Top 5 Must-eat Winter Desserts in Taiwan

In winter time, the rainy and chilly weather in Taiwan is quite unbearable for many people, but people always find ways to beat the cold, such as going to a hot spring. What else? Which way will you choose to get through this winter? Tell you secretly, having Taiwanese winter desserts is surely the best way to beat the chill in Taiwan.

Here, I am going to share the MUST-EAT desserts in Taiwan for you guys. Including traditional ones and modern ones, all of the winter desserts will absolutely make your mouth water and give you the courage to fight against the cold winds.

1. Tangyuan

I’d like to call it the cutest winter desserts as it looks white and tender just like a baby’s chubby face. Do you know that there are many different kinds of Tangyuan?

Traditional tangyuan, the most common one, is usually red or white and small in size. People like to eat it with red bean soup and purple rice porridge, but peanut soup is also recommended.

Bigger, filled tangyuan come with sweet or savory fillings. Sweet fillings are often made from peanut or sesame, while savory fillings are often made from meat and mushroom. They are often confused with “Yuanxiao”, the filled balls eaten at the Lantern Festival, but the two are made differently: tangyuan are wrapped by hand, with the dough folded around the filling, while yuanxiao are made by rolling cubes of filling in dry glutinous rice flour, layer by layer. But when you are having these winter desserts, make sure you don't eat too much or you might have a hard time getting back in shape.

Fried tangyuan, one of the most commonly seen winter desserts, is made by deep-frying tangyuan. Its outside is crispy and its inside is chewy. You can find it in many places, such as night markets.

In addition to the basic ones above, here is a special one for you: Ice Fire Tangyuan. With hot, sweet filled glutinous rice balls put right on shaved ice with flower honey, you can taste cold and hot in one bite. It sounds weird, right? But I have to tell you it’s an excellent dessert from the heaven!

2. Almond Drink

Almond drink, a traditional dessert, has a special flavor, thus some people love it, yet others dislike the taste. You know what? People are used to enjoying it with fried bread sticks, the same food you will eat in clay oven rolls. If you have never eaten it before, MyProGuide suggests you have a try in order to experience Taiwanese traditional food culture in chilly winter.

3. Ginger Soup

Ginger, a kind of condiment, is often added to some food especially in winter time because it tastes a little spicy and will make our bodies warm. It is said that it has many functions for our health such as activating blood circulation. So, ginger soup is definitely your great weapon to fight with freezing winter. If you don’t like the spicy flavor so much, don’t forget to put some sweet potatoes in it!

4. Toasted Mochi

If you love the taste of chewy Tangyuan, you will love this one as well. Toasted mochi is a dessert made from glutinous rice. Compared to tangyuan, it is palm-sized and more tender. It’s typically topped with peanut powder or sesame powder. You can find it at night markets such as Taipei’s Ningxia Night Market.

5. Hot Herbal Jelly

Herbal jelly is sold all year round, in summer and winter. You may have heard of herbal jelly, but have you tried “hot herbal jelly” (燒仙草)? It is quite different from the cold version. It is like thick sweet soup instead of something you can chew. People like to add some toppings into it such as taro balls, black tapioca balls, pearl barley and wheat flakes, etc. Having a cup of hot herbal jelly with lots of chewy ingredients is indeed a MUST every winter.

If you are still shivering in your bed, please step out of your house and find a hot dessert which MyProGuide has listed above. They can make the bitter winter sweet and less unbearable.

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