Image by Molly Yeh

Something is special about Wednesday. You may wake up with a warm fuzzy feeling, and perhaps there will be fresh snow on the ground. Smells of sugar and spice might fill your apartment hallways, and outside, all will be quiet. The groceries will be closed, the convenience stores too… and even your Twitter feed will slow to a trickle.

Wednesday is special, very very special. Wednesday… is Chinese food day.

Egg rolls, stir fry, soup dumplings, oh my. (I’m so excited I could cry.)

But you know what could make the day extra special? Freshly made fortune cookies, complete with festive, one-of-a-kind, no-dictionary-needed fortunes.

They’re really not difficult, and they’re a million times better than the restaurant ones.

So go on, give yourself the fortune you always wanted, and have a very Merry Chinese Food Day!

DIY Fortune Cookies
Makes about 12

Ingredients
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c all-purpose flour*
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 pinch of cardamom
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
12 strips of paper with fortunes
*for a gluten free option, you can use almond flour instead. You may need to bake them for a minute or two longer.

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites and extracts. Sift in the dry ingredients and whisk it… whisk it good, until you have a smooth batter.

Grease a cookie sheet and then spread a tablespoon of batter into a 3-inch circle (it helps to use the lid of a ball jar as a guide). Only bake three circles at a time so that you have time to mold the cookies before they cool.

Bake for 5-7 minutes, until the edges are brown. Working quickly (but carefully, as to not burn your fingers), use a spatula to flip a circle over. Place a fortune in the center, fold the circle in half, and then pick it up and bend the folded side over the edge of a bowl to form your fortune cookie shape.

Place in a muffin tin so that the shape holds while it cools.

Repeat with remaining circles, and then bake another batch.

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