Ooo... Chinese New Year, the time of year when I go back to Malacca and gorge on all manner of delicious things and cookies. There are many, many kinds of cookies that make their yearly appearance in a Chinese household but since I can choose only five, here are my essential, fantastic 5 CNY cookies.

Kuih Bakul

The nien kao or kuih bakul makes an appearance once a year during Chinese New Year. It’s made from sugar and glutinous rice flour, poured into round tins of various sizes lined with banana leaves. Usually it’s steamed for at least 12hours to achieve a dark golden look.

Making nien kao is a big occasion for grandma and me. First, grandma gets the best quality glutinous rice, ready washed and have it milled. Once milled, she puts it into a cotton gunnysack and then leaves it to hang overnight so all the water drips out. Now comes the fun part. We use our bare hands to mix the soft rice dough with sugar in a big pail. We fold it and squeeze it until we get a runny consistency. By this time you can use a ladle to scoop it up.

There are many taboos in making this sweet cake. If a family is in mourning, they can’t make it. In mine, we light a joss stick at the start of the steaming and only after the third stick has burnt out can we lift the steamer cover to take a peep. Kuih bakul is essential in Taoist Chinese households where it is offered to the Kitchen god just days before the lunar new year. During this period, the Kitchen god leaves the home and goes back to heaven to make an annual report on the household he lives in. According to folklore, offering the sweet and sticky nien kao to the Kitchen god will sweeten his tongue when he makes his report about the family.

The best way to eat nien kao is to sandwich it between yam and sweet potato slices, and then deep fry it in batter. It can also be steamed with coconut shavings. I liked mine fresh out of the steamer, cooled down but yet to set. It is absolutely gooey and it can be pretty messy when eating but who cares?

Kuih Bangkit

Before melting moments made its way into our homes, there is kuih bangkit that melts in your mouth and makes you long for another… and another. This is made with tapioca flour, coconut milk, sugar and eggs. Kuih bangkit is traditionally baked over charcoal fire. The white cookie usually spots a red dot at the center.

I remember making kuih bangkit with grandma using a round electric oven. My task is to look into the oven through its glass top regularly to make sure the cookie is just about the right colour. Once that is done, I have the honour of putting the red dot in the middle of the cookie with a toothpick. Grandma stopped making kuih bangkit many years ago and we have to buy ours nowadays but none of them can beat the ones she used to makes.

Kuih Kapit or Kuih Gulung (Love Letters)

The northerners call this kuih kapit, as theirs come folded like a fan while southerners know it as kuih gulung since it is rolled up like a cigar. However, love letters gives this humble delicacy a more romantic twist. Love letters are made with rice flour, flour, sugar, coconut milk and eggs. The slightly runny batter is poured over its mould and baked over charcoal fire. Once ready, it is quickly turned out and folded or rolled accordingly. Sweet and crispy, it is very addictive. As a kid growing up, I like to hold it like a cigar while eating it.

This kuih is another big project for the family. It usually takes half a day to make a few large tins with my aunts and grandma taking turns at the charcoal stove (just like those satay sellers use). As making love letters would entail long hours near the hot stove (because we would have to make enough to fill at least a dozen big Milo tins), there is always a big pot of Chinese herbal tea on standby to ensure that the cookies makers are sufficiently ‘cooled’.

In recent years, love letters makers have added new twists to this CNY favourite by adding flavours such as pandan and sesame seeds but I still like mine traditional and made with love.

"The essence of a good tart is sweet jam and buttery melt-in-the-mouth pastry. "

Kuih Ros

Some call this beehive while others know it as kuih ros. This is made with rice flour, flour, coconut milk, sugar and egg. The batter is fried using a rose-like mould.

The brass mould is heated in hot oil and then dipped into the batter before quickly returned into the hot oil. The mould is then gently shaken to dislodge the batter and fried till golden brown. It takes a lot of practice and skill to shake out a perfectly shaped rose. Till this day, I still have yet to turn out perfect-looking ones like my aunts’

A newer version has sesame seeds added to the batter for extra aroma. Although slightly oily, kuih ros is also very addictive. Sweet and crispy, it can be found in almost every home during the New Year.

Pineapple Tarts

For us southerners only the open-faced pineapple tarts that the Malacca Nyonyas make will qualify as the real thing. As pineapple symbolizes prosperity, ong lai (pineapple) in Hokkien is translated to mean prosperity has come. Nothing signals New Year quite as eloquently as the sight of dazzling golden tarts in a jar. The open-faced version is topped with pineapple jam while the commonly found rolled version (tart gulung) has the jam encased in the pastry.

A true blue Nyonya will make the jam from scratch. This entails a painstaking process of manually grating the pineapple, then cooking it in a brass wok which will lend a golden hue to the jam. Well-cooked jam can be kept for many months and makes a good sandwich spread too.

Growing up, I like following Mum to the Bibik’s house opposite ours to put in and pick up orders. The Bibik may be a tab bit fierce but she would always hand me a piece of tart to munch while she and Mum chat. I remember it used to cost just about 15sen per piece but now the price is many times over. The essence of a good tart is the sweet jam and the buttery melt in the mouth pastry.

Where to find them – as Chinese New Year is just round the corner, these delicacies are available in most markets, night markets or from ladies in your neighbourhood. However, sometimes the best can only be found from word of mouth.

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