All About Chinese Fortune Cookie! Origins, recipe, phrases and more!

The Chinese biscuit is delicious, it is crunchy and at the same time soft to eat. The first thing that comes to mind when talking about it is that it is served as a toast or side dish in Chinese restaurants.

Many must think that the origin of this sweet is probably Chinese. However, the origins of the Chinese fortune cookie indicate that it was first introduced in Japan and then migrated to the rest of the world.

Regardless of its true origin, this sweet is very popular and beloved, and can be prepared in many different ways to please Greeks and Trojans alike. Inside each of these cookies is a piece of paper with wise sayings, advice or even prophecies.

Many of these messages are proverbs taken from the I Ching, a classic book of Chinese philosophy dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1000–750 BCE). Follow now more information about the Chinese cookie and find out how it is prepared!

Chinese fortune cookie is a delicious delicacy. But for him to have a dry and crispy dough, he has a certain way of preparing it. Below, check out more about this cookie and how it is prepared.

The Chinese fortune cookie consists of a small crunchy cookie, and which usually has a small “luck” paper inside it, with sayings ranging from a prophecy to some moral advice. Some of the proverbs written on these slips of paper come from the famous Chinese philosophy book the I Ching.

Most of the time they can have a series of numbers on the back of this piece of paper, which are often used as numbers to be played in the lottery.

This biscuit is commonly served for dessert in Chinese restaurants around the world, as well as in Brazil, it is a toast for those who have a meal at the establishment. Despite the name, the biscuit does not have Chinese origin.

Such a biscuit is usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla and sesame oil. However, there are several variations of the recipe, in which almond essence is used in place of vanilla and so on.

In general, Chinese manufactured biscuits are prepared by mixing the ingredients in a large tank and then squirting them onto a rapidly moving tray. Then they are heated to cook the dough and then they are molded and cooked in a kind of round hot plate.

Finally, the biscuits are baked for approximately one minute and then mechanically shaped or folded by hand.

The Chinese cookie has several versions of its origin, which even include an ancient legend. You can check each of these versions below.

This is an ancient legend, where it is said that the fortune cookie had its birthplace in China, over 800 years ago in the twelfth century. During that time, the country was dominated by the Mongols and they were always at war with the Chinese, who wanted to expel the invaders, but did not know how to communicate with their opponents.

One day, the Chinese discovered that the Mongols hated a certain sweet, so they came up with the idea of ​​baking a Chinese cake, which is shaped like a half moon, and putting a message inside it.

So they were successful with the “communication” between their invaders, who immediately understood the message, and withdrew from the territory. Thus came the foundation of the Ming dynasty.

Over time, the custom of putting messages inside cakes and sweets gained strength in China, where they created the “victory cake” that carried positive messages of encouragement inside.

Much later, the Chinese biscuit lost its popularity, being more present during the New Year’s festivities. Meanwhile in the West the fortune cookie has become very popular, especially in Chinese restaurants.

In the mid-nineteenth century, some merchants began selling a kind of fortune cookie called omikuji senbei or tsujiura suzu in Fukakusa, a small region located in the city of Kyoto.

This cookie was very different from the traditional version that is known. In addition to being larger, it had the darkest dough, and instead of vanilla and butter, sesame and miso (fermented soybean paste) were used in the dough preparation.

This cookie had a folded piece of paper attached to the fold of the cookie, not inside it, as we usually see. It was widely sold in the vicinity of the Fushimi Inari-Taisha temple in Kyoto, which always attracts people every year for the purpose of ringing the two big bells and asking for good luck and good fluids.

The phrases present on the piece of paper could convey great, ambiguous or even bad luck. In case of bad luck, the paper was tied to a branch of the tree or to the railings of the temples.

During the US wars against Japan in 1942, while Japanese communities were held back, the Chinese were able to rise again during this scenario, as before the war, Chinese culture was marginalized.

As a result, the Chinese economy received a “boost” thanks to its gastronomy, which became highly valued. Consequently making the famous Chinatown Chinatown become quite popular. As a result, the sale of Chinese products, including fortune cookies, gradually increased.

Soldiers who went to Chinese restaurants in the region consumed these cookies, and as soon as they dispersed to other regions of the US, they always began to demand these same delicacies. Thus, the demand for the fortune cookie only increased, causing the opening of new companies to produce it.

Until around World War II, fortune cookies were known as “fortune tea cakes”. Likely reflecting its origins in Japanese tea cakes.

During this historic moment, fortune cookies went from being solely made by Japanese Americans to being produced by Chinese Americans.

There is a theory that during World War II, over 100,000 Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps, and that included those who made those fortune cookies. This created an opportunity for Chinese companies to start producing the candy.

In Brazil, the idea of ​​the fortune cookie was imported from a restaurant in San Francisco, USA. Makoto Hagiwara, manager of the Japanese Tea Garden chain, used the cookie with phrases of good luck to entice customers to have a Japanese tea accompanied by the sweet.

So, as time went by, this cookie became very popular with people, making even Chinese restaurateurs join the bandwagon as well. Adopting the fortune cookie as a toast or accompaniment during meals.

Around the 1940s, sweets began to be related to Chinese culture instead of Japanese culture. The idea, from then on, was imported to several other countries besides Brazil. Here, the fortune cookie is produced by the company Hakuna Matata, located in São Paulo since 1999.

If you want to make a fortune cookie that is very similar to those that are served as a side dish in Chinese restaurants, then you will be able to follow this delicious recipe step by step.

3 egg whites
3/4 cups (tea) of sugar
1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup wheat flour (tea)
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1 teaspoon almond essence

– In a bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand whisk until foamy.

– Add the sugar and salt and mix.

– Add the flour, butter and essence. Blend until smooth, then preheat oven to medium heat.

– In the baking dish, put portions of half a tablespoon of dough, leaving 7 cm of space between one pile and another.

– Prepare six cookies at a time.

– Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and, when the biscuits have cooled down and become pliable, quickly remove them from the baking sheet with a spatula.

– Place each cookie in the palm of your hand, put a piece of paper with a message right in the center and fold it in half again and let it cool.

Are you going to have a party and want to give a souvenir to your guests, giving a fortune cookie with a piece of paper inside is a good request. Next, we’ll teach you how to make this candy for festive occasions, using rice flour, which, in addition to being cheap, is a good option for those who cannot eat gluten.

1 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons of water
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

– Blend the raw rice in a blender, then strain it through a fine sieve until it reaches a very fine rice powder, almost the consistency of sugar.

– Take a large bowl and sift the wheat flour, rice flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt. Mix well and make a hole in the center to add the oil, water and vanilla extract.

– With a spatula mix well, and knead until everything is incorporated. The dough might be a little dry, so this part might be a little tough.

– In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, about 2 minutes. Then add half of the beaten egg whites to the dough and mix, after incorporating, add the other half and mix together. The dough at the end should be liquid and very homogeneous.

– Preheat the oven to 180°C, and take a form with parchment paper, then pour approximately one tablespoon of dough forming a small circle. Using the back of the spoon spread the dough until it is very thin. The thickness point is when you see a transparency in the dough. Be careful not to form holes and bubbles.

– Place to bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove when they are colored on the sides and white in the center.

– A tip for the biscuit not to bite when folding, it is important that the dough is still hot. The best way is to remove one cookie at a time from the oven, leaving the rest still inside.

– When folding, just turn the dough over, place the paper with the message and fold it forming a semicircle, after that step, with the help of the corner of a mug, fold the semicircle in half.

– To hold the shape of the fortune cookie, you can place it inside a glass or cup. Fold as quickly as you can, as cookies tend to cool quickly.

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