The technical challenge on the second week of the Great British Bake Off were fortune cookies - simply they are really thin biscuits (like a tuile), shaped into the classic fortune cookie shape whilst warm. Now I've never made a tuile before, but how hard could it be? The method for making the batter is very simple, but the published recipe is a little misleading when saying the amount of batter to use and how big to make the cookies. They say to use 2 tbsp of batter per cookie and to spread it out until it is 10cm in diameter....Suffice to say that makes an incredibly large circle and makes a really thick circle as well.
After a lot of experimentation, I did get a few of the cookies fortune cookie shaped, and my recipe is below :)
I'd recommend testing these before making them for a party/event - they are a tricky thing to master and need to be shaped seconds out of the oven!
Oh, and I added cinnamon to the cookie to make it taste extra yummy, and make a small portion of the batter chocolatey (with some cocoa powder) - this is completely optional but makes the fortune cookies seem a bit more worth making rather than simply buying them in (you'll understand if any of your cookies crack - the heartbreak!)
Makes 12-15 fortune cookies (depending on how much batter you use per cookie)
Ingredients:
- 2 large egg whites
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp water
- 65g (1/2 cup) plain flour
- 1 ½ tsp cornflour
- pinch of salt
- 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder (optional)
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 150C (fan 130c)/ 300f/gas 2. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Write your fortunes on pieces of paper around 6cm x 1cm in size.
2. Use a whisk to beat the egg whites, vegetable oil and water together until frothy but not aerated.
3. Sieve the flour, cornflour, ground cinnamon (if using) and salt together in a bowl, then stir in the sugar. Add the egg white mixture to the bowl and beat to a smooth batter. Try not to incorporate any air during the beating as you don’t want bubbles in the batter.
4. Take 3 tbsp of the mixture and place into a little bowl. Add the cocoa powder and beat in. Pour into a piping bag.
5. Take 1-2 teaspoons of the batter and spread until it is a 6-8 cm wide (use an oiled spoon to do this). Only make 2 or 3 cookies at a time. Cut the tip off of the piping bag and pipe small dots of brown batter around the cookie. Run a skewer/knife through the dots to create a feathered effect. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies have started to turn brown.
6. As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, run a palette knife underneath to release the cookie. Flip the cookie over, place the fortune inside, then fold in half and pinch the semi-circular edges together to seal. Place the middle of the folded edge of the cookie over the rim of a glass and gently pull the corners down on the inside and outside of the glass, to form the classic fortune cookie shape. Place in a 12-hole muffin tin (as this helps to hold the shape) to cool and quickly shape the second fortune cookie.
7. Repeat with the other cookies.
8. Enjoy!
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