Having Fun with Fortunes

Homemade fortune cookies, complete with homemade fortunes are a great addition to any cocktail gathering.  In preparation for our Olympic Dinner for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing on Friday, we decided to whip up a batch.  Though they didn’t originate in China (click here to read about their origin), we thought it would be fun to have them as you can’t order Chinese takeout without getting a handful of them in the bag.

The batter has just a few steps, and the only tricky part is thinning out the batter on the cookie sheet.  Once you perfect this (and even if you don’t) you’ll have your friends and family blown away by your pastry skill!  Forming the actual cookies is as simple as folding them while they’re still hot.  So get creative, come up with some fun predictors of the future and whip up a batch of the future!

Homemade Fortune Cookies

3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter — melted
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium-sized bowl, combine ingredients in the above order, mixing well after each addition.  Chill batter for 15 minutes.

On a well-greased cookie sheet, drop a spoonful of dough for each cookie. It is very important to spread dough very thin with back of spoon to about 3 inch diameter. Bake about 5 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Working quickly, place a fortune in the center of each cookie. Fold cookie in half enclosing fortune, to form a semi-circle. Grasp rounded edges of semi-circle between thumb and forefinger on one hand. Place forefinger of other hand at center of folded edge, and push in, making certain solid sides of cookie puff out. Place each cookie in small size muffin tin, open edges up, until cookie is set. Store in airtight container.

Enjoy!