various chinese new year cookies

February 14, 2010 is not just Valentine’s Day but also Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. For the Chinese all the world over, the New Year is the time to sweep out the “old” and usher in the “new”. As typical of any Chinese event, the celebration of New Year is marked by a lot of food and desserts. Part one of this series focused on traditional Chinese New Year main dishes. For part two, focus will be on desserts – cakes, cookies and fruits.

Oranges and tangerines are “must” fruits on Chinese New Year. The round fruits are said to bring luck and wealth. The tradition is rooted on the fact that the Chinese words for gold and orange sound alike. The Chinese word for tangerine sounds like “luck” too. Most traditional Chinese bring presents of oranges and tangerine when visiting friends and family on New Year. It’s important that the number of fruits be even but make sure it is not divisible by four as four is the number of death. Pomelo is a popular Chinese New Year fruit too as it signifies “continuous prosperity and status.” As with almost all traditional New Year food the Chinese word for the fruit sounds like “prosperity” and “status”.

Nian Gao is a traditional Chinese sticky cake that is offered to the Chinese Kitchen God for favors when he returns to heaven before the start of the New Year season.  Cakes are symbols of a rich life and family togetherness in Chinese culture. Nian Gao is a type of food made of glutinous rice pounded into a paste and moulded into shape. There is a picture of Nian Gao at part one of this series.

Jin Dui (Sesame Balls)

Another popular dessert is the sesame seed balls or jin dui. This dessert is staples in most dimsum houses but on New Year’s Day, this delicious dessert takes on a special meaning. The dessert is round and golden and therefore considered very lucky by the Chinese.  The dessert is made of dough that virtually swells when fried. This is a metaphoric for Chinese in the line of a small business venture growing to bring returns many times over.  The sweet dough is typically filled with sweet red bean paste and are quite savory.

kue lapis - tedious to bake, delicious to eat

Various cookies and snacks such as pineapple tarts, love letter (egg roll), kue lapis and kue bangkit are typically presented to guests who come visiting. Kue bangkit is a coconut milk-based cookie, sometime flavored with pandan. This delicacy is said to “melt” in the mouth.

Kue lapis is layers of thin sponge cake made of butter, eggs and sugar carefully baked per layer to perfection. There are many layers and each has to be baked separately so it is very tedious to bake. Many families would just purchase ready made one from bakery.

A round tray filled with fruit preserves and melon seeds is a must on the dining table for it will bring luck and prosperity in the new year. There is also a tradition in Chinese homes to serve a round platter filled with candies during the New Year.  The candies represent “sweet” while the round tray or platter represents “togetherness”.

If you don’t feel like sweating it out in the kitchen mixing and baking those yummy treats, just drop by the nearest modern bakery and have your fill of modern chinese new year snacks such as seaweed cookies.

There are so many types of desserts, cakes and cookies for Chinese new year, be it traditional or modern kind that it is impossible to describe all in this post. Which is your favorite? Has it been mentioned in this post?

Chinese culture is steeped with traditions and superstitions. On the New Year here are some traditions that may well pave the way (or not!)  on your road to prosperity. Don’t sweep the floor. Don’t wash your hair. Don’t drop your chopsticks. Don’t say the number four. Don’t borrow or lend money. Most of all greet everyone (except those in mourning) Gong Xi Fa Cai!