These dessert balls are made with a peanut butter filling surrounded by glutinous rice flour. A traditional dish usually brought out to celebrate the Chinese Lantern Festival and the end of Chinese New Year. Note the round shape, helping enforce their symbolic meaning of family reunions and togetherness.

The Dough

It is relatively easy to make using two main ingredients of glutinous rice flour, though you may see it called “sweet rice flour,” and warm water. Optional ingredients are to change the color. Beetroot juice for a pinkish hue, and matcha powder for green are used.

The Filling

There are a multitude of choices for filling but the most tradition are peanut, black sesame paste or red bean paste. Some modern fillings can include chocolate, fruit or taro (so stay tuned for a follow up recipe using my Filipino heritage. – hint: it includes an influence by our traditional Bilo Bilo recipe). It can also be eaten plain, meaning no filling at all. But in this recipe we decided to go the peanut butter route. Now there are a few options. You can take regular peanuts, chop them up and roast them until fragrant and toasty brown. Then add some peanut butter and a preferred oil like coconut or butter. Or you can use a store bought peanut butter (either smooth or crunchy). If you are using a smooth peanut butter you can add some crunch and flavor by adding about a tablespoon of roasted sesame seeds to the filling. We choose a simpler filling of extra crunchy peanut butter.

The Sauce

Again this is optional with a multitude of different flavors. Ours includes a ginger simple syrup, or it can be served in plain warm water as these balls are fairly sweet in itself.