Paul Hollywood’s Fortune Cookies

Method

Step 1
Heat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/300°F/Gas 2.

Step 2
Make the dough. Whisk the egg whites and vegetable oil together with 1 tablespoon of water until frothy but not aerated.

Step 3
Sift together the flour, cornflour and salt in a bowl, then stir in the sugar.

Step 4
Add the egg white mixture to the bowl and beat to a smooth batter. Try not to incorporate any air during the beating as you don’t want bubbles in the batter. Divide the batter equally into two bowls.

Step 5
For the almond cookies, add the almond extract to 1 bowl, mix together, then set aside.

Step 6
For the orange cookies, spoon 2–3 tablespoons of batter from the second bowl into the disposable piping bag and set aside. Add the orange extract to the remaining batter along with some orange food colouring. Mix well together, adding colouring and stirring until the batter is bright orange.

Step 7
For the almond cookies, place 2 tablespoons of the almond batter on the silicone mat, spaced well apart. Using the back of a metal spoon, swirl the mixture to form 2 circles, each measuring 9–10cm in diameter. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the outer edge is light golden brown.

Step 8
Remove the almond cookies from the oven and, working very quickly, lift off 1 cookie, place a fortune in the centre and while the cookie is still soft, fold it in half and pinch the edges together to seal.

Step 9
Place the middle of the folded edge of the cookie over the rim of the glass tumbler and gently pull the corners down on the inside and outside of the glass, to form the classic fortune-cookie shape.

Step 10
Place in the muffin tin (this helps to hold the shape) to cool and quickly shape the second fortune cookie. Bake and shape another 2 batches with the remaining almond batter, making a total of 6 almond fortune cookies.

Step 11
For the orange cookies, place 2 tablespoons of the orange batter on the silicone mat, spaced well apart. Using the back of a metal spoon, swirl the mixture to form 2 circles, each measuring 9–10cm in diameter. Snip the end off the piping bag and pipe 6 dots around each circle, 1cm in from the edge.

Step 12
Place a cocktail stick in the middle of one of the white dots and drag the cocktail stick to the next dot, and then the next dot (like dot to dot), until you have been through all the dots. Bake and shape as steps 7–10, making 6 orange cookies in total.

Step 13
To decorate the almond cookies, dip the ends of each cookie in the melted white chocolate, then sprinkle with the toasted chopped hazelnuts.