Homemade Fortune Cookies
These homemade fortune cookies are adorable, and the best thing about them is that they can be personalized with whatever message you want.
Homemade fortune cookies? Seriously. Who in their right mind is ambitious enough to make these? You are, that’s who!
And don’t worry, I’ve made it even easier for you. I delved into a morning of fortune cookie making and tried every baking method known to man (these sticky cookies can be a bit temperamental) and said all the bad words necessary to alleviate frustration over the baking methods that do.not.work.
Basically, I’ve generally diffused all the challenge out of this project. All this I did for you.
So, see? You have no excuse not to make them. Plus, I’ve included step-by-step photos to help you along.
*Click HERE for a PDF of the below step-by-step photos.*
I, personally, think they are the most adorable little treats and the best thing about them is that they can be personalized with whatever your little heart deems necessary to put on the fortune.
I typed up a bunch of Valentine’s Day jokes I found online because my boys love them a good slapstick joke but you can customize and create fortunes to your heart’s content. Here are the jokes I used, just in case anyone else is interested.
I stuffed one cookie with the fortune “You’ll lose all your baby weight in a matter of seconds!” and then made the mistake of forgetting to grab it for myself so I was left with a 4-year old who was thoroughly confused by his fortune and I had to act happy about “What do squirrels give for Valentine’s Day? Forget-me-nuts.” Better luck next time.
FAQs for Homemade Fortune Cookies
I used melting wafers (like almond bark but with colors)
Probably 1-2 days at room temperature, well covered.
The best way is probably to store them in a single layer in an airtight container. You’ll just want to be careful with the edges of the cookies – because the batter is such a simple concoction of ingredients and there is no butter/fat, they can break easily if knocked around.
Homemade Fortune Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ½ cup (71 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (106 g) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large egg whites
Extras:
- Fortunes for stuffing, I used Valentine’s Day jokes and printed them out at 10pt font with red text
- Candy melts for dipping, optional
- Sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until completely smooth. Transfer to a liquid measure or other container (or keep in the blender) and refrigerate for an hour.
- When ready to start baking cookies, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Lightly coat a rimmed baking sheet (I used an 11X17-inch size) with cooking spray and rub with a paper towel to even out the droplets of cooking spray. If possible, try and use a light, aluminum, non-coated sheet pan (not a dark, nonstick pan).
- Spoon out four dollops of teaspoon-sized amounts of cookie batter in four quadrants of the baking sheet. Using an offset spatula or other spreading tool (the back of a spoon, flat knife, etc.) spread the batter into thin circles, measuring about 3-inches in diameter. Just eyeball them. They don’t need to be perfect.
- Bake the cookies for 4-5 minutes, watching carefully so they don’t overbrown. They should be golden around the edges with maybe a few patches of browner spots throughout the cookie but still fairly pale in color throughout. While the cookies are baking, make sure your fortunes are ready to be stuffed inside the cookies. Also, prepare a mug or bowl next to where you’ll put the hot cookies to help shape the fortune cookies after folding.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven and wait for 5-10 seconds (seriously, not long at all, but if you try too early the cookies may fold up while flipping) before using a flat, metal spatula to quickly flip the cookies upside down. Immediately put a fortune in the middle of the cookie and fold the cookie in half over the fortune so the edges meet, pressing the very top edges together lightly. Gently pull the ends of the cookie over the rim of the bowl/mug you have prepared and let the cookies set until cool (it only takes a few minutes). Repeat this process until all the cookies have been baked and formed. If the cookies become too stiff to fold, return the pan to the oven for a few second (5-10) to soften them up.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: idea and recipe from Cooking Light (experimented with my own method)
What kind of frosting did you use to dip these in?
I used melting wafers (like almond bark but with colors).
Any suggestions for less burned fingers while doing this? I make them annually for Valentines and I get burned fingers everytime!
Hi. Im gonna make these fortune cookies for my boyfriend by giving him a suprise. Is that good to store it in a lovely jar and send it to him? Cuz he’s now away. Would it be crashed when moving? By the way, your recipe is great!
Ha Nguyen – That sounds like a fun idea for your boyfriend. I would just make sure the cookies are packed in tight enough that they can’t move around too much in the jar and get crunched, and as long as you pad the jar well they should be fine to send.
Hi Mel!
I just stumbled accross these fortune cookies and think that they are a great idea! I was wondering if you could repost the fortunes that you used-I tried clicking on the link in the recipe and could not get it to work.
Hi Jess, I’m away from the hard drive that has this document but I will upload and fix when I get back from vacation.
Jess – I added the document again. Enjoy!
Great blog here! Also your web site loads up very fast! What web host are you using?
Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my
web site loaded up as quickly as yours lol
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this
website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to
find out where u got this from. appreciate it
Great article. I am dealing with some of these issues
as well..
About how many cookies can be made from this recipe?
Suz – I don’t remember exactly since it’s been a while since I made them but I’d say around 2 dozen.
So, I used about half the batter, then gave up. It required more patience than I had a the time! I agree that a silpat is not the way to go, but mine still stuck a bit to the greased cookie sheet. I found it hard to spread the batter thin enough without gaps in the circle. (I thought the easiest way to spread was to use the back of the teaspoon I measured out the batter with, vs. the offset spatula I first tried.) I couldn’t get them to cook all the way and still be fold-able. (Plus I got tired of burning my fingers trying to get them to hold their shape. My cookies ended up being a little soft and sticky, but I spread them over a wire rack placed on a cookie sheet and baked them at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and they came out crisp and delicious.
