Saturday, May 16th, 2009

Fortune Cookie Recipe

The Chinese fortune cookie that we know today isn’t even Chinese. It actually originated in California, but there is an original fortune cookie which originated in China. The original fortune cookie is the moon cake. The moon cake was used in the 13th and 14th centuries (the Ming dynasty) to hide secret messages regarding the date of a popular uprising against the invaders. The moon cakes were distributed by the patriotic revolutionary Chu Yuan Chang (disguised as a Taoist priest) who was safe in the knowledge that the Mongols had no taste for lotus nut paste which was used to make the moon cakes. The uprising was successful and so the basis of the Ming Dynasty was formed.

A Chinese fortune cookie is a delicate and lightweight wafer type cookie folded meticulously to enclose a slip of paper with a fortune written on it. It is these fortunes that make these fortune cookies so wonderful. Some fortunes are humorous, some inspirational, some religious and some are just . . . Weird.

Get those ingredients ready because you will never eat another stale take-out fortune cookie again! This recipe is super easy… Just remember to follow this recipe and use quality ingredient, and you’ll have a great cookie.


3 teaspoons of water
2 large egg whites
¼ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon of pure almond extract
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour


1. Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 ½ inches long and ½ inch wide. Preheat your oven to 300ºF. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.


3. Sift the cornstarch, flour, salt, and sugar into a dry bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture.

4. Add the dry mixture (the flour mixture) into the wet mixture (egg white mixture) and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.

5. Place even amounts of batter onto the greased cookie sheets, using a tablespoon (I would suggest making no more than 5 at a time). Space them at least 3 inches from each other. Gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth and from side to side so that each tablespoon of batter forms into a circle 4 inches in diameter.

6. Bake until the outer ½ inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (13 – 15 minutes).

7. Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand (they’re really hot, so be careful). Place a fortune in the middle of the cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently take the creased end and push it down toward the closed ends using your fingers or the edge of a glass, to get the traditional fortune cookie shape (if you don’t want to go through the pain of making a traditional shape, just fold them in half, and half again…). Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies.


leave a comment

Subscribe by: EMAIL or RSS Feed