Friday, February 25, 2011

Fortune Cookies

One of my favorite treats to make for friends and family are homemade fortune cookies.  They are a great birthday gift, anniversary gift, and party appetizer; plus adding a handwritten fortune puts the icing on the cookie!

The batter couldn't be simpler, but the baking method requires patience and practice.  If you set out to make fortune cookies, just make sure you have about 2-3 hours to spend actively at your oven. 


Ingredients: 
5 tbsp Butter
4 Egg whites
1 cup Super fine sugar
1 cup Cake flour, sifted
1 pinch salt
3-5 tbsp Heavy cream
1 tsp Almond extract (can substitute vanilla extract, orange extract, lemon juice & zest, etc)

Method: 
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a dark cookie sheet with a silpat OR, use a light cookie sheet and flip over.  Spray well with non stick cooking spray.
2.  Heat butter in microwave in 15 sec intervals until melted completely.  Meanwhile, beat egg whites and sugar for 30 seconds.
3.  Add in SIFTED cake flour and salt, beat until mixed.  Add heavy cream, extract and melted butter and beat until mixed.  The mixture should be thin enough to leave a ribbon when the beater is lifted from the batter.  Add heavy cream 1 Tbsp at a time until desired texture is reached.
4.  Portion batter by putting a little less than 1 Tbsp of batter into a 4 inch biscuit cutter or a tuna can with both ends removed.  Batter should be spread thinly, but evenly.   To start, I would only put one or two cookies on the sheet at a time. Bake cookies for 4-6 minutes, or until golden around the edges.


5.  When you remove the cookies from the oven, you need to have a few things ready:  a small spatula, your fortunes, a mini muffin pan or regular muffin pan, thin gloves (if desired).

Carefully remove cookies from the oven and working quickly, place a fortune on 1/2 of the cookie. 

Using your spatula, flip the half of the cookie that doesn't have the fortune on top of the fortune,  and then quickly fold in half the opposite direction.  Place ends of cookie face down in muffin cup to hold shape while they cool. 



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