Five Spice Fortune Cookies Food

CHINESE 5-SPICE COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350ºF.
• Combine flour, five-spice powder, baking soda and dry pudding mix. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in egg. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well after each addition.
• Drop tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets.
• Bake 10 to 12 min. or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Cool 1 min. on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Whisk powdered sugar, water and extract until blended; brush onto cookies. Sprinkle with nuts.

FIVE-SPICE GINGERSNAPS

Steps:

• Make dough:
• Whisk together flour, five-spice powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
• Pulse ginger with 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor until finely ground.
• Add syrup, butter, egg, and remaining 3/4 cup sugar to processor and blend until mixture is thick and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add flour mixture and pulse just until a dough forms. Form dough into a disk and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 8 hours to allow flavors to develop.
• Bake and ice cookies:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Quarter dough. Keeping remaining 3 pieces wrapped in plastic wrap and chilled, roll out 1 piece of dough on a lightly floured sheet of wax paper with a lightly floured rolling pin to 3/4 inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, chill on wax paper until firm.) Cut out rounds with cutter and transfer to 1 lined baking sheet, arranging cookies about 2 inches apart.
• Bake cookies until slightly puffed and a shade darker, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on sheet. If desired, make holes with piping tip near edges to hang cookies, then transfer cookies (still on parchment) to a rack to cool completely. (Cookies will flatten slightly as they cool.)
• While first batch is baking, roll out and cut another batch, arranging cookies on second lined sheet. Bake in same manner, then gather scraps and chill until dough is firm enough to reroll, 15 to 20 minutes. Make more cookies with scraps (reroll scraps only once) and remaining pieces of dough, cooling sheets and lining them with fresh parchment before using.
• If using icing and coloring it, transfer small batches of icing to small bowls, 1 for each color, and tint with food coloring. Spoon each color of icing into a separate pastry bag, pressing out excess air. Twist bag firmly just above icing, then decoratively pipe icing onto cookies. Let icing dry completely (about 1 hour, depending on humidity) before serving or storing cookies.

FIVE SPICE

Steps:

• Place a small skillet over medium heat. Add spices and toast, stirring, until fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and set aside to cool. If using the whole spices for a braise, they are ready to go.
• To make the spices into a powder, use a spice grinder, clean coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle to grind the spices until fine. If you like, you can strain the mix through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any coarse bits, but this is optional. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.

FORTUNE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160 fan/gas 4 and line a large baking sheet with baking parchment, or use a silicone baking sheet. Write or print fortunes on paper measuring 6cm long by 1cm wide.
• Put the egg whites, vanilla, almond extract, oil and 2 tsp cold water into a bowl and whisk with an electric hand whisk until frothy, 20-30 secs. Measure the flour, cornflour, sugar and a good pinch of salt into a bowl, then sift into the egg white mixture. Whisk everything together until you have a smooth batter-like consistency. Chill the mixture for 1 hr.
• Next, put a tbsp of mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Oil a metal spoon, then use the back of it to swirl the mixture out into a 8-10cm circle. Repeat with another tablespoon of the mixture, to create 2 cookies. Make sure there is space between each cookie as they will spread in the oven. It is best to only bake 2-3 cookies at a time, as you will need to shape them whilst they are hot. Sprinkle 1 of the cookies with black sesame seeds, then bake for 10-12 mins until the edges of the cookies turn golden.
• One at a time remove the cookies with a palette knife once they are out the oven. You want them to still be soft so you can shape them so work quickly. Turn the cookie over so that the sesame seeds are face down and put the fortune in the middle of the circle. Fold the circle in half to secure the fortune and pinch the 2 edges together to seal. Pop the cookie on the rim of a mug or cup and very gently pull the 2 corners down to get the fortune cookie shape. Hold for 10 secs, then transfer the cookies to muffin tins so that they hold their shape whilst cooling completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie mixture.

FIVE-SPICE MIX

Steps:

• Toast the whole spices in a small pan until they are aromatic and have turned a shade or two darker. Don't be tempted to skip this stage, as it really enhances the flavours.
• Tip into a spice grinder (or use a pestle and mortar), then add the ready-ground spices and dried herbs if required, and crush to a fine powder. Store in a sealed jar for up to six months.

FIVE-SPICE FORTUNE COOKIES

Steps:

• Write fortunes on strips of paper.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 400°F. Butter a 6-inch-wide strip lengthwise across middle of 2 baking sheets (from one short side to the other).
• Sift together flour, five-spice powder, and a pinch of salt into a bowl and stir in sugar.
• Whisk egg whites in a bowl just until foamy. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
• Put 2 teaspoons batter on 1 side of buttered area of 1 baking sheet and spread evenly into a round about 3 1/2 inches in diameter using back of a spoon or a small offset spatula. Place 2 teaspoons more batter on other half of buttered area and form another round.
• Bake rounds until golden around edge and paler gold in center, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove rounds from oven and, working quickly, flip 1 cookie over on baking sheet with a spatula. Transfer same cookie to a work surface, then put a fortune in center of inverted cookie and fold cookie in half (cookie will be hot). Lift up cookie with both hands by corners and press center of folded bottom edge perpendicularly against the edge of a countertop, making a crease. Continue folding in same direction to bring corners together to create a C shape. Hold for a few seconds while cookie cools and shape sets, then set aside to cool. Quickly invert and fold second hot cookie, this time working on baking sheet to keep cookie warm and malleable.
• Make 2 more cookies in same manner on second buttered baking sheet, then continue with remaining batter, using a buttered cool baking sheet for each batch.
• *Available at Asian markets and specialty foods shops.