Today’s spotlight is on Fortune Cookies.

Fortune cookies can symbolize luck, wisdom, fate, and the unknown. The message inside the cookie is for you, and you picked that cookie out of all the others. Fortune cookies are a dessert served primarily in Chinese restaurants. They have a distinctive shape and a hidden paper slip with a fortune inscribed on it.

Some say that fortune cookies can predict what will happen in the future. However, others say that fortune cookies don’t have special powers of foresight. If a fortune comes true, it’s just coincidence.

The numbers on the back of a fortune cookie may signify a date or time when something lucky will happen. Some say you can make the lucky numbers your own by looking for things with the same number, such as license plates, phone numbers, or house numbers.

In Chinese culture, some lucky numbers include 6, 8, and 9 because the words for these numbers sound similar to other positive Chinese words. For example, the Chinese word for “eight” sounds like the word for “wealth”.

Some say you can use the numbers on the back of a fortune cookie for lottery numbers. In 2014, a New York woman won $2 million using numbers from her fortune cookie. In 2005, 110 people won about $100,000 playing Powerball numbers from fortune cookies.

The exact origin of fortune cookies is unclear. They most likely originated from cookies made by Japanese immigrants to the United States in the late 19th or early 20th century. The initial idea of fortune cookies is believed to have originated in Japan. The Japanese cracker called tsujiura senbei, which was made with sesame and miso and contained a small paper fortune, can be traced back to 19th-century Kyoto. The concept for the tiny after-dinner desserts spread to America at the turn of the century. Some say the inspiration for fortune cookies comes from the 14th century when Chinese soldiers slipped messages into mooncakes.

Most people nowadays believe that fortune cookies were created by a Japanese man named Makoto Hagiwara in 1914 in San Francisco. Hagiwara owned what is now called the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. This is a Japanese Tea Garden, where he served tea and fortune cookies. Hagiwara’s company says that he invented the cookie as a treat to give to people who had supported him during a dispute with the city’s mayor. Hagiwara’s cookies contained thank-you notes instead of fortunes.

Another story claims that David Jung, a Chinese immigrant living in Los Angeles and founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company, invented the cookie in 1918. Concerned about the poor he saw wandering near his shop, he created the cookie and passed them out free on the streets.

Either way, I suppose that those luck lotter winners are glad that fortune cookies exist.

 

Here are some interesting facts about fortune cookies:

• Fortune cookies are not Chinese in origin
• The cookie took almost a century to reach China, where it arrived in 1989
• The fortune cookie symbolizes luck, fate, Chinese wisdom, and the unknown
• The cookie’s favorite flavor is vanilla
• The fortune cookie has a simple recipe
• The cookie gets its shape after being baked
• The cookie is made with over 4.5 million fortune cookies per day
• The cookie’s mass production began in the late 1960s or early 1970s
• The cookie can last up to 3 months if stored in a cool, dry place

 

Chinese Reaction to Fortune Cookies

In China, people react to fortune cookies with a mixture of confusion and amusement. While Chinese restaurants around the world serve fortune cookies, those in China do not. In fact, the concept is so foreign that in 1989 when Wonton Food Inc. tried to do business in China They imported into Hong Kong and sold as “genuine American fortune cookies”.  Diners inadvertently kept eating the fortunes by mistake. The fortune cookie business gave up after fortune cookies were considered “too American”.

In China, fortune cookies are referred to as “good luck cookie”, “cookie with fortune words”, and “good luck biscuit”. They are often considered to symbolize luck, fate, and wisdom.

 

Fortune Cookie Consumption

There are approximately 3 billion fortune cookies made each year globally, the majority of them consumed in the US. This is a pretty good amount since only 1.47% restaurants offer Fortune Cookie on their menus. The largest manufacturer of the cookies is Wonton Food, Inc., headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. They make over 4.5 million fortune cookies per day.

Oddly fortune cookies are the fastest rising consumer need for a snack. That deflates the allure and novelty. Perhaps this is why social conversations about Fortune Cookie have declined by -39.1% over the past year.

 

So, if the trend is to eat fortune cookies as just a snack, then here is a recipe for you to try:

Ingredients

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons water

 

Instructions:

1. Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.
2. Preheat oven to 300 F. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.
3. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract, and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.
4. Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt, and sugar in a separate bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture.
5. Add the flour to the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.
6. Place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth and from side to side so that each tablespoon of batter forms into a circle 4 inches in diameter.
7. Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown, and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 to 15 minutes).
8. Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand.
9. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie.
10. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass, wooden spoon or the edge of a muffin tin. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies.
11. Enjoy and Good Luck!

 

Fortune Cookie Day was likely created by a group who wanted to recognize the good feeling the cookie brings to people. Fortune cookies have a personal meaning to many people so that is not surprising. We’d love to hear any story you have about fortune cookies in our comments section. Has one of your fortunes ever come true?