We’re on a tight schedule of recipe themes here, moving right on from Superbowl, to Valentine’s Day, and don’t forget Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year) is the same days as V-day this year. I knew as soon as I took my last bite of Un-fried Buffalo Wing, I’d start thinking about hearts and good fortune. Can I combine the two into a loving Fortune Cookie?
Don’t we just feel so efficient when killing two birds with one stone? You can say I love you and Happy New Year all at once, making your own customized messages and fortunes. I guess I should warn you that making these is a lot of work, and you have to be patient, but what says “I love you!” more than “I spent all day making these and I burned my finger”? A fortune cookie, of course, wishes good fortune, so we’re all covered, two holidays in one! ( I debated showing you my messages but those are for each person’s eyes only.)
My fortune cookies are loosely based on this recipe, ingredients being very similar, but process being different. Most importantly, I recommend folding the fortune/message into the cookie while shaping, and not trying to thread them in after they have cooled. Also, be patient with these. Use the first few to adjust how thick and exact cooking time (because each oven varies) and the first few may not fold exactly right. Don’t sweat. These are not machine-made fortune cookies. They are special, made with your hands, and with your personal messages inside.
Fortune Cookies with Love
~makes 29 if you’re lucky (5 of mine failed)
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup superfine vanilla sugar
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 5 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and lightly cooled
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 29 messages (about 3.5″ x 0.5″ each )
Instructions –
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Put silpat on baking sheet.
2. In a stand mixer, beat together egg whites and sugar on medium for 30 seconds. Add flour and salt and beat till combined. Add butter, heavy cream, and almond extract. Beat until smooth.
3. Use a 4.5″ circle ring to spread a little less than 1 tablespoon of batter into a circle on the silpat. It’s very thin. (After a few trials, I found that baking 3 at a time was ideal.)
4. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 5 minutes, turning once in the middle, until edges are golden and center is set but pale.
5. When you remove from the oven, immediately remove one with a spatula to a clean towel. Fold into fortune cookie with message inside. See video. Remove next one and fold, then the next one. You’ll have to move relatively quickly before they cool too much to be bendable. That’s why I recommend three at a time.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 until you finish that batter.
7. Cool cookies completely and store in airtight containers for a week.
These are pretty much tuiles, no? We shaped similar cookies in class (I’m a pastry student) and chef’s rule was to wait 30 seconds once they are out of the oven, and to only bake a few at a time (if it got too cool you could pop it back in for a few seconds to soften).
These look really nice compared to the generic, yellowed cookies in the wrappers! I can’t wait to try them.
Jodie, how exciting! Fortune cookies are essentially tuiles, though I feel like fortune cookies are just a tad thicker than most French tuiles.
The amount of time I would wait out of the oven depends on size and thickness. I don’t want anyone to burn themselves but I work with them as soon as I can handle them, so that I can get three of these going in each batch (without reheating) but yes you’re absolutely right that you can pop them back in to soften.
I can’t believe you made your own fortune cookies. That is too awesome. It takes the term “labor of love” to a whole new level. They look fantastic.
wow. i’ve always wondered what ingredients were involved in making fortune cookies, and i’m super duper impressed that you made your own. it would be so much fun writing personalized fortunes and messages to go into each cookie–this is a phenomenal idea!
They look great! I’ve watched homemade fortune cookies being made on a cooking show before and always wanted to try it. Great idea for Valentine’s Day.
These are super cute… I don’t think I will be as brave as you were, though, and do mine by hand if I get any!
how beautiful! i love the colour of the Chinese takeaway box too. 🙂
Those are some perfect fortune cookies!!! Really something, great job!
the cookies look very authentic. Congats. I was at Singapore and Kl and was great to see the cities gear up the Chinese New Year.
I bought a sheepskin red rug from Ikea. The theme of our bedroom is red. But I think it had some significance for CNY too
that is the fruit of lot of work and patience with a big P !!!:):) the’ve come out great!!! lovely work!!
I’ve always wanted to try my hand at this, especially because the pre-fab ones usually don’t taste very good anyway. I love how you used vanilla sugar to up the vanilla quotient even more.
Sounds like a pain to make…yours look great! good for cny too =)
wow- these must take forever to make! They look so cool!
Definitely have to try this recipe.. probably with a little twist. Since I don’t have heavy cream, will whole milk be OK?
Tuty, I’m not sure. Let me know if you try it.
Hey Jessica,how did you get a hold of my Tuiles recipe
from apprenticeship in Switzerland?Actually yours is
a little richer.We also rolled them into tube shapes
and called them Cigarettes and into Cones for Glace.
Hans&Kuno, when are you going to come teach me one of your recipes?
I made these for a Chinese New Year Party we had last night and they were a hit! We made silly fortunes and everyone roared! It was so fun – thanks for the video – it took me about half of them to get the technique down… but then they were easy. 🙂
Erin, you have no idea how happy that makes me! Thanks for putting a smile on my face today!
hi! these look great! i wanted to try them when i go home for chinese new year, but i don’t have vanilla sugar (or have time to home make it) =( is there a substitute for it?
Laura, just use superfine sugar. It’ll still be good. In case you don’t know, you can make superfine sugar out of regular by putting it in the food processor. Send me some pics when you’re done! Happy New Year!