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A homemade twist on an iconic treat, these sourdough discard fortune cookies are a fun activity for the whole family! You’ll love the subtle sourdough tang paired with the almond flavor of these crisp golden cookies. With just a bit of practice, you’ll be folding up restaurant-worthy fortune cookies in no time. They’re perfect for a surprise gift or a special family dessert!
Table of Contents
A Fun and Extra Special Treat!
I’m such a sucker for recreating classic treats with sourdough. Recipes like my sourdough cosmic brownies and a big bakery style single serve sourdough chocolate chip cookie are always so much fun to experiment with.
I’ve made these fortune cookies over and over again to get them just right and share as many helpful tips as I can. They definitely took a bit to get right, but I’m glad I persevered!
My three boys and I had the best time writing the fortunes for these. You can absolutely type them out if you’re making them for a party, but I love sitting down and writing them by hand with the kids. They always come up with the funniest little messages, and it turns the whole process into such a fun activity. These would make the sweetest party favors too.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
Based on a Restaurant Classic – Usually you’ll only find fortune cookies at Chinese restaurants, even though they were actually invented in California! I always find it a fun challenge to recreate well-known desserts with sourdough, and I’m so happy with how this one turned out!
Fun for the Whole Family – My kids loved writing the fortunes for these! It’s a great activity to get the whole family involved in baking.
A Great Gift – These homemade sourdough discard fortune cookies only stay perfectly crisp for a day or so, so why not give away any extras (If there are any, my kids eat these up as fast as they can). Who wouldn’t love a bag of homemade cookies with personalized fortunes?
Ingredients
- Egg whites – I used 3 large egg whites. If you have smaller eggs, you may want to use 4.
- Sugar – I recommend white sugar here.
- Melted butter – I always use salted butter, but unsalted will work too.
- Sourdough discard or starter – Either one will work as there is no rise involved, but sourdough discard works best. And it must be from a 100% hydration starter, so not too thick. I tested the recipe with really thick sourdough starter and they just wouldn’t crisp up in the oven because it had too much flour.
- Almond extract – I love the almond flavor with the sourdough tang, but if you can’t find it or have an allergy, you can use vanilla extract instead.
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
How To Make Sourdough Fortune Cookies
Preheat the oven to 165ºC/330ºF fan forced /convection. Grease a baking sheet with a thin layer of butter. I find it easiest to just rub a stick of butter straight on to the pan.
Write or type out all your fortunes before starting on the cookies. Make sure your fortunes aren’t too big, thinner rectangles are best, no more than ½-inch x 2-inch strips.
Next you’ll whip up the batter. I’ve done this in my stand mixer to make it easier, but you could use a hand mixer or even a hand whisk if you’re prepared for an arm workout!
Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and sugar on high speed until white and frothy, about 1 minute.
Add in the melted butter, sourdough discard and almond extract and mix on low speed until well-combined. Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed until most of the flour has disappeