Homemade Fortune Cookies
Fill these Homemade Fortune Cookies with your own personal fortunes for a fun and delicious crafty treat!
I love when food crosses into the craft category and these cookies certainly do.
That’s what makes fortune cookies so fun to do yourself, even though they are a bit tedious to make.
You can put your own notes inside the fortune cookies, and gift them to friends, family, co-workers, and so on, and also customize them for different events.
As I mentioned briefly above, a fortune cookie is not as easy to make as say, a batch of Peanut Butter Cookies.
These are made and folded individually, and because they have to be crimped while they’re hot, you can only do a few at a time.
My recommendation is to get a few helpers and have fun making them together. It goes a lot quicker that way!
How to Make Fortune Cookies:
Start by whipping egg whites, melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract until frothy:
Add flour, and whip until the flour *just* disappears:
Shape the batter into small circles on a silicone mat, and notice how thin they are:
Bake until the circles are slightly golden on the edges, then quickly fold the circles in half with the fortune inside, and bring the ends down over the lip of a cup (this is an old picture, but I have a fortune cookie tutorial video below where I show you exactly how to do this).
Once the fortune cookie is crimped, place it into a muffin tin to hold its shape, and let the cookies cool while you repeat with the remaining batter.
Here’s the step-by-step video tutorial, and the recipe is below. Enjoy!
Homemade Fortune Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 large egg whites
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 cup all purpose flour (5 oz by weight)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat, and have your fortune strips ready to go.
- In a stand mixer (or large bowl with a hand mixer), whip the egg whites and sugar on high speed for about 2 minutes, until frothy. Whip in the melted butter, vanilla, almond extract, and water until incorporated. Add the flour and mix until the flour *just* disappears.
- With a tablespoon measure, spoon the batter onto the parchment paper and spread it out into an even 3 inch circle. I recommend not doing any more than 2-3 at a time, since they set very quickly and you will not be able to fold more than that.
- Bake the fortune cookies for 7-8 minutes, until the edges brown slightly. If you let them brown too much, they will snap when you shape them. Conversely, if they don’t brown a little bit, they will also break (but tear, rather than snapping).
- When each batch of fortune cookies finishes baking, remove them from the oven and quickly flip the circle over, and fold your fortune cookie in half, into a semicircle. This is when you slip your note into the cookie (quickly) because if you slip it in right at the beginning, the cookie will be too hot and your paper will stick to the cookie. Place your semicircle onto the edge of a cup, and quickly fold the ends down, to crimp into a fortune cookie shape (see above tutorial video if needed).
- Place the cookie in a muffin tin to let it cool and hold its shape.
- Repeat with the remaining batter and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Post updated in January 2019. Originally posted January 2014.
151 Comments on “Homemade Fortune Cookies”
So fun! Made for grands. I have great fortune ideas. Use mini muffin tin to hold them soon as shaped.
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Hello! I am struggling a bit – it is my first time making fortune cookies. My first try tasted delicious but were a little thick/cakey. I am wondering if I mixed the flour too much? Or maybe I need to weigh it instead of using a measuring cup? Any help is appreciated! Thanks
They tasted so good. But they were just a little hard to fold but I am 10 and it was not that hard so I think that most people could make them. Thanks for the recipe
great cooking josey!
Overall great recipe and easy to make. Somethings that made mine even better, add a bit a cornstarch to help get that crispy texture. Also make this a day before you need them, helps the cookies to set and be even more crispy!
Great feedback! Thank you!
These came out pretty well, but I do have one question. We don’t have a super high budget, but my daughter loves to bake and we wanna give her the best workshop to work with. We have most of these ingredients, but the one we are missing is vanilla extract and almond extract. We used imitation vannila, but we had to leave out the almond. Are there any ideas to replace this ingredient, or do we just leave it out?
Hi CeeCee, you can leave it out if it comes to budget! Almond just adds that distinct flavor. If this email works for you, I’d love to send you a $5 Amazon gift card so you can get some
How many does this make? Need to make sure we have enough fortunes! (Maybe you could add this to the recipe)
AMAZING!!!! the cookies are crispy, crunchy and SO SWEET!!!! i would definitly recommend the recipe to every person in the universe and will be making more very very soon!!!!
wow! Thank you Alice! So glad you are enjoying them!
I’m hoping to make 12 dozen fortune cookies for a wedding cookie table. Can these be made ahead and frozen? Or, if they cannot be frozen, how long do you think they will keep at room temperature in a airtight container?
Hi Mary, Id keep them in a ziplock bag at room temp up to a week
amazing !I used this recipie and geve them to my school but I used animal facts instead of fortunes.
The taste was realy good and all my classmates and teachers agreed with me. 🙂
Wow! Im so impressed! Way to go!!
Amazing & great fun to make with my daughter. Surprisingly easy. We didn’t have almond essence so used caramel flavouring, which worked very well.
Do you think these would work with almond/coconut flour blend??
Not sure but I think so.
Did you end up trying this? Did they turn out? Looking to make a GF version!
I made these with gluten-free flour (1/2 cup GF oat flour, 1/4 cup white rice flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 tsp xanthan gum) and they came out perfect. Otherwise followed the recipe except I didn’t have almond extract. Great recipe!
I have a question: when I made these, the baked cookies came out with a granular, or slightly gritty texture. When they cooled off, the external surface of the cookies was as if they were candied. So, the sugar called for didn’t dissolve in mixing or baking. Could that be because I needed to cook at a lower temp (therefore cooking them longer), or should I allow the batter to stand long enough to dissolve the sugar? Thanks for your suggestions (in advance).