Fortune Cookies for Valentines & Chinese New Year
If you are looking for a fun way to celebrate the Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day (both on the same day this year) give these fortune cookies a try!
Before starting the cookies make slips of paper to fill the cookies. Simply download, print and cut the paper into strips.
Fortune Cookie Papers for Valentine’s Day
Fortune Cookie Papers for Chinese New Year
This simple recipe is adapted from Paula Deen. The butter or oil that is normally found in other fortune cookie recipes is missing, but I figured if Paula leaves out the butter it must be okay!
Fortune Cookie Recipe
2 egg whites
1/2 cup flour (sifted)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Makes about 12 fortune cookies
Instructions
Set oven to 400F degrees.
1) Place egg whites in a bowl and beat with electric mixer on medium speed until very frothy, almost soft peaks.
2) Add sifted flour,
3) Add sugar, almond, and vanilla then mix.
4) Stir in 2 tablespoons of water to thin batter.
5) Using a Silpat baking mat, parchment paper or un-greased baking pan place 1 tablespoon of batter on pan. (I liked the Silpat mat the best. I did not have a problem removing them from my un-greased pan. When I greased the pan the batter did not stay in a circle. Since the moisture content in the batter is high, it does make the parchment paper wrinkle slightly but it still worked.)
6) Working from the center in a circular motion, spread the batter into a 5 inch circle.
7) Start with two cookies. Once comfortable with the process more can be baked at one time. I was only able to ever bake two at a time. I used two pans and staggered the baking time so I had time to form the cookies.
8) Bake until edges are lightly browned. Mine baked for 6 minutes. Start watching closely at 4 minutes.
9) Working quickly, remove cookie from pan with a very thin spatula.
10) Flip the cookie over and place slip of paper on top.
11) Bring sides up and pinch together.
12) Next bend cookie over the edge of a cup. The whole process of forming the cookie should take about 10 seconds. Once formed place cookies in a muffin tin to help them keep their shape while cooling.
Then, package in some festive Chinese take out containers…
and you have a sweet way to celebrate!
NOTE: The cookies are VERY hot. It is easy to burn fingers on the cookies as they are being formed. Try wearing thin white gloves to protect fingers.
About the author
I *love* this. I am always looking for ways to make things from scratch that people never make from scratch.
This is totally next on my list! I can’t wait to try it!
oh sister! I’m all over this! thanks!
Thanks so much! What fun to learn how to make these fun treats.
Nancy
http://www.coeurdalenegifts.com
coeurdalenegifts.blogspot.com
Sweet! I have a fortune cookie recipe that I’ve used before but I’m pretty sure it calls for butter or oil, so I’ll have to try this one. The pics are wonderful for explaining all the steps Thanks!
do you know if i can just substitute more vanilla x instead of the almond? my son has allergies and reacts to this. please say yes! i imagine the only thing it would change would be the flavor, right?
Aimy, I am getting ready to try the recipe and going to try with all vanilla instead since my family has nut allergies. I’ll write back and let you know what I find
So stinkin’ cute! Thanks for the dowloadable slips, too – very handy! FYI, the links are actually backwards: click Valentines for New Years & vice versa.
Can’t wait!
_____________
Editor: Thanks for catching that. Will fix now.
Aimy, I tried it will subbing all vanilla, and made it too sweet!! LOL I would say make it 3/4 tsp vanilla and then 3/4 tsp water?? Anyone else have suggestions?
Can this be done with just parchment paper rather than a silpat???
Can’t wait for Chinese night!
___________
Editor: yes. per the directions above: “Since the moisture content in the batter is high, it does make the parchment paper wrinkle slightly but it still worked.”
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
These are fabulous! I had red take out boxes left over from Christmas and was trying to think what to do!
Thanks for the inspiration!
ok- so we’re ready to make them. What’s the oven temp? Did I just read over it?
_______
Editor: thanks for the catch. it’s 400 degrees F. we just fixed it.
What temperature do you cook these on? Did I miss it?
Thanks so much for posting these! My daughter is adopted from China and her teacher is letting me do a little Chinese New Year lesson and these are the perfect thing to make for her classmates at preschool. I love that they will work for her Valentines too!
_______
Editor: thanks for the catch. it’s 400 degrees F. we just fixed it.
Stephanie… Thanks! I’ll see what I can come up with.
They are so darn cute that I may just go all vanilla.
Aimy, let me know what you come up with
I am going to try experimenting some more!
Thank you SO MUCH for this great idea! I am always looking for fun ideas as gifts for teachers/bus drivers for my kids! We did homemade marshmallows for Christmas. I think we’ll make these for Valentine’s Day. I’ll blog about these when we make them and add a link to your blog for sure!
HOLY CUTEnes!! FAB idea…
This idea is really cute! I think it is so unique and will definitely refer to your blog on my own!
I have a recipe from Cooking Light magazine for fortune cookies (the recipe and directions you posted seem clearer), and have been meaning to make them. Thanks for the reminder!
)
I am so glad I found this recipe! I am bookmarking it for sure!
i can’t wait to make these. these would be so cute to send to school with your kids and put a sweet little note in them…love it!
omg! Looove it! I can’t wait to make these for my kids. I think I may make them when they are not around and slip fortunes that are just for each of them… and then not let them know that I took part in the making. Too funny to see them be shocked at how accurate their fortunes are.
Thanks for your recipe, i just made my first bunch of fortune cookies =) had to add a little more water, but maybe i just miscalculated when converting to metric units
and instead of the almond extract i used vanilla only and it tasted great!
We made them and they turned out great. I blogged about them and my egg drop soup here. http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/2010/01/fortune-cookies-and-egg-drop-soup.html thanks!
Hi. I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your blog and that I mentioned this entry in my recent blog post.Thanks so much for your great ideas and free printables. I hope you will take a look at my blog when you get a chance: http://delicious-ambiguity-nennyk.blogspot.com/
Whoa, you made your own fortune cookies? That is amazing! There are endless possibilities for sweet notes that you could put inside, what a great idea!
I’m going to try making these next week with my sons. Thanks for the awesome idea.
I wonder if I could use a pampered chef baking stone instead of the parchment paper or Silpat mat? Does anyone know?
Thanks for a great new idea!
Do the fortune cookies freeze well. We just made them – they are so cute, though a bit difficult to get off the parchment paper. We really need them for something in two weeks and want to know if they would freeze (and defrost) well.