Celebrate Lunar New Year with Danielle Chang's baked nian gao

The Lunar New Year officially begins Wednesday, but that doesn't mean you can't start celebrating a little early, especially in a sweet way.

Danielle Chang, cultural expert and host of PBS' "Lucky Chow," recently dropped by "GMA3" to share how to make nian gao rice cakes to help commemorate the special occasion.

Baked Nian Gao

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup raw sugar
2 sticks salted butter (melted)
2.5 cups whole milk (can sub for coconut milk, if desired)
1 16 oz. package of glutinous rice flour
1 cup red bean paste
8 large pitted Chinese dates (rehydrated)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 x 9 baking dish with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients:
Whisk eggs to break yolks. Slowly pour in sugar and butter, while whisking. Slowly add in milk and rice flour to the mix, still whisking.
Add teaspoon size dollops of red bean paste evenly across the mochi (so that each bite gets some red bean when cut into.
Add in red dates, or top the cake with them.
Bake for one hour, or until edges are browned (like a brownie) and a fork inserted into the pan comes out clean.
Let the mochi rest for one hour before cutting into them. Serve in bite sized squares, roughly 2" x 2".
Best eaten right away, but can be kept on the countertop for a couple of days, or refrigerated and frozen and then reheated by pan-frying.