Treasure Rice

Numbers are important in China: for this reason, ba bao fan, also called eight treasures rice, is a dessert particularly linked to superstitions. In fact, 8 is the lucky number that represents this sticky pudding made with glutinous rice and enriched with other different ingredients depending on local and family recipes. To complete it, there can be pumpkin or lotus seeds, dates, goji berries, red bean paste, dried and candied fruit, as long as there are eight of them, not one less and not one more.

4. Ai Wo-Wo – Steamed Rice Cakes With Filling

These are steamed rice cakes with a sweet filling: their appearance and texture are more reminiscent of round Chinese dumplings made with glutinous rice that are filled with sesame, jujube or red beans and dried fruit, from peanuts to walnuts. They are easily recognizable by their pure white color and texture that resembles a snowball. They are very popular desserts in Beijing, which are sold from the Lunar New Year until the end of summer.

5. Lo Bak Go – Chinese Turnip Cake

Roots are widely used in Chinese cuisine. Typical of this holiday is turnip cake, a dim sum (heart-warming) dish that comes from Southern China and is made with daikon. It is a savory recipe, but it is eaten as a dessert with tea or for breakfast. In this case too, the star is glutinous rice, which acts as a glue for the grated daikon. It can be basic like this, or seasoned in a pan with dried shrimp or scallops, Chinese sausage, spring onion: it is left to settle in the fridge and then cut into slices and fried, so that a tasty crust forms.

6. Jian Dui – Sesame Balls

Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside: these dim sum sesame balls are as irresistible as cherries and are brought to the table at the end of the meal. They are prepared with a dough of glutinous rice flour that is first shaped into a sphere in which a cavity is created: inside it is used to put lotus paste in the most classic recipe, or a paste of red or black beans. At this point it is closed into a meatball and passed in white sesame seeds. It is fried by immersing in boiling seed oil (usually peanut). They are left to cool for a few minutes and the sesame balls are ready to be served with tea.

7. Zǎo Huā Gāo – Jujube Flower Cake

Jujube Flower Cakes are undoubtedly striking for their romantic flower-shaped appearance. These beautiful little cakes have jujubes as their main ingredient, fruits that when ripe appear soft and brown, very similar to dates, so much so that they are also called Chinese dates. Each petal can contain a whole jujube, or thick and viscous jam. They are baked and eaten completely cooled. They are given as lucky charms, so that wishes come true.

8. Xìng Rén Bǐng – Chinese Almond Biscuits

If you want to make cookies for New Year's Eve, it is better not to try the lucky ones, because they are not Chinese, in reality. Better to focus on xìng rén bǐng, or Chinese almond cookies. These are fragrant biscuits made with a mix of almond flour and all-purpose flour, sugar, butter, egg yolk that have as their main feature an almond set on the surface, a symbol of good luck.

9. Dan Tat – Hong Kong Egg Tarts

Crispy shell and egg custard heart: this is the winning combination of these egg tarts, which are very reminiscent of the iconic Portuguese pasteis de nata. Known by the Chinese name of dan tat, they are fragrant and delicious tarts typical of Hong Kong: it is here, in fact, that you can taste the original ones, which arrived around the 1920s and were particularly loved by the English, who compared them to their beloved custard tart. Now they are found in all the bakeries and are the dessert par excellence of the Chinese New Year.

10- Tangyuan – Rice Balls

They are usually eaten during the Lantern Festival, the last day of the Chinese New Year and differ mainly between Northern and Southern China. In fact, they can be boiled, steamed and even fried, with or without filling: the latter comes in many variations, with sesame, jujube, peanut butter or even salted, with meat and vegetables. The most common are under the sign of simplicity: served in hot water filled with a cream of toasted black sesame seeds, blended and mixed with sugar and butter. They represent the union of the family.