I’ve always been a bit of an arts and crafts fan, especially when I was growing up. I guess that’s why making these fortune cookies appealed to me in the first place! Fortune cookies are really fun to make and customise. They add a cool little touch to home cooked Asian dishes.
The origin of the fortune cookie seems to be highly disputed, and in their current form appear to be more of an American take on an early Japanese idea. The cookies served at many restaurants are supposedly filled with a Chinese proverb but many cynics have pointed out that people are actually hired to write these! Either way I think the idea is quite nice!
I have made these years ago from a recipe in an Asian cookery book, but I couldn’t manage to find it when I went routing the other day. Instead I have used this recipe which seems to be fairly similar, but only makes 10. I have doubled the recipe here, but be warned making this many is quite time consuming, as you can only make a few at a time.
Fortune Cookies
The trick to making the cookies is timing, so prepare everything you need before you stick them in the oven. You have to mould the hot little discs as soon as they come out of the oven, so I would suggest you use a pair of gloves or some kitchen paper. I don't have asbestos hands so when I first made these I was hopping around the place from the heat of moulding them with my bare hands. NOT FUN! The technique of moulding is fairly simple, you fold the disc in half, and then fold it in half again over the rim of a glass. Sound easy? It is!
4 large egg whites.
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
6 tablespoons of sunflower oil.
175g of all purpose white flour.
375g of granulated sugar.
1 ½ teaspoon of cornflour
½ teaspoon of salt.
6 teaspoons of water.
Preheat the oven to 150˚C/Gas 2/300˚F and grease a wide baking sheet.
Write and cut out your own customised fortunes on little strips of paper about 10cm by 1cm and set aside.
Using a whisk, beat the egg whites in a large bowl with the oil, and vanilla extract. Beat them until they become thick, but not stiff. Sieve in the flour and cornflour. Add the sugar, salt and water and mix through the egg whites. Combine thoroughly until you have no lumps and bumps!
Place 4 level tablespoon of the mix evenly spaced on the baking sheet. I find working with four discs at a time to be the easiest. Distribute the mix evenly by tilting the tray until you get a nice wide disc around 10cm in diameter.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the cookies go a light golden brown colour around the edges. Working quickly- remove one disc from the baking sheet, place the fortune in the center and gently fold in half. Bend the two ends of the disc over the rim of a glass and hold in position for 20 seconds until it cools.
Repeat the process until you get through all the cookie mix.