So after all this complaining, I will say that the recipe makes tasty cookies, but the method is a little finicky. I don’t think it’s a bad recipe if you have the time and patience for it. I saw an idea the other day for steaming store-bought fortune cookies to make them soft enough to open up and change the fortunes for your own, then close again. While I know they won’t taste as good as these homemade ones, it sure seems a lot easier if your main goal is custom fortunes.
Making these for my boyfriend today, already have my candy melts and sprinkles, I’m so excited this is our first Valentines Day together, thanks for helping me make it even more special for him, great recipes!
I am currently in the midst of making these. I have no idea how you spread them so perfectly!Though, I suppose it’s practice…. On my second tray of 4, these ones are still lumpy and unevenly spread (it’s really sticky!) but I’m gettign better.
My cookie failure is definitely at no fault of the directions!
I would suggest greasing your spreading tool, and at the start, only make one at a time.
No matter what I did I couldn’t get this recipe to work. They crack and tear. I adjusted things, made several batches, but couldn’t get it right. Try a different recipe!!
I have made these multiple times since you posted this recipe, but for some reason tonight when I tried to make them they would not turn out. They burned too fast and stuck no matter what I did. I made them exactly the same. I don’t know what I did wrong!
looking forward to making these. I am glad you worked out so many of the bumps for us. It is Chinese New years coming right up and I am making them as an activity for my church kids. I am the singing leader and I am going to put the songs to sing inside the fortune cookies and let the kids break them open to see what song we will sing. It should be really fun.
A while back I took walnuts and took out the nut part, then I stuffed in a slip of paper with the songs glued it all back together and let the kids crack them open. They loved it. “How did you get the papers inside?” they asked. “Ancient chinese secret” I told them. Now with the fortune cookies they will think I really know a secret. Thanks for sharing and for a freind pinned it to pintrest. I am ready to go. I will have to leave a comment later to let you know how it worked out for me.
Mikaela – probably 1-2 days at room temperature, well-covered.
How long can these be stored for? x
Heather was right, you have to try a few times but by the end you get the hang of it. Parchment paper worked best for us. We’re making Un-Fortunate cookies for my daughter’s Halloween birthday. They taste delicious!
Adam B – that’s frustrating! Sorry you are having sticky issues. I tried the parchment paper and nearly died of frustration because I couldn’t get the cookies off the parchment paper without it sliding around and crumpling…but maybe you could try parchment with a light coating of cooking spray. That might work – I also tried the silpats and had sticky issues there, too, but again, I didn’t use the cooking spray on the silpats because I didn’t want to gum them up. Again, it’s probably worth a try. Good luck!
Mel – how did you keep yours from sticking? We tried lowering the temperature (because we’re at higher altitude), tried different baking pans, more cooking spray, less…nothing worked. We couldn’t keep them from sticking to the pan. We might try using parchment paper or a silpat.
So I helped my daughter make these to give to her high school boyrfiend. They were yummy and a very cute idea!
Such great instructions! I made these with my kids. We had so much fun! It took a few batches to get the hang of it all but by the end, they actually looked like fortune cookies. LOL. Thanks for the great idea! 🙂
Wow, I love this idea. Making these in the morning and then dropping them off to my hubby. 🙂
Oh wow, how fun! I love Grace’s idea too… Would be fun to write your own fortunes and shock your friends, haha. Great job on these, Mel.
my favorite part of making these would be writing some scandalous and riotous fortunes. 🙂
This post made me laugh, Mel! I tried to make fortune cookies for my Asian themed party once. That’s right…once. I was so frustrated with them that I gave up. I love your tutorial, and you have given me the courage to try again! It would be so fun to fill them with custom fortunes!
Yummmy!!!! I can’t wait to make these!
Perfect timing! We had chinese take-out last night, and my younger sons were asking how on earth they got the fortune inside the cookie. I showed them your post and they asked if they could make some. I commented that I would happily bake with any little boy who had a clean room.
They are frantically cleaning their room right now ~hehehehe~
I’ve looked into making fortune cookie several times but never followed through. You just inspired me to get up and try them!
Oh, the awesomeness! My kids will love these!
Soooo cute! 🙂
Amazing!!! You’re such an artist, Mel. I am not sure if I will ever be able to make these as beautiful as you did. 🙂
Sarah – I think storing them in a single layer in an airtight container would work fine. You’ll just want to be careful with the edges of the cookies – because the batter is such a simple concoction of ingredients and there is no butter/fat, they can break easily if knocked around.
I might just have to make these for the classroom treat on Monday! these are adorable!
How cool! I’ve never seen a post or recipe for making your own fortune cookies. Hubby would get a kick out of having homemade fortune cookies next time I do an asian stir-fry. Thank you for doing the research and providing such detailed instructions!!
I had no idea you could bake them. I’ve always make them in a skillet, like pancakes. It’s slow, but they come out nice. There is only one to fold over at a time, which makes it easy. After I fold them in two (with the fortune or a peanut M&M inside) I drape them over a wooden spoon. 🙂
These are just the treat I need for my 3 boys for Valentine’s Day. Thank you so much for the link to the jokes that are ready to print. How awesome! ( I probably would not attempt this if I had to find my own jokes.) You made this project so easy!
Thanks so much for sharing this! These would be awesome to make on homemade chinese takeout night!
I’m scared, but willing to try! Your cookies look great – thank you for sharing this recipe and all the pictures! What do you think is the best way to store them?
These cookies look much easier then i thought. Wow, what a good idea.
I’ve wanted to make fortune cookies for a long time! Thanks for the step-by-step how to!
These fortune cookies are so cute! Love the Valentine’s day sprinkles.
Wish I had a little more patience to make some ..
These are beautiful and I’m sure so tasty. But I’m pretty sure my fortune is that I lack the patience and fortitude required.
My son loves fortune cookies and I think I might try my hand at these to surprise him on Valentine’s Day