Monday, January 23, 2012

Make Your Own Fortune - Sis 1


Happy Chinese New Year!

As part of our celebration this year, I "made" custom fortune cookies.

I did this once for my husband as a romantic gesture, but all of my attempts are lost on him.

I gave him a small gift basket with some of his favorite kinds of store-bought treats in it, along with a re-sealed box of fortune cookies containing flirty fortunes. He sat down and started eating.

"Aren't you going to try your fortune cookies?" I ask, a little more obvious than I wanted to be.

"I don't really like fortune cookies."

"Just try them."

He rolls his eyes as if to say that he makes the biggest sacrifices for me and begrudgingly opens the package of cookies. He breaks one open and reads the slip of paper.

"Did you write this?"

"Yes," I say in my most coy voice.

"Huh," he says, shoving another handful of raisinettes in his mouth.

But, however small an impression the fortune cookies made on my husband, they were an incredible hit with my kids tonight.

Our mom has a recipe for homemade fortune cookies and I have made them that way before, but this is MUCH easier and more surprising, as the cookies look just like the ones at a chinese restaurant.

First, I got a paper and wrote things like "You will soon be the new owner of a dollar bill" and "You will not be required to do your chore tomorrow" on it. Then I cut the phrases apart and folded them into tiny rectangles. If you want it to look more professional, you can type and print the fortunes.

I took a fortune cookie out of it's plastic wrapper and microwaved it on high for 27 seconds. (All microwaves are different, so you may have to experiment to get the timing right. If you start low, around 20 seconds, and the cookie isn't soft enough to open, set that one aside to cool and microwave another for a bit longer. You can use the first one again after it's cooled.) This makes the fortune cookie just soft enough to open, remove the old fortune and put your own inside. Unless you're used to dipping your hands in very hot water frequently, as I am, you might consider wearing clean knit gloves for this part, as the fortune cookies are hot. Hold the cookie closed until it is hard again and repeat for each fortune cookie that you want to customize.

If you are doing this for Valentines Day, you could drizzle chocolate on top and then sprinkle them with red or pink sprinkles. The element of surprise might be lessened this way, but they look cute.

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