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.
133 Comments on “Homemade Fortune Cookies”
hI Joanne! or Joanna ?;) LOL i tried another recipe before i saw this one and i was wondering if i can use parchment paper for this instead of a silicone because I do not have one at the moment :(. I will admit that, atleast the recipe that i used before, the cookies did stick to the parchment paper T_T . Thank you!
Hi! They shouldn’t stick to the parchment paper. But make sure it’s parchment paper, and not wax paper (some people think they’re the same, but they’re very different).
Loved the video. Plan on trying these soon. My husband is a teacher and it would be fun to treat his class with some educational fortunes. Thanks!
That’s wonderful, hope you all enjoy!
So much fun!
So cute! You make it look so easy in the video!
I made these once so long ago. My children and I spent a wonderful snowy winter’s afternoon making some. I want to make some again.
Thank you so much for the video demo, Joanne. I would never figure it out myself how to shape the fortune cookies. Again, I love your instruction and style of cooking. I use your recipes a lot for my own baking practice. My co-workers all love your recipes
Can’t wait to see your next video:->
YAY! So glad to hear all of that. Happy cooking!
These are so cool! I have always wanted to make these and the video is so helpful!
Oh! They are so cute.
Hey Joanne,
I found fifteenspatulas.com just by accident, but i’m so glad 🙂 I love ur recipes, especially the sweet ones.
Although it was a little bit difficult to convert the ounces and cups into european dimensions (i’m from germany) 🙂
But today i tried it,and because its Valentine’s Day i made them pink. They llok gorgeous. Thanks for that recipes
Regards from germany
Vivi
Hi Vivi, cool! Where from in Germany? I have been there many times. I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies, and that’s so cool you made a pink version!
I’m from Görlitz, its a small town on the border to Poland, about 100km east of Dresden. But at the moment its only called Görlywood, because a film by Wes Andersson is produced here, with a lot of Hollywood stars. Unfornunately I didn’t meet one of them on Valentine’s Day, otherwise he/she would have got a pink cookie 🙂
What did you do in Germany? Visit friends/family or cooking?
regards
Oh neat! I’ve been to Germany four times, all for vacation!
Yummy! I made a half batch and they are absolutely wonderful. Thank you for the great recipe.
YAY! Glad to hear it Danielle =)
Thanks Joanne!
Hi, how many does this recipe make? Thanks. Poppy
Hi Poppy, It makes about 2-3 dozen cookies, of course depending on how big they are.
First of all, congrats! I’ve been on Elise Bauer’s blog! And its pretty neat!
And this recipe is too clever! Very nice!
You didn’t leave a link to your blog. I would love to check it out!
When Elsie sent out the word I looked you up. She is right, you are good. Elise is the best, so us followers trust her. I really like your creaming post. Sharing techniques is so important.
Looks like the Chinese New Year has started out well and the Year of the Rabbit will be kind to you.
BTW Nothing like Rabbit in a mustard sauce.
Gōng xǐ fā cái, hóng bāo ná lái
Thanks, Michael! I am going to try to do some more technique posts. Still need to do a muffin method post, the straight dough method, etc. They are in the works!
LMAO I have actually never tried rabbit!!! What’s it like? It’s a gamey meat right?
Unfortunately for rabbit it is delicious and not gamey. They are farm raised for meat. I imagine wild rabbits could be gamey. To me it is better than chicken
I first had Rabbit in Mustard Sauce in a small cafe in Paris (1985). I walked out of there saying I never knew food could taste so good.
Check out Elise
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/rabbit_in_mustard_sauce/
I would love to try rabbit (especially with your statement about liking it more than chicken). I will be in Manhattan in March so maybe I’ll try to find it there. If not, I hope to be in Paris in April or May. We’ll see! I would say the strangest thing I have eaten is iguana…lol. It was kind of like chicken but more boney.
I agree! I think your recipes are scrumptious! Thanx for a great post on fortune cookies. I would love to make these!
Hi!
Looks awesome! Cant wait to try it…
I just think there might be a mistake in the ingredients. 1/4 cup of vanilla and almond extract seems way too much!!
Thanks
Oh my goodness Jacob! Thanks so much for pointing that out! That’s what happens when I write and proofread at 7 in the morning…LOL. Fortune cookies are fun little gifts (and they are tasty too)!
It’s actually 1/4 tsp of each…