Fortune Cookie Day

Sep 12, 2025 | Food Blog

Today’s Spotlight is on the Fortune Cookie.

Fortune cookies are small, crispy cookies that contain a small piece of paper with a message or proverb inside. The message is often a fortune, aphorism, or prophecy. The cookies are made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil. They are folded into a butterfly shape to create a pocket for the paper.

Fortune cookies are often served at the end of a meal in Chinese restaurants. They are most popular in the United States but are also served in other countries. The fortune cookie is a staple of Chinese American cuisine. It symbolizes luck, fate, soundbite Chinese wisdom, and the mysteries of the unknown.

Fortune cookies symbolize luck, wisdom, fate, and the unknown. They are a dessert served in Chinese restaurants. The fortune cookie’s distinctive shape and the hidden paper slip inscribed with a fortune give it a layered meaning. The fortune is a short message or proverb that is supposed to offer advice or a prediction about the future.

Some say that fortune cookies can predict what will happen in the future. However, you can choose to take the meaning of your fortune cookie from a negative perspective and see it as a bad omen. If there is no fortune in a fortune cookie, it is a sign that something good will happen to you soon. If you get two fortunes in one cookie, they cancel each other out.

History

The exact origin of is unclear, but they are believed to have originated in Japan. The cookie was inspired by a Japanese cracker called tsujiura senbei, which was made with sesame and miso and contained a small paper fortune.

Fortune Cookies were popularized by Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese immigrant who ran the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in the 1890s. Hagiwara is believed to have been the first to serve fortune cookies at the tea garden in 1908. They were originally called “fortune tea cakes”.

Another story claims that David Jung, a Chinese immigrant and founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company, invented the cookie in 1918. Jung created the cookie as a sweet treat and encouraging word for unemployed men who gathered on the streets.

Fortune cookies are a staple of Chinese American cuisine. They symbolize luck, wisdom, fate, and all that is unknown. The message in your cookie is for you. Fortune cookies became popular in Chinese restaurants in the United States during the mid-20th century. The exact origins of the fortune cookie as a symbol of good luck are not known.

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Here are some other interesting facts about fortune cookies:

They are meant to bring good luck to the person who eats them.
They are much larger than the fortune cookies you’re used to seeing.
They are flavored with miso instead of vanilla and sesame.
They are shaped after they are baked.
They were first sold in California.
Mass production of fortune cookies began in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
In 2008, approximately three billion fortune cookies were produced worldwide.
In Japan, they are called tsujiura senbei (“fortune crackers”), omikuji senbei (“written fortune crackers”), and suzu senbei (“bell crackers”).
David Jung, a Chinese immigrant, invented fortune cookies in 1918. He created them to give away for free to the poor people he saw near his shop.

Here is a Fortune Cookie Recipe for you to Try:

Ingredients:

3 egg whites room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup salted or unsalted melted butter.
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat; have fortune strips ready.
In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites and sugar on high speed for 2 minutes. Add the melted butter, vanilla, almond extract, and water, mix until incorporated. Add the flour and cornstarch, mix just until combined.
Using a tablespoon, spoon the batter onto the prepared baking sheet. Using a spatula or the back of tablespoon, spread the batter into a 3-inch circle. Only do two at a time!
Bake the cookies for 7-8 minutes or until the edges are brown. Remove them from the oven and quickly flip over. Fold the cookie in half, into a semicircle. Slip the note into the cookie. Place the semicircle onto the edge of a cup and quickly fold the ends down (see pictures below).
Place the cookie in a muffin tin to let it cool and hold its shape.
Repeat the process with the remaining batter.

About 3 billion fortune cookies are made each year, almost all in the United States. The largest manufacturer of fortune cookies is Wonton Food, Inc., which is based in Brooklyn, New York. They produce over 4.5 million fortune cookies per day. Other large manufacturers include Baily International in the Midwest and Peking Noodle in Los Angeles.

Wonton Food was established in New York’s Chinatown in 1973 by Chinese immigrant Ching Sun Wong. They are the largest manufacturer of noodles, wrappers, and fortune cookies in the United States.

Fortune cookies are available in vanilla, chocolate, citrus, and tri-flavored flavors. They are individually wrapped and available in bulk and in boxes.

National Fortune Cookie Day is celebrated on July 20th every year. Fortune Cookie Day is observed on September 13th.This way you get two chances to Chinese takeout or make a homemade crunchy, sweet treat. Let us know in the comments which direction you went.

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Fortune Cookie Day

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