
LC Fortune Telling Note
One word of palmistry from the author about making—or more specifically, shaping—these fortune cookies. They’re more than a smidge easier to handle if you solicit help. And by help, we mean an assembly line of friends. Lots of them so you can fold and bend the fortune cookies during the critical still-warm moments. Seems like the fortune, “You will have more friends in your life” is about to come true. See how simple that was?
Change Your Fortune Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 375° F (190°C). Line 2 baking sheets with a silicone nonstick baking mat or parchment paper. If using parchment, lightly coat the paper with nonstick cooking spray or butter. Have a couple of muffin tins at the ready.
Write fortunes on long strips of sturdy paper. (The paper can be fancy or plain, it matters little. Best stick with strips that are 3 1/2 to 4 inches long and no more than 1/2 inch or so wide.)
Stir together the butter, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.
Beat the egg whites and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low, add about half of the flour, and beat just until combined. Switch to a spatula and gently fold in the butter mixture. Add the remaining flour and fold just until combined.
Drop 1 tablespoon of the batter onto the baking sheet and use the back of a spoon to spread the batter evenly and very thinly into a 3 1/2-inch circle. Repeat to make 3 or 4 cookies on each baking sheet.
Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until the fortune cookies just barely begin to brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 30 seconds and then, working quickly, transfer the cookies from the baking sheet and place them on a clean dish towel. Place a fortune just above the center of each cookie and fold the cookie in half, pinching the top of the curved portion to seal. Gently bend the ends of the fortune cookie together to form a fortune cookie shape. (Fold the cookie over a chopstick, if you have one, to help create the bend in the center.) Place the cookie in the muffin tin, bended side down, to help it retain its shape while it cools. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Hurry!)
Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl or measuring cup. Dip half of each fortune cookie in the melted chocolate. If desired, sprinkle with chopped peanuts or candied sprinkles or anything else that you believe will help to ensure a sweet fortune.
Recipe Testers' Tips
This recipe was quick, easy, and a lot of fun. The kids had a blast writing funny fortunes. They also got into the folding of the cookies right out of the oven after I made the first batch. A couple of observations: The cookies didn’t fold into a traditional fortune cookie shape very easily for me. The dough was more like crepe dough, and it tore slightly when folded. Despite the odd shapes of some of my finished cookies, the flavor was delicious, and they were quickly snatched up around our house. I can’t think of too many other recipes that have this much family involvement. I’d definitely make them again.
Fortune cookies at a party? When was the last time you had these—and fresh ones, to boot? Fantastically spicy and easy to make, these cookies turned out perfectly ruffled and crisp as long as a few steps were followed: 1) Make these cookies thin—even if the batter looks too thin, it will heat up and spread to form the discs you’ll bend later. Make them too thick, and you’ll get a cookie that’ll be difficult to bend. 2) Watch the thin discs in the oven. Don’t let the edges brown more than a couple of millimeters, otherwise you’ll overbake them. 3) Put the fortune in just before bending the cookie (which means, have them ready to go just before you take the cookies out of the oven). The cookie may break if you try to thread the fortunes in after they’ve cooled. And, make use of the muffin tin suggestion: fold them and place them fold-side down, and they’ll cool in the perfect shape.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
So glad to have found these, not sure why I hadn’t thought of homemade fortune cookies before now! They’ll be for work and I’m thinking of some hilarious fortunes. LOL.
Tell us some of the fortunes!
Thanks for sharing this great recipe! I also run a food blog and will be featuring your recipe this afternoon.