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”
I tried your recipe and it was great! I love it!
Would they be able to stay crunchy for about 3 days? (if kept in bag)
Good day
I followed this recipe exactly watched your video printed out the recipe, and it is a disaster! they break and dont even look like a fortune cookie
your not going fast enough or you are cooking it too long.
Super easy recipe to follow! And the cookies turn out so cute and delicious!
awesome! I want to make fortune cookies and it’s a perfect piece. thank you!
It just kept falling apart and we did exactly what you said. This was very disappointing.
Amazing
The batter was thick, and every cookie split. Maybe this recipe needs to be re-vamped. It did, however, taste good.
Every cookie split when I folded it. Any suggestions?
What if i don’t have vanilla extra and almond extract what can i use
Thank you so much ,but one question can you use any flour for fortune cookies
When I fold them over they crack and do not form to the shape well. What am I doing wrong?
Sorry to say that every cookie split. The batter was super thick and very very sweet. Too sweet for us and not enough almond flavor. We had to toss it after several attempts. Recipe we used last year came out great…going back to that one.
What recipe is your go-to? Could you please share? TIA
For the few of you who might want to attempt this recipe with sugar substitutes: It can be done! But the final product isn’t quite as nice. I tried this recipe with Monkfruit sweetener instead of sugar and it took some finagling but it sort of turned out. I believe real sugar helps with the consistency before and after baking so when I make these again I’m going to use real sugar. It can be done!
That being said: SUCH a great recipe, easy to follow instructions. The cookies turned out delicious even if they didn’t look quite right. Will definitely be trying this again.
Very helpful for others. Thanks for sharing!
What can I use if I don’t have almond extract? The cookies look great, I loved the video!!
I made these fortune cookies yesterday! They came out amazing. Your recipe along with the video was so easy to follow.
Thank you!
Janice🥠
I have two questions:
Is the butter unsalted or can it be salted?
And
Is the extract flavor necessary or can other flavors be used as well?