Fortune Cookies For You
13th Nov 2017
A fortune cookie is a delicate crisp cookie that is folded to form an enclosure within which a message (called ‘fortune’ if it is predicting something) is hidden. Traditionally found in most Asian cuisine restaurants, the fortune cookie actually has an American past, but that too is up for contestation.
Where one story claims that this cookie was invented by a Chinese immigrant, and restaurateur, David Jung living in Los Angeles in 1918; the other asserts that it was Makoto Hagiwara, the Japanese immigrant who designed the famous Japanese Tea Gardens at the Golden Gate Park, in Sans Francisco in 1914. Makoto’s cookies had ‘thank-you’ notes inside them, to thank all those who had helped him in his career. Then the third story states that the modern day fortune cookie is a take on the traditional one that was first made in Kyoto, Japan and called tsujiura senbei.
FUN FACT ABOUT FORTUNE COOKIES:
About three billion fortune cookies are made each year, all over the world. Everywhere except China. Surprising, isn’t it? These were first introduced in China in 1989 as the “genuine American fortune cookie” but they didn’t seem to pick up a momentum and slowly vanished from the Chinese markets by 1992.
THE FORTUNE COOKIE GAME:
Pass a fortune cookie to everyone around the table and ask them to prefix (or suffix) the term “in bed” before they readout the printed fortune aloud, one by one. The meaning of the spoken sentence will have everyone rolling over with laughter. Only once they’ve read out their “fortune” can they eat the cookie.
HOW TO MAKE A FORTUNE COOKIE AT HOME:
The art of making fortune cookies is actually quite delicate one, but they can be made at home as well! Here’s what you need to make utterly divine fortune cookies, to surprise your guests at your next dinner party:
Ingredients:
- 2 egg whites
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 8 tablespoons flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoons salt
- 8 tablespoons sugar
- 3 teaspoons water
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven at 150 degrees Celsius
2. Prepare a baking tray and line it with butter paper.
3. Beat the egg whites in a bowl, till frothy. Add vanilla extract, almond extracts and vegetable oil to it and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl mix cornstarch, flour, sugar and salt. Stir in the water.
5. Mix the two mixtures together and stir until you have a smooth batter.
6. Place a tablespoon of the batter on the prepared baking tray.
(Trick: tilt the tray back and forth till the batter settles into a neat circle. Roughly 10cm in diameter)
7. Continue spooning the batter onto the tray, 2 inches apart from one another.
8. Bake the cookies for about 7 to 10 minutes or till the outer half turns golden brown and can easily be removed from the tray.
9. Use the baking time to prepare the fortunes. Cut thin strips, about 2.5 inches long and write the fortune on them. (cut as many strips as the cookies being baked)
10. Remove the cookie from the tray using a spatula. Once out flip it on your hand and place the fortune slip on the cookie and fold the cookie into half. But be quick as the cookies tend to harden faster.
(Trick: use the edge of a glass to further bend the bent cookie and get it into its traditional shape)
11. Set the cookies aside in separate cups (or a cupcake tray) to rest and cool.
Enjoy and have fun!
COOKIES AND CUSTOMIZATION:
If you thought that’s where the fun ends, you were wrong. In fact, with Amazeology, the fun has just begun. In a few easy steps, Amazeology enables you to order a completely customized box(s) of this tasty treat, to make your next party an even more memorable one.
How do you go about it, you ask? That’s simple; log ontohttps://amazeology.com.au/products/fortune-cookies/. Choose whether you would want to personalize the messages in the cookies or would prefer getting surprised yourself by selecting the generic message option. In the next step you would be asked if you would like the cookies to be dipped in chocolate and sprinkles/sugar crystals or not. Lastly you will be able to completely personalize your cookies with a photograph printed either on them or their bag. How very cool is that?
Ryan Davis from Melbourne, did the sweetest thing for his neighborhood orphanage. He got chocolate and multicolored sprinkles dipped fortune cookies customized with messages of hope and happiness and distributed it to all the children in the orphanage. He did that on the occasion of his 15th birthday. When asked why he didn’t choose another gift instead, he said that he had far more fun spending time with the other kids who were super excited to get the fortune cookies, than he would if he’d bought a toy instead! What a kind gesture Kudos Ryan!