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Fortune Cookies

Did you know there are 4 million fortune cookies made every single day? That’s a lot of fortunes! Fortune cookies are crispy little treats that are hollow inside, with a written fortune saying on a small piece of paper. Today I’ll show how to make these famous horseshoe-shaped cookies with custom messages inside.

Bare and chocolate-dipped cookies on a crumpled parchment sheet.

updated from 2011

HOW TO MAKE FORTUNE COOKIES WITH CUSTOM MESSAGES

Shatteringly crisp, sweet little cookies are perfect for weddings, birthdays, Christmas, pregnancy announcements, Valentine’s day, and virtually any occasion. When making them yourself, you can include your messages, sayings, or even quotes from movies. That’s what makes them so special.

WHAT ARE FORTUNE COOKIES MADE OF

This fortune cookie recipe contains simple ingredients:

  • Egg whites
  • Sugar
  • Melted Butter
  • Water or Milk
  • Extracts: Vanilla, Almond(optional) or use other flavors
  • Flour
  • Pinch of salt
Bowls with ingredients.

TOOLS

A flat spatula comes in handy when handling hot cookie rounds.

Hand holding a cookie spatula.
  • To shape thin hot cookie rounds, you’ll need something with an edge – a glass or mug with a wide mouth works excellently.
  • And a muffin pan is great for keeping a shaped fortune cookie in shape as they cool.
Glass with a wide mouth and standard-size muffin pan.

Make a guide – I used a 3.5-inch round cutter to trace circles onto a piece of paper.

Yellow round cookie cutter on a paper, blue circles along side.

COOKIE SAYINGS AND QUOTES

The best part of a fortune cookie is its message; nibbling on a sweet cookie is a bonus.

When you make your fortune cookies, you can also include custom messages: make them funny and wise, use movie quotes, personal notes, lyrics, and wishes.

Paper with printed sayings.

COOKIE BATTER

Cookie batter for fortune cookies is super easy to make. Into a bowl, pour egg whites, sugar, salt, extracts, butter, and water and beat for 3-4 minutes, until well combined, smooth, and off-white color. Then add flour and beat until combined with no flour streaks in the batter. The cookie batter should be medium, not too thick or runny. If it appears too thick, add little more water or milk.

Yellow mixing bowl, hand holding a handheld mixer, mixing the ingredients.
Yellow bowl with cake batter.

BAKE FORTUNE COOKIES

Place the template underneath of silicone baking mat or parchment. Use the back of the measuring spoon to shape a generous teaspoon of cookie batter into a thin round. Repeat (steps 1-3).

Silicone baking mat with two thin round of cookie batter.

Bake cookies in the preheated oven at 350F (180C) for about 6-8 minutes, until golden to brown around the edges.

Inside of an oven with a baking sheet with baked cookies.

HOW TO SHAPE A FORTUNE COOKIE

Immediately shape cookies. Don’t wait for cookies to cool. They can only be shaped while hot.

Place the message in the middle of the cookie, and using a flat spatula, fold one half of the cookie over. Press gently around the edge (steps 1-4). Pick up a crescent shaped-cookie while hot, place the middle onto the rim of the glass, and gently push two ends down (steps 5-8).

Two hands holding a cookie over the rim of a glass.

Transfer shaped cookies into a muffin pan. It will ensure they will stay in shape as they cool.

Hands placing shaped cookie into a muffin pan.

I love how these bare cookies look.

Baked and shaped cookies in a muffin pan.

VALENTINE’S DAY FORTUNE COOKIES

Making decorated fortune cookies for Valentine’s Day requires some chocolate and festive sprinkles.

The above shows an array of colorful sprinkles in several bottles, shaped cookies, and a bowl with dark and white chocolate disks.
Freshly chocolate-dipped cookies on parchment paper.

The process is simple: melt and dip cookies in melted chocolate. Place cookies onto parchment and decorate with sprinkles. Let the chocolate set.

You can use easy-to-use, melt-and-dip confectionary chocolate disk/compound chocolate, Or chop a chocolate bar and temper chocolate before dipping cookies.

Hand holding a cookie, dipping it into melted chocolate.

Try dipping the end of the cookie, too.

Green bowl with melted chocolate; half of the cookie is dipped in the chocolate.

Let the dark chocolate layer set before adding a white chocolate drizzle and sprinkles. Allow to fully set before packaging.

Cookie dipped in dark chocolate with a white chocolate drizzle.
Cookies in a take-out box.

HOW TO STORE COOKIES

Shaped cookies will last up to a month, stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If they lose some of their crispiness you can crispy them up again, in the oven at 300F for a couple of minutes.

Plastic container with baked and shaped cookies.

