Homemade Fortune Cookies

When we eat Chinese in a restaurant the final offer is always fortune cookies.  Fortune cookies are not authentic Chinese cuisine but rather an American invention.  We enjoy making Chinese food at home so I thought it would be fun to make homemade fortune cookies to finish off our meals.  Here is a short video showing how they are made.

Homemade Fortune Cookies

2 large egg whites
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
3 tbsp vegetable oil
½ c all purpose flour
1½ tsp corn starch
dash salt
½ c granulated sugar
3 tsp water

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).  Grease cookie sheet.  Blend egg whites, extracts, and vegetable oil until frothy but not thick.  Mix in remaining ingredients.  Blend until smooth.  [Work with only 2 cookies at a time as they harden very quickly.]  Drop 1 tbsp of batter per cookie on the cookie sheet spreading evenly to for a 4 - inch diameter circle.  Bake 11 to 12 minutes until edges are golden brown.  Working quickly, remove cookie and put fortune in centre.  Fold in half then bend over the edge of a cup.  Place in muffin tin to hold shape until cool.  Store in an airtight container.

Chicken with Mushroom Fried Rice

There are four Chinese restaurants within about 40 minutes of us, each with their own unique style.  That is something I appreciate because even though it is Chinese it isn't all the same.  We usually get Chinese take-out at our favourite restaurant two or three times a year and eat in at the other two once a year.  The furthest from us has a rather interesting menu with a couple of sides unique to them.  This restaurant is not one we would go out of our way to go to but when in the area take-out is in order.  Most of their dishes have almonds and I've noticed that almonds play a large role in a lot of their dishes.  My husband stopped for take-out there a couple of days ago. 

Chinese take-out is expensive coming in at about $50 per order for a dinner for three plus extras.  However, it usually gives us two meals each plus a bit of leftovers for another meal.  With respect to other take-out, Chines take-out despite the initial cost tends to be the more fugal choice sine all of it reheats nicely.

There was a bit of mushroom fried rice left over so we sautéed boneless, skinless chicken breast strips to a golden brown.  Then we tossed in the mushroom fried rice to create a new creation with lots of flavour.   This was an easy, peasy meal at it's finest taking about 15 minutes to put together.


Mushroom fried rice is extremely easy to make and there really are no measurements.  Start with mushroom slices then sautée them in butter until nicely browned.  Stir in the desired amount of cooked rice along with about a cup of cubed cooked carrots and sweet peas.  Add just enough chicken stock to give a nice, creamy texture.  I think cooking the rice in chicken stock boosts the flavour as well for this dish. 

Chinese Take-Out

My husband brought home Chinese take-out from our favourite Chinese restaurant last night.  This restaurant is quite good.  They offer a 10% discount on pick-up orders of $22 or more.  We usually order the regular dinner for three ($29.95).  Along with our regular order he also got sweet and sour shrimp and won ton soup.

Now a funny thing happened this morning as I was getting this post ready.  When I went to upload the picture, I noticed another picture for Chinese food fairly similar to this one I took last night.  There went my plans for talking about last night's meal!  Apparently I had already shared this with you back in February of 2010.  So onto plan B.

Many Chinese dishes are relatively easy to make at home and we often do.  One of the key ingredients for chow mein and eggrolls is bean sprouts.  Sprouts take about 4 days to harvest so planning ahead is necessary for making Chinese dishes requiring sprouts at home.  I will post a few of our homemade Chinese dishes as I make them.  Do watch for the homemade fortune cookies as well.  I'm sure you will like those!