18 Asian Dessert Recipes That'll Take You From Istanbul to Tokyo

Halo-halo is a traditional Filipino shaved ice dessert that's topped with a rainbow of delicious ingredients. The beauty of halo-halo is how easy it is to assemble. You'll start by arranging the shaved ice in bowls or a tall glass, then go crazy with the toppings, from kaong (sugar palm fruit in syrup) to sweet chickpeas to ube ice cream. Keep the whole meal Filipinio-inspired and serve this after sinigang (a tamarind-spiked one-pot stew), pork adobo, or pancit bihon (noodles with pork).

Get the Halo-Halo recipe.

Ma’amoul cookies are a type of Middle Eastern butter cookie that is usually filled with a variety of dried fruits or nuts. Made with semolina flour, the shortbread-like exterior has a slight crunch to it, giving way to a softer filling. While these are especially popular during the holidays, they can be enjoyed all year round. Once baked, they’re dusted with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, adding an extra layer of sweetness to every mildly spiced bite.

Get the Ma'amoul recipe.

Rice...for dessert! A sweet or glutinous rice is used in this traditional Southeast Asian dessert that turns sticky and slightly sweet after being coated in a warm coconut sauce. This is a great dessert to make ahead of time as it's good cold, room temperature, or warm!

Get the Mango Sticky Rice recipe.

Castella cake, simply referred to as castella, is an impossibly airy and light Japanese sponge cake flavored with honey. It’s humble—never decorated, always loaf-shaped—and so simple. It uses just six ingredients: bread flour, eggs, sugar, honey, and a dash of milk with a pinch of salt.

Get the Castella Cake recipe.

Mochi is a sweet, chewy rice treat that hails from Japan. Serve these small, sweet cakes with a matcha hot chocolate or simply green tea. Use your leftover glutinous rice flour to make tang yuan, Chinese glutinous rice balls served for Lunar New Year that are similar to mochi (and are delicious year-round).

Get the Mochi recipe.

Like a cross between a milkshake and a smoothie, mango lassi is a simple pleasure: All you need is about equal amounts of sweet mangoes and creamy full-fat yogurt, a little ice, and a high-powered blender to force the two ingredients into one drinkable treat.

Get the Mango Lassi recipe.

Tahini cookies are kind of like a more grown-up version of your favorite peanut butter cookie and so much better. They are soft with a slight chew, and sesame seeds on the outside add a slight crunch. The flavor is spot-on and will make you start using tahini in all of your baking projects (like in this easy halva).

Get the Tahini Cookies recipe.

Mooncakes are popular, (often) sweet treats consumed during the mid-autumn festival in Chinese culture to celebrate the harvest season. Many fillings for mooncakes exist, though most tend to be sweet pastes made of either red bean, lotus seed, black sesame, or a mixture of fruits and nuts.

Get the Homemade Mooncakes recipe.

Bowls of congee in Beijing are often served with a donut called 油條 (youtiao). Literally meaning “oil stick,” youtiao are consumed hot and fresh from the morning vendor’s drum of frying oil, the softly crunchy exterior giving way to a tender but slightly chewy crumb with large air pockets—perfect for dipping into a bowl of warm congee.

Get the Congee with Youtiao (Chinese Donuts) recipe.

Halva is a Middle Eastern treat made from tahini that's similar to fudge, but with a unique, irresistible texture. Many different flavors of halva exist, and most anything can be stirred into the tahini mixture for fun different variations. Our favorite? Brewed coffee for a creamy treat perfect with an afternoon latte.

Get the Easy Halva recipe.

Coconut burfi is an Indian mithai (sweet) made from shredded coconut and sweetened condensed milk with a touch of cardamom that makes this sweet even more magical. Boxes and boxes of coconut burfi are given out during Diwali so that everyone can celebrate the new year with a sweet moment. If you’re a fan of the inside of a Mounds Bar, you’ll love these coconut burfi bars!

Get the Coconut Burfi Brownie Bites recipe.

Squid Game is an incredible (if not kind of terrifying) show that has many iconic moments. Perhaps one of the most iconic is in episode 2, when the contestants struggle to cut out shapes made in the honeycomb-esque candy known as dalgona. What some folks may not know is this is a Korean treat that's eaten all the time and is super-simple to make at home.

Get the "Squid Game" Dalgona Candy recipe.

Sinh tố bơ is a go-to hot weather treat in Vietnam. This delicious, velvety, pale-green milkshake will have you cooled down in no time. Condensed milk is used to heighten the naturally sweet and nutty flavors of ripe avocado. If that hasn’t convinced you to try it, the English translation of sinh tố bơ is “butter fruit smoothie.” SIGN US UP!

Get the Sinh Tố Bơ recipe.

Penda, or peda, is a super-popular mitai (sweet) in Indian households during Diwali. It’s a milky fudge-like confection that is traditionally made with khoya, which is made by cooking down whole milk until all of the liquid has evaporated and you’re left with just the solid milk fat.

Get the Peda (Milk Fudge) recipe.

Usually eaten on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, known as the Lantern Festival, tang yuan (湯圓) is a sweet treat that symbolizes familial unity and togetherness. It's not reserved for just the holidays, though, because it's simply too delicious to eat only a couple of times a year. Our favorite fillings are sweet black sesame and ground peanuts, but you could even stuff these with Nutella!

Get the Tang Yuan: Glutinous Rice Balls recipe.

If you mention kulfi to any South Asian person, their eyes light up with joy and happy memories. Kulfi is a South Asian ice cream made by boiling full-fat milk down until it’s thick and creamy. It's traditionally flavored with nuts and spices like cardamom or saffron. Kulfi is a bit denser than ice cream, and might be creamy and richer due to all that condensed milkfat! It’s surprisingly simple to make, but it does require some time, but we promise you it’s totally worth it!

Get the Cardamom Pistachio Kulfi (Pista Kulfi) recipe.

We love how light this matcha cake and its accompanying frosting are; it really helps the natural flavors of matcha shine through. Make sure your heavy cream is cold before you whip it—the colder it is, the easier it will be to whip up and it'll hold its shape better while frosting.

Get the Matcha Cake recipe.

Is it really possible to turn the world's smelliest fruit, durian, into a luscious creamy no-bake pie? We think so! Despite the smell of this infamous Southeast Asian fruit, durian naturally has a custardy, almost cheesecake-like texture that makes it perfect for filling a pie.

Get the Durian Pie recipe.