Fortune Cookies

Despite the fact my vision is comparable to looking through plastic wrap, I can’t break a promise, so I made a bunch of fortune cookies for the kids to share with their class for the Lunar New Year…Year of the Tiger!  I usually double this recipe, but not everyone is feeding forty something kids so here’s my basic recipe:  The process is very similar to baking tuiles.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees for convection ovens, 300 degrees for regular ovens.

2 large egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract (secret ingredient)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Whisk all above together until frothy.

8 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons granulated sugar

Sift above dry ingredients into a bowl,  then add flour mixture to wet ingredients.  Here is the tricky part…add 5-10 teaspoons of water.  You gauge how much after you’ve wisked the batter.  If you let the batter rest a bit, you’ll have to adjust less as you go along.  Sometimes I end up adding a few extra drops after I’ve made my first cookies.  The batter should not be runny, but drop easily from your whisk/spoon.

Take about a tablespoon of batter and flatten into a circle on a cookie sheet with the back of your spoon. I like to use silicone baking mats.  I can only bake 3 per sheet…any more than that and I can’t work fast enough before the cookie becomes too brittle to fold.  It’s a great team project because if you have 2 sets of hands working, you can knock it out much faster.  Otherwise…plan to spend a few HOURS on this. Yeah, I know I just lost half of you….

When the cookie is just starting to brown on the edge, (12-15 minutes) remove with an offset spatula and flip over so the “smooth side” is down and will be on the outside.

You MUST work very quickly here….put your pre-folded fortune in the middle of the circle (it’s hot) and fold over the edge of a glass or cup.  If you have sensitive fingers, move along…probably not a good project for you. (There goes the other half.)

Then put to cool inside a muffin tin with the tips pointing downward…otherwise, the cookie will slowly re-open and cool that way…no good.

If you make them several days in advance..you might need to re-crisp them in the muffin tins the day of serving.  If you keep them in a good airtight container…you should be OK and you’ll have fortune cookies that are actually decent tasting.  It goes without saying that kids (and adults) LOVE these.

Gong Hei Fat Choi or Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year!