Yummy kiddy recipes to usher in the Year of the Monkey

Welcome the Lunar New Year of the Monkey with these delicious home-made treats you can easily whip up with your kids over the weekend!

Yummy kiddy recipes to usher in the Year of the Monkey

Do you have all your favourite festive tidbits and sweet treats ready for your family and friends to snack on when they come over to visit for the Lunar New Year celebrations?

Impress your guests with these incredibly cute and tasty Year of the Monkey themed recipes that are so easy and fun to make with your kids!

Auspicious Orange Monkey Bread

You will need: Oranges, frozen bread dough, 2 cups of sugar, 1 stick of salted butter, craisins (optional), Bundt pan.

What to do: While you thaw out the frozen bread dough, squeeze ½ cup of juice from the oranges and grate the skin to get some orange zest. Then mix the zest with the sugar. Melt the butter and add in the orange juice.

Cut up the bread dough into 1-inch pieces and dip it into the butter-juice mixture then coat it with the sugar-zest mixture and arrange it in the Bundt pan. If you want, you can add in the craisins, the drizzle some of the butter-juice mixture on top and bake it in the oven until the top is a lovely dark brown (but not burnt!).

If you think mixing Yu Sheng with your family is fun, then pulling apart this mouth-watering Auspicious Monkey Bread is going to be just as great!

Banana Pudding Cups

You will need: 3 boxes of instant vanilla pudding, 8 oz. sour cream, 5 cups of milk, 12 oz. Cool Whip, 1 box of vanilla wafers (optional), bananas.

What to do: Whisk the pudding mixture and milk together in a large bowl, then add in the sour cream and mix well. Next, add in the Cool Whip and mix well, then pour the mixture into small pudding cups and decorate it with the vanilla wafers or banana slices.

This light and tasty treat is best served chilled.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

You will need: 2 cups of creamy peanut butter, 3/4 cup (softened) salted butter, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract,3 ¾ cups of powdered sugar, 2 packs of chocolate candy coating or baking chocolate, toppings (rainbow sprinkles, chocolate rice, etc).

What to do: Mix the peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a large bowl first, then add in the powdered sugar a little bit at a time until the mixture holds together as one big ball.

Cover the bowl and let it chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes (until it’s a bit more firm) and then you can start shaping the mixture into small balls. Place the small balls onto a tray lined with parchment paper, cover it and let it chill in the fridge for another 15 minutes while you melt the chocolate to be used later.

Here’s the fun (and messy) part! Dip the chilled peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate one at a time and let it sit on a tray lined with wax paper to allow the excess chocolate to drip off, then add any toppings of your choice and chill it in the fridge before serving.

Frozen Banana Pops

You will need: Bananas, ice-lolly sticks, plain yoghurt, assortment of toppings such as toasted coconut flakes, crushed almonds, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate rice, oats, etc.

What to do: Cut the bananas in half and carefully insert the ice-lolly sticks then dip it in the yoghurt and roll it on a shallow dish of the toppings of your choice.

Place the prepared bananas on a tray lined with parchment paper and freeze it for at least 2 hours. This yummy frozen treat is best served straight from the freezer and is a perfect way to end a meal and your guests can cool down from the hot and humid weather.

Lucky Peanut Brittle

You will need: 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of corn syrup, 1/8 tsp of salt, 1 ½ cups of unsalted peanuts, 1 tbsp of butter, 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of baking soda.

What to do: In a large pot, mix in the sugar, corn syrup and salt over medium heat and once everything has dissolved well, stir in the peanuts until they are light brown. Next, add in the butter, vanilla and baking soda and mix well.

Then spread the mixture on a baking tray lined with wax paper and once it has cooled down, break it up into small pieces and enjoy this crunchy yummy treat with all your friends.

Happy Monkey Cupcakes

You will need: 2/3 cup of (softened) butter, 3/4 cup of white sugar, 3 eggs, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla 1 ¾ cup of all-purpose flour, 1/4 tsp. of salt, 2 tsp. of baking powder, Nutella, muffin tray, cupcake liners, toothpicks, vanilla cookies (or mini Nilla wafers), candy eyeballs, black gel icing.

What to do: Whisk sugar and butter together in a large mixing bowl until it’s light and creamy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Next add in the flour, baking powder, salt and mix until it is a smooth batter. Stir in the vanilla.

Line the muffin tray with the cupcake liners and scoop in the batter until it is ¾ full, then top it off with a heaped spoon of Nutella. Using a toothpick, swirl the Nutella and batter together and arrange the vanilla cookies (or mini Nilla wafers) on top to make the outline of a monkey face, then bake it in the oven.

Once the cupcakes are done and have cooled down, add the candy eyeballs onto the vanilla cookies and draw on the other features using the black icing gel. These adorable Happy Monkey Cupcakes will definitely put a smile on the faces of your little ones and all the other guests as well!

Banana Money Bags

You will need: Wantan skin, over-ripe bananas, water, coconut oil (or any cooking oil), condensed milk.

What to do: Cut up the bananas into thick slices and wrap it up in the wantan skin, using a small dab of water to seal it shut. Fry the Banana Money Bags in a large pan with the coconut oil (or any other cooking oil) and let the excess oil drain before serving it to your guests.

This hot treat is absolutely delightful if you dip it in some condensed milk and will be gone before you can even say, "Huat ah!".

Golden Banana in Syrup

You will need: 50g of sugar, 1 or 2 pandan leaves, 1/3 tsp. of salt, 200ml of water, bananas, 50ml of coconut milk.

What to do: In a large pot, boil the sugar, water, and pandan leaves together. Once the mixture starts to caramelise, remove the pandan leaves and add in the bananas to let them boil until tender.

In another pot, warm the coconut milk and salt together on low heat and stir until the salt dissolves – but do not let it boil! Serve the bananas with some of the sugar syrup spooned on top over some warm coconut milk.

This is a fantastic Thai dessert that your older relatives would enjoy, but is also a great sweet treat for the little ones too.

Chunky Monkey Brownies Bites

You will need: 2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour (bleached flour makes baked goods a little tough), ½ cup of brown sugar, packed, ½ cup white sugar, 2 sticks of (softened) unsalted butter, 2 large eggs, ¼ tsp of salt, 2 tsp. vanilla, ½ cup banana, mashed with a fork, semi-sweet chocolate baking melts, ¼ cup chocolate chips or walnuts (or any other nuts of your choice).

What to do: Mix butter, eggs, both kinds of sugars, salt and vanilla with an electric mixer until well mixed. Add in the flour, mashed banana and baking melts (or chocolate chips) then stir well with a wooden spoon and pour the brownie mixture into non-stick baking pan.

Smooth out the top by using a knife or rubber spatula and sprinkle some chocolate chips or walnuts (or any other nuts of your choice) on top, then bake it at 350° for 30 - 40 minutes. Let it cool down completely before cutting into small delicious bites and serve it on individual pretty cupcake casings.

Monkey Crunchy Munch

You will need: Dried banana chips, salted peanuts or walnuts (or any other nuts of your choice), mini pretzels, Quaker Life cereal (any flavour of your choice), toasted almond slivers, raisins, peanut butter chips.

What to do: In a large bowl, add in all your ingredients and mix – that’s it! This is probably the most easiest "recipe" of all.

At every reunion dinner, there’s bound to be some uncles gathering in a corner, bonding over a few beers. So here’s a yummy snack to go along with their drinks – or it’s great on its own while watching TV too!

Which yummy recipe will you be trying with your kids over the weekend? Do you have any other great simple recipes to share with us? Leave your comment below!

Written by

Dew M. Chaiyanara

yummy kids recipe