A Taste Of The Orient

One of the things my wife and I have always loved doing was buying Chinese take-out (at least what passes for Chinese food in North America). Over the last few years though, the rising cost of buying it and the gradual decrease in quality of said food Plus you never know about things such as MSG, I've turned to making my own at home.

This week, I decided to add my interpretation of Chinese foods. I will add a different recipe for a Chinese food that I have made at home. Most are fairly straight foreward and simple to make.

Fortune Cookies

I thought I would start with the dessert end of the meal (Sorry but the child in me hasn't grown up yet).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Egg White


• 1/8 Tspn. Vanilla Extract


• 1 Pinch Salt


• 1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour


• 1/4 cup White Sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Write fortunes on strips of paper about 4" long X 1/2" wide. Generously grease 2 cookie sheets.

Mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Sift the flour, salt, and sugar and blend into the egg white mixture.

Place teaspoonfuls of the batter at least 4 inches apart on one of the prepared cookie sheets. Tilt the sheet to move the batter into round shapes about 3 inches in diameter. Be careful to make batter as round and even as possible. Do not make too many, because the cookie have to be really hot to form them and once they cool it is too late. Start with 2 or 3 to a sheet and see how many you can do.

Bake for 5 minutes or until cookie has turned a golden color 1/2 inch wide around the outer edge of the circle. The center will remain pale. While one sheet is baking, prepare the other.

Remove from oven and quickly move cookie with a wide spatula and place upside down on a wooden board. Quickly place the fortune on the cookie, close to the middle and fold the cookie in half. Place the folded edge across the rim of a measuring cup and pull the pointed edges down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outside. Place folded cookies into the cups of a muffin tin or egg carton to hold their shape until they cool and hold their shape.