Cookie #83 - Fortune Cookies

It took me four tries to finally get these cookies to work and even now, I'm not 100% happy with the way they came out.  I didn't get that snappy crisp throughout the whole cookie.  I finally got the dough right, I just really need to work on the baking time, I think.  I'm not quite sure what went wrong.  I tried variations and combinations of 3 different recipes.  This is the recipe that gave me the easiest batter to work with and the one that I feel had the most realistic fortune cookie flavor.  Most of the recipes I viewed cooked the cookies at a high temperature for a long time.  I think the next time I try these, it'll be at a lower temperature for a lower time.  Perhaps that's the key for getting that golden color and crispy texture.  Either way, they were quite yummy and I enjoyed the ones that came out prettiest (and those that didn't).  The recipe below gives the measurements and baking times I used.

Fortune Cookies

1 egg white

1/8 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 pinch salt

1 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup flour

1 tbsp water

2 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk egg white until foamy.  Whisk in vanilla, almond extract, and melted butter.

Sift in flour, salt, and sugar..  Whisk until smooth.  If the batter is too thick, add the water.  You want the batter to be the texture of pancake batter.

Drop teaspoons full of the batter onto a greased cookie sheet (I actually used a Silpat) about 4" apart.  Rotate the cookie sheet around to spread the batter into even circles, about 3-4" across. 

Bake for 5 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and begin working immediately and quickly.  Remove cookies from the cookie sheet one at a time.  Fold in half and press lightly on just the edges (place your paper fortunes inside at this point if you wish).  Fold the two corners towards each other to create the classic fortune cookie shape. 

Place each cookie into the cup of a muffin tin to retain shape while the cookies set. 

At this point, once I had all the cookies folded and in the muffin tin, I returned them to the oven, lowered the temperature to 350 degrees F and baked for an additional 10 minutes to achieve a golden color. 

I'd like to add that I read several recipes where people mentioned that they made hundreds of these for weddings and showers and various parties.  After my fortune cookie experience, I can never imagine doing that!  I'll stick to getting mine from my local Chinese restaurant.