Ode To Delicious Chinese Fortune Cookies

Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved Chinese fortune cookies. I think it has as much to do with the associations I have with them as with their actual flavor. I used to love going to the Chinese restaurant with my parents. I loved everything about it. I loved the little ornamental lamps and Buddhist statues around the place, I loved the murals with dragons and warriors on them, but most of all I loved the food. I loved everything cashew chicken, almond boneless chicken, sweet and sour pork if it was on the Chinese restaurant menu, I would eat it.

Chinese fortune cookies seemed like a perfect end to a perfect evening. There is something so satisfying about them. The Chinese fortune cookie was small enough that, even if you had gorged yourself on dinner, you still would have a little bit of room for it. It wasn't especially delicious, but it was good, and the fortune made it that much better. Your Chinese fortune cookie would never have something bad to say to you. Sometimes, it would be a little bit disappointing, but it would never tell you that, for example, you were going to die. At other times, the fortune cookie messages seemed oddly prescient. At any rate, it was all in good fun, and much tastier than an astrology reading!

What I didn't realize until later was the variety of Chinese fortune cookies that actually existed. As an adult, I have occasionally found Chinese cookies in restaurants to be disappointing. At times they are stale, and at other times they are mediocre at best. Looking around, however, you can easily find a wide variety of alternatives. You can get chocolate dipped fortune cookies, for example. You can get your own personalized fortune cookies printed to give as presents to your friends and family. I have even come across one website that sells giant fortune cookies. It is enough to get even the most jaded and cynical of consumers excited about Chinese food again!

One of my friends showed me a make your own Chinese fortune cookies website, and for my next project I am going to try it. I looked at the recipe, and I was amazed at how easy it is. I had assumed it would be difficult, since somehow you have to bake the cookies and get the fortunes inside. It doesn't look like it is going to be nearly as hard as I had anticipated, and I'm looking forward to serving the results up to some of my good friends.