12 Lunar New Year Desserts Rooted in Chinese Culinary Traditions Celebrate the Spring Festival with Chinese sweets and treats. By Ashley Day Ashley Day Ashley Day is Food & Wine's associate editorial director. She's edited and directed food and travel content at USA TODAY, the Institute of Culinary Education, and Chef & Restaurant magazine, and contributed to The Food Institute, The Daily Meal, and the recipe app meez. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Published on February 10, 2026 Add Us On SAVE ALL RECIPES NEW! Save as a collection on MyRecipes Close Credit: Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen Curate a meal or party spread of lucky Lunar New Year food and round out the celebration with Chinese sweets and treats. Choose from traditional Chinese desserts — like almond cookies that can bring good fortune and sweet sticky rice with a lucky combination of eight candied or dried fruits — or variations on Chinese classics, like a baked version of nian gao, the usually steamed Chinese New Year cake. Savor black sesame and steamed pears with their medicinal powers, or make the TikTok favorite Tanghulu street food at home. You're destined for good fortune and flavor, whichever dessert you choose. Keep all of your recipes at your fingertips. With the MyRecipes app you can easily save and organize your favorites from anywhere, including Instagram and TikTok, in one convenient place. Get the free app. 01 of 12 Jian Dui (Sesame Balls) Two Ways Food & Wine / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Julia Bayless With their spherical shape and golden color, jian dui signify prosperity and are served for good luck at all kinds of Chinese celebrations, including Lunar New Year. Stick with tradition and fill the glutinous rice flour balls with red bean paste, or try Christine Lau's fun guava-cheese riff. Get the Recipe Save 02 of 12 Ba Bao Fan (Eight-Treasure Rice) Charissa Fay Though you can use any mix of dried and candied fruits to adorn this lightly sweet sticky rice, tradition calls for eight types. In Chinese, ba, the word for eight, sounds like fa, or prosperity, giving the dessert its lucky symbolism. Get the Recipe Save 03 of 12 Black Sesame Paste Charissa Fay / Food Styling by Nora Singley / Prop Styling by Maeve Sheridan Chef Zoey Xinyi Gong tops this classic Chinese dessert with textural bee pollen, sesame seeds, and osmanthus flower. Jujube dates add sweetness to the nutty black sesame that's widely used in traditional Chinese medicine food therapy. Get the Recipe Save 04 of 12 Chinese Almond Cookies Food & Wine / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Christina Daley Tins of buttery, slightly crunchy almond cookies are a Lunar New Year gifting tradition. The cookie shapes resemble coins and symbolize good fortune and prosperity. Get the Recipe Save 05 of 12 Yin-Yang Tang Yuan (Sweet Sticky Rice Balls in Soup) Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen A symbol of harmony and togetherness, these round rice balls stuffed with black sesame seeds are bathed in a soothing, rock sugar–sweetened Chinese dessert soup for an ideal Lunar New Year's treat. Get the Recipe Save 06 of 12 Hakka-Style Black Sesame Mochi Cakes Heami Lee / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christine Keely The Hakka people are a Chinese minority group living throughout the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, where these simple mochi balls dusted with peanut powder and black sesame powder are a popular confection. Get the Recipe Save 07 of 12 Steamed Pears with Sticky Rice Charissa Fay / Food Styling by Nora Singley / Prop Styling by Maeve Sheridan For this tender, lightly floral dessert, chef Zoey Xinyi Gong stuffs subtly sweet pears with chewy mung beans. Popular in Chinese cuisine, steamed desserts are light and easy for the body to digest, a benefit commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine food therapy. Get the Recipe Save 08 of 12 Tanghulu (Candied Fruit Skewers) Photo by Jacob Fox / Food Styling by Greg Luna / Prop Styling by Stephanie Hunter Re-create the Chinese street snack of sugar-coated fruit that's become a TikTok sensation. 2021 F&W Best New Chef Lucas Sin shares a simplified recipe that sticks to water, sugar, and a little bit of light corn syrup rather than candy thermometers, parchment paper, and ice baths. Get the Recipe Save 09 of 12 Green Tea Fortune Cookies © Con Poulos These large-scale fortune cookies from baker Joanne Chang are an invitation to write fun messages to tuck inside. It takes a little practice to fold the hot tuiles, but we can assure you they'll all be tasty even if the first few are less than perfect. Get the Recipe Save 10 of 12 Nian Gao © Evi Abeler Break from tradition and bake the typical Chinese New Year cake instead of steaming it. Evi Abeler makes a few more swaps, using butter instead of oil, white sugar rather than the usual brown, and including dairy milk and almond extract for a version with a similar texture and flavor profile. Most importantly, it's made in the same spirit of good luck and prosperity for the year to come. Get the Recipe Save 11 of 12 Coconut Tapioca Pudding with Mango and Lime © Christina Holmes Chunky, fresh mango with tangy lime is a great counterpoint to the creamy Cantonese-style tapioca pearl puddings here. Get the Recipe Save 12 of 12 Black Sesame Banana Cake Trifle Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely Celebrate Chinese flavors, like sesame seeds and sago (a starch from palm trees), in this black-and-white layered dessert from chef Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu’s in San Francisco. Get the Recipe Save Explore more: Food Holidays & Occasions Lunar New Year Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit