These Fortune Cookies are loads of fun, and they actually taste amazing too.
We have a New Year’s Eve tradition in our house – board game night. There is even a trophy (it looks very similar to this one from Friends – troll doll and everything). Katie has been victorious for the past two years, but I am convinced I am going to make a triumphant comeback this evening and finally get my name on that cup.
Instead of swatting up on how to finally beat Katie at Cluedo, I’ve actually spent today in the kitchen creating some yummy recipes to share with you all in January. I also whipped up a batch of these crispy fortune cookies to bring a little more fun to tonight’s New Year’s proceedings.
Fortune cookies aren’t actually all that common in the UK. I first experienced these little fellas when I was in San Francisco – my guide book told me to head to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, and so I did. That place was the tiniest, weirdest looking shop I’d ever set foot in, but I got what I came for. I can’t tell you if they were indeed the ‘best fortune cookies in the world’, but they did let me know that I’d be coming into some money soon. Apparently my next stop, Las Vegas, had other ideas.
I know that fortune cookies are traditionally filled with those silly predictions of wealth and happiness, but as it is the start of a brand new year I figured that something more seasonal was in order. You can download the New Year’s Questions I created for my fortune cookies to use if you decide to make your own next year.
As you can see, there are a few burnt slightly overcooked ones in my photos – you need to keep a close eye on your cookies whilst they are baking, as they will go from pale to brown in an instant. This isn’t the sort of baking where you can leave them in the oven whilst you spend half an hour on Pinterest… They need your attention!
As they can only realistically be baked in batches of up to four, it does mean that making fortune cookies is a bit of a long process. Make sure you set aside a good couple of hours if you want to give these a go, or maybe make a smaller batch by reducing the ingredients accordingly. The recipe below makes roughly twenty six cookies.
- 125g [½ cup] unsalted butter
- 3 egg whites
- 170g [¾ cup] caster or superfine sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 125g [1 cup] plain or all-purpose flour
- 3-5 tablespoons water
- 26 paper fortunes (see link in text above for the New Year's Eve questions I used)
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/360°F (160°C fan), and line a baking tray with parchment or greaseproof paper. Make sure you have written or printed your paper fortunes to use inside the cookies before you begin making the batter.
- Chop the butter into cubes, and then melt. If using a microwave, this will take 1 or two minutes. Set the butter aside to cool slightly.
- Using a stand or hand mixer, whisk the egg whites and sugar on a high setting, until they are frothy. This should take about 2 minutes using a stand mixer. The mixture should not reach the soft peak stage, and should just look a little bubbly.
- Add the flour to the egg mixture and then mix on a low setting. Once combined, add in the melted butter, almond extract, vanilla extract, and 3 tablespoons of water. You may need to add a further couple of tablespoons of water if the mixture seems too thick.
- Spoon the batter onto the lined baking trays, making a maximum of four cookies per batch. This is to ensure that all the cookies can be folded before they cool down and harden. Spread the batter out into circles, at least 3 inches in diameter. Make sure the batter is not too thick, or the cookies won't bake in the middle.
- Bake the cookies for 6 minutes initially. Then remove from the oven and flip the cookies over using a spatula. Return to the oven and bake for a further 3-5 minutes, until the cookies are light brown.
- Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, place a folded paper fortune in the centre of one cookie, fold in half, and then bend into the traditional fortune cookie shape using the rim on a mug or glass. The cookies will be very hot - I found it best to pick them up using a towel. You could also try using gloves, as long as they won't shed wool onto the cookies. Once folded, place the cookies into deep muffin pans or a small mug so as to keep their shape whilst cooling.
- The cookies should stay fresh for at least a week if stored in an airtight container.
I am fascinated with Chinese food and culture, but I have never made fortune cookies before. However, I love to eat them and think that it is strange that they aren’t common in the UK, because they are very common here. In fact, there is a whole stack of fortune cookies in my company’s break room right now. Why do you think that these cookies are more common in America than they are in the UK?
I have no idea! Chinese food is massive here, but fortune cookies just didn’t really make it.