FORTUNE COOKIES SUCCESS TIPS

  • To successfully shape these cookies, they need to be hot, so it’s crucial to have everything handy. The very first thing is mise en place, have everything in place, ready to go: teaspoon measure, glass, muffin pan, flat spatula, cut-up messages
  • It takes about 7- 8 minutes to bake these cookies. Please don’t leave them unattended. They can burn quickly.
  • Cookies have to be hot to shape them. It’s best to work with 2-3 cookies at a time.
  • If the cookie cools before shaping, heat it in the oven for a minute or two and then shape it.
  • As the cookies are baking, prepare another sheet and spread a thin layer of cookie batter onto the silicone mat or parchment – this helps to speed up the process.
  • For a uniform shape, use a template underneath the baking mat.
  • Use a flat spatula to fold one-half of the cookie over.
  • Use a muffin pan as a cooling rack.
  • Don’t press the cookie flat when folding half of the cookie over (step 4)- it causes a lack of hollow space in the cookie after shaping (steps 5-6).
Hands shaping a cookie.
  • See the difference? I pressed one half of the cookie on top of the bottom one and then shaped it over the rim of the glass (step 1)- cookies lack the hollow inside.
  • The cookie was made by gently pressing the edges and then shaping the crescent shape over the rim (step 2)- the cookie has a hollow inside. Perfect!
Hands holding correctly shaped and incorrectly shaped cookies.
  • The cookie that is too cool to be correctly shaped will crack (step 1).
  • And cookie that is either too thick or not baked enough will remain soft in the middle after cooling (step 2). Bake-shaped cookie again for a couple of minutes to make it crispy.
Two hands are holding a cracked cookie and another soft one.

Fortune cookies are fun to give and receive.

Woman with brown hair and glasses holding two cookies.

MORE UNIQUE COOKIE RECIPES

A broken fortune cookie.

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TO MAKE HOMEMADE FORTUNE COOKIES YOU NEED

Fortune Cookies

The recipe makes about 20-24 / 3.5-4 inches
1 serving -2 cookies
Course Cake, Cookies, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American, Japanese
Keyword custom fortune cookies, easy fortune cookies, fortune cookies, how to make fortune cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 7 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Author Hani

Equipment

  • 1 handheld mixer
  • mixing bowls
  • flat cookie spatula
  • baking sheet
  • silicone baking mat
  • muffing pan

Ingredients

FORTUNE COOKIES

    Cookie Batter

    • 2 egg whites (60 grams)
    • 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
    • 3 tbsp melted butter (42-45 grams)
    • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
    • 1/4 tsp Almond Extract (optional)
    • 2 to 2½ tbsp water or milk (30 to 37ml)
    • 2/3 cup flour (95grams)
    • pinch of salt

    Chocolate for Dipping

    • 4oz melting wafers/dipping chocolate (113grams)
    • Sprinkles

    Instructions

    Cookie Batter

    • Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
    • Into a mixing bowl, pour egg whites (2 egg whites, 60grams), granulated sugar (1/2 cup, 100 grams), Vanilla Extract (1/2 teaspoon), Almond Extract (1/4 teaspoon), melted butter (3 tablespoons, 42- 45grams), water or milk (2 to 2½ tablespoons). Beat at medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes until smooth, doubled in volume, and light in color.
    • Reduce speed to low. Add flour (2/3 cup, 95 grams) and continue mixing until all is well combined and no streaks of flour are visible. The batter should be medium consistency; if it appears too thick, add a teaspoon of water.

    Spread Cookie Dough into Rounds

    • Drop 1 heaping tsp of batter onto a baking mat or parchment. Use the back of the measuring spoon to spread the batter into about 3.5-4 inch round. Bake 2 cookies per baking sheet. As you get faster shaping cookies you can try and bake 3-4 cookie at a time.

    Bake Cookies

    • Bake cookies in the preheated oven at 350F for 7-8 minutes, until the edges are brown.

    Shape Fortune Cookies

    • Carefully run the spatula under half of the cookie to release it. Place the fortune message in the middle of the cookie. Fold half of the cookie over and gently press the edges.
      Place the middle of the crescent shape (edges facing out) and gently press the ends of the cookie down, forming a horseshoe shape.
      Place shaped fortune cookie into a prepared muffin pan to cool.

    Dipping in Chocolate

    • Melt chocolate( 4oz, 113 grams), dip cooled cookies in chocolate, and decorate with sprinkles.

    Notes

    • How to Store Fortune Cookies? – Shaped cookies will last up to a month, stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If they lose some of their crispiness you can crispy them up again, in the oven at 300F for a couple of minutes.

    This post was originally published on January 15th, 2011. On February 13th, 2023 I updated this post with step-by-step photo and written instructions.

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    10 Comments

    1. Now i want to try this too! Not for Valentine but for Chinese New Year! 😀 Thanks for sharing! Ok..i want to use princess emulsion too..sounds so princessy..and i like!

    2. Thank you so much everyone for your wonderful comments.

      Sue, sure you can, you can use any flavoring you'd like.
      You can't go wrong with good vanilla.

    3. So fun to make custom love notes for your own fortune cookies! I printed out the recipe; thanks! Do I just use vanilla instead of the princess emulsion?

    4. These are super-cute! What a fun idea to make. You executed them perfectly!!!! What a creative mind 🙂

    5. Landa, of course not. Please try them, they are fun to make.:-)
      Maybe you can decorate them with royal icing for a little extra decorative touch, I can see these to be really personalized with a written message on them..like For my Valentine or something like that. That would be fun too.
      I wish I used my disco dust, it looks so pretty on chocolate.

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