DIY Fortune Cookies are Sweet Treats to Celebrate Chinese New Year

January 21, 2012

Homemade fortune cookies are a fun dessert to serve this Chinese New Year. This is a delicate cookie and needs to be shaped quickly while still hot from the over. For a gourmet touch, dip them in chocolate (and roll in nuts or shredded coconut). Tuck inspiring messages or witty sayings into your fortune cookies that you and your guests can enjoy.

Fortune Cookies

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

cup sugar

4 tablespoons melted butter cooled

1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

6 fortune strips - (2 1/2" by 1/2")

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet thoroughly. Whip the egg whites on low speed until light and foamy. Blend in the sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.

Pour in the melted butter, flour, salt, and extracts; mix until well combined. Drop a tablespoon of the batter onto the prepared cookie sheet. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter evenly into very thin 3-inch rounds. Alternatively, use the lid of a jar with a 3-inch circle punched out as a template, pour the batter in the ring, and remove. Because you must work quickly to shape these cookies, bake just 3 at a time.

Bake for about 5 to 8 minutes or until the edges are a light golden color. Remove the cookies with a spatula and place on a work surface. Lay a fortune in the lower middle of the cookie, and fold in half to make a semi-circle. Bend the edges up toward each other to make a crescent. Drag the crease across the rim of a small measuring cup, with the ends facing down. Cool in mini muffin tins to hold shape until crisp. Repeat with remaining batter.

This recipe yields 6 cookies.