Homemade Fortune Cookies...with a secret message inside! {Chinese New Year Theme}

Today we are sharing the Homemade Fortune Cookies we made, with a fun little twist!

Now, I attempted these cookies last night.  Honestly, after 3 batches...I had a whopping 8 fortune cookies that turned out ;)  They are quite simple to make, but not necessarily easy.  I found a fantastic blog that had beautiful pictures and great step-by-step instructions, so if you want to try these out make sure you stop by The Jew and the Carrot.

I changed the recipe up JUST a bit to use things I had or didn't have on hand.  Here is all that you need:

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 egg whites

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

That's it!

Now, I'm sure you are supposed to mix the dry ingredients and then the wet ingredients and then mix them all together...does anyone do that?!  I never do...there is NO chance I am dirtying another bowl if I don't have too ;)  I bet that is just one of many reasons I am not a wonderful baker!!

Anyways, once I dumped everything in ONE bowl and mixed it up, I prepared my cookie sheet.  The first time I tried parchment paper, and that did not work at all for me.  I had much better luck when I sprayed a cookie sheet really well and put the mixture right on that.  It also took me quite a few tries to get the size right...a 3 inch circle is really what you are going for.  Anything else will taste fine but not look too authentic.

Bake these in the oven at 375 degrees for 5-7 minutes.  Mine actually took 8-9, you just need to watch really closely and take them out when they have browned nicely around the edges.

 

To make our fortune cookies a little more fun we put a secret message inside.  After school today we are learning about all of the different Chinese Zodiac signs, and what sign each of my kids are.  I thought it would be fun to put in each cookie a letter that when put with the others will make up the Chinese Zodiac for 2014!  

Ok, so once your cookies are done you need to flip them over with a spatula.  Then place a strip of paper in the middle and fold them in half.  Once you have done that place them over the rim of a cup or jar to give it that awesome fortune cookie shape.  You are going to want to do this pretty quickly to make sure they don't harden before you can shape them.

Once you have them shaped you can put them in a muffin tin to hold their shape until they harden. 

I gotta tell you...these fortune cookies are delicious!!  They are soft and a little chewy (probably because we can never wait long enough to let them harden!;) and have a yummy almond flavor.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, make sure to come back tomorrow to see some fun Zodiac activities for kids!!