A fortune cookie recipe – this would have been a perfect pre-Valentine’s Day post as a way to propose. Put your message – “Will you marry me?” – into the cookie. Or announce a new baby, or an engagement. Open a cookie and Surprise!
My daughter asked me a question yesterday. The question was not as important as what she prefaced it with. (Ended a sentence with a preposition. It can only go downhill from here.)
She said, “This is the second most important question of my life.”
“What’s the first?”, I asked.
She replied, “Of course, it’s ‘Will you marry me?’ ”
(That quote within a quote is also making me sweat a little, wondering whether or not I have retained what I learned in high school English class. Ending a sentence with a preposition and now this! English class is no longer English class. Now it’s Language Arts. That’s a post for another day. Teacher friends – grade me on the quote punctuation, but not the hanging preposition, please. I’m bouncing around like popcorn popping today. Try to follow along.)
Before my feminist friends get their tunics in a tizzy, she didn’t mean that someone proposing to her would be the most important thing in her life. She meant that choosing the person she marries is one of the most important decisions she will ever make. And yes, she heard that from me. Because it is. And because that is something that they don’t teach in high school or college and I want her to know it. Her life partner and their relationship will affect how she feels about herself, her career and the choices that she makes in her adult life. And I want her to choose well – someone who she likes, loves, trusts, admires and respects and who feels the same way about her. But she is only nine and we have a few years left to work on that. Now we are making fortune cookies… Are you following?
Cut strips of paper approximately 3″ x .5″. Any paper will do.
Write sayings on papers. Here is one link for ideas and there are many others out there. http://www.fortunecookiesayings.net/ You can also print sayings out on the computer for a more professional look, if that’s what you’re going for, but the kids like to write them.
Combine egg white, vanilla and water. Use other flavorings if you prefer. Most people use almond, but we like the vanilla. Lemon is also an option.
Whisk until foamy but not stiff. Could I have used a larger whisk? I think not!
Mix the flour and sugar in with a spoon. The yellow on the right is a shadow, not egg yolk. Do not add the egg yolk, even though mine looks yellow. Someday I will take a photography class and my pictures will be perfect and egg white will look white, not yellow!
This is what the consistency of the batter should look like. A video would have been nice here.
Butter your cookie sheet. Or use some other type of grease. I prefer butter, every time. And lots of it.
Pour a Tablespoon of batter onto pan and gently spread out with the back of a spoon, using a circular motion. Do not press the spoon through the batter to the pan. Finished circles should be about 3″ in diameter.
Ready for the oven.
Bake 5 minutes until a little brown around the edges. Now you need to be ready to work fast. For your first batch, I recommend only baking three because you have to get them folded quickly. Folding directions are below in the recipe. This would have been a great place for a video as well.
You can put them in a cupcake/muffin pan while they are cooling to help maintain their shape.
Voilà! Fortune cookies. Crispy, sweet and full of good fortune. Like a good marriage.
Recipe for Fortune Cookies – Makes 12 Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 Large Egg White
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or flavoring of your choice
- 1/4 Cup flour
- 1/4 Cup sugar
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Grease cookie sheet.
- Whisk egg white, water and vanilla until foamy, but not stiff.
- Stir in flour and sugar.
- Drop by measuring tablespoon onto greased cookie sheet. Spread batter gently with back of spoon to 3″ circles. If one person is folding, do not bake more than 6 at one time. Start with 3 until you get the hang of it.
- Bake for 5 minutes or until golden around the edges. Some ovens may require 30 seconds or a minute longer.
- Fold. Remove one cookie to a cutting board. Place fortune in center. Fold cookie in half away from you. Do not press down. At this point, outer edges should be touching but the folded edge should not. It should be puffed up, not flat. Put your thumbs at the edge of the fold line and with your fingers, fold the sides back to meet around your thumbs. Place in muffin tin to hold shape. Move quickly as once they cool, they will crack and not bend into their fortune cookie shape. Enjoy.
French Twisted Woman 
That would be such a sweet idea for a baby shower or something too!
I agree! Thanks for stopping by.
So beautiful and crisp! Thanks for finding my fortunes, and I adore your gravatar-so pretty.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my gravatar. It truly is a self-portrait (try taking a picture of the back of your head sometime. Thank goodness for digital cameras!) I was in a hurry and ready to launch this site – just needed a photo. I twisted my hair up in 10 seconds, secured with literally 3 bobby pins, and the twist looked so good (it doesn’t always) that I took that as an omen that all of the French Twisting in my life – my hair, my Francophile-tendencies, and this site, were meant to be good things!.
Incredible! I’ve never been able to manage a French Twist though I certainly have been able to manage instating as much from France as I possibly can in my life. After spending a month in Paris last year it will forever live deep in my heart.
A whole month in Paris? A dream come true! I look forward to returning some day…