Your guide to Lunar New Year desserts

Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday of the year across much of Asia—a time to return home and reunite with family for a two-week celebration in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. As a Taiwanese-American kid growing up in Illinois, sometimes we celebrated at home with extended family and friends, wrapping spring rolls and eating steamed whole fish to represent abundance, as the Chinese word for fish (魚) is a homonym for surplus (餘).

Other years, we’d visit my grandparents in Taiwan. Lunar New Year was always more fun in Taiwan, where we’d receive red envelopes filled with money and haphazardly chase each other with sparklers. On the final day of celebrations, on the first full moon, we carried bright red lanterns through the streets for the Lantern Festival, and watched dragon dancers perform.

No matter where we celebrated, there was sure to be an epic feast, and with my sweet tooth, I always saved room for desserts, most of which are made with the same sticky glutinous rice foundation. Here are five of my favorite Lunar New Year desserts, and some travel-worthy spots to try them.

The inside scoop: These glutinous rice ball dumplings are usually boiled in water and eaten in a warm soup during the Lantern Festival. They symbolize wholeness and unity, since they are eaten together with the whole family.

How it's served: The rice balls are traditionally stuffed with a black sesame filling. If you want to get nitpicky, ask how the bakery or restaurant's filling is made. These days, many people just use black sesame paste for convenience—but my grandparents use roasted, freshly ground black sesame seeds mixed with pork lard. Trust me, it makes a difference. You can add a little sweet fermented rice (酒酿) to the soup as a tangy garnish, too.

Where to eat it: In San Francisco, sister restaurants Fang and House of Nanking serve traditional tang yuan in sweet ginger soup. They're also partnering with Smitten Ice Cream for a tang yuan-inspired ice cream, featuring a vanilla base swirled with sweet black sesame and covered with chewy mochi.

At Hunan Slurp in New York, ground pork tang yuan are served in a sweet red bean and dried orange peel soup for a sweet-and-savory twist on the traditional dessert dumpling. Chef-owner Chao Wang learned this unique recipe when visiting his grandmother in Hengyang in China's Hunan province.

The inside scoop: This sweet congee is studded with an abundance of treasured ingredients and represents prosperity in the coming year. It can be eaten as a dessert or breakfast throughout the new year.

How it's served: This congee is made with sweet sticky rice and any combination of dried fruits and nuts. Expect a combo of goji berries, longan, jujube, lotus seeds, snow fungus, red beans, mung beans, pine nuts, and peanuts.

Where to eat it: The Merchant in Hong Kong serves steamed and pan-fried versions of eight-treasure rice studded with osmanthus, pumpkin seeds, lotus seeds, dried yellow peaches and bean paste. You can even find canned versions (although nowhere near good as homemade!) at Asian supermarkets from brands like Taisun.

The inside scoop: The words for year (年) and sticky (黏) are homonyms and the word high (高) and cake (糕) are homonyms. This ostensibly simple treat is a Lunar New Year staple and represents improving your life each year—with each year getting 'higher' or better. According to folklore, sticky cakes were also bribes to the Kitchen God to keep him from speaking poorly about your family to the Jade Emperor.

How it's served: Traditionally, sticky rice cakes are flavored with just brown sugar, but there are colorful variations with pandan, red bean paste, and black sesame too. The cakes are steamed in bamboo steamers, and have a similar texture to fresh mochi. My grandparents would coat their cooled cakes lightly in egg wash and pan-fry them, which is my preferred way to enjoy them.

Where to eat it: Conrad Hong Kong makes a famous sticky rice cake with coconut milk, red dates, and brown sugar that's a longstanding favorite for its airy, bouncy texture. In Taiwan, Mandarin Oriental, Taipei, serves an osmanthus-infused rice cake with caramelized brown sugar at Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant Ya Ge.

The inside scoop: These fried sticky rice balls rolled in sesame seeds are ubiquitous in dim sum restaurants year-round, but they are considered especially lucky to eat during Lunar New Year because they double in size when you fry them, representing good luck, happiness, and prosperity.

How it's served: Glutinous rice flour and brown sugar syrup are used in the dough and the balls are often stuffed with sweet red bean paste, then rolled in sesame seeds and deep-fried, which creates a lightly crunchy, chewy shell. They're best fresh out of the fryer, with an intoxicating nutty aroma from the sesame seeds.

Where to eat it: Try the deep-fried sesame glutinous rice balls filled with yam paste and melon seeds at Raffles Singapore, available on both the a la carte and multi-course set menus at yì by Jereme Leung during Lunar New Year.

The inside scoop: Citrus fruits like mandarins and oranges are commonly given as gifts and eaten for Lunar New Year because they symbolize luck and prosperity for the coming year. The golden color and round shape are thought to be auspicious because they resemble gold coins.

How it's served: In Chinese culture, it is very common to simply eat fresh sliced seasonal fruit for dessert rather than cakes and puddings. Growing up, we always had fresh fruit for dessert, so clementines were like candy for me.

Where to eat it: Winter is citrus season, so you can find a variety of citrus fruits at the grocery store and make your own fruit platter. For citrusy sweets you can order to your door, try plant-based gelato brand Lavender and Truffles's yuzu vanilla flavor, reminiscent of orange creamsicle. Korean-American chocolatier Susanna Yoon offers a special Lunar New Year bonbon box at Stick With Me Sweets, including citrusy bonbons like yuzu and kalamansi meringue pie.