Lunar New Year 2014 Recipes: Easy Asian Desserts to Celebrate the Spring Festival
Planning to celebrate the Chinese New Year? Check out these easy, mouthwatering dessert recipes that are sure to please everyone's taste buds - Chinese or not.
Fortune Cookies Recipe
These light almond cookies actually originated in the United States; fortune cookies are actually unheard of in China. 123chinesenewyear.com says that places that serve them in China call them "Genuine American Fortune Cookies."
Babycakes291 of AllRecipes.com shares her very own Fortune Cookie recipe which she guarantees to yield cookies that taste just like the ones in Chinese restaurants. The full recipe can be obtained at AllRecipes.com but as an overview, the recipe calls for:
3 egg whites
¾ cup white sugar
½ cup butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
Sesame Seed Balls Recipe
Those perfect round balls in Chinese restaurants might look easy to make but Rhoda Parkinson of All About Chinese Food swears that the Chinese New Year dessert favorite is one that requires skill. "The problem comes during deep-frying - the sesame seed balls need to be turned continually to expand. It takes practice to skillfully maneuver the balls in the hot oil," she says.
Nevertheless, below are the ingredients for Sesame Seed Balls. View the full recipe at About.com.
6 cups oil for deep-frying
1/2 cup white sesame seeds
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 - 1 1/3 cups boiling water
3 cups glutinous rice flour
1 cup red bean paste
Sticky Cake Recipe
Last but not the least is Sticky Cake - a food offering to the Kitchen God. In modern times, Sticky Cake is said to be prepared to ensure that the family stays together, much like the cake. But according to Parkinson, this Chinese New Year dessert is actually a food offering to the Kitchen God to ensure a favorable report to the Jade Emperor.
Sticky Cake is traditionally steamed though it can also be baked. The ingredients needed are:
3 1/4 cups (1 400 gram bag) glutinous rice flour
2/3 cup brown sugar or 2 slabs (about 5 ounces) Chinese brown candy (pian tang in Mandarin; peen tong in Cantonese)
7 ounces boiling water
1/2 cup Chinese dates, softened in water, cut in half, pits removed, or 1/2 cup other dried fruit or 1/4 cup dates and 1/4 cup nuts
1 tablespoon milk
Water, as needed
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or nonstick cooking spray
To get the whole recipe, visit About.com.
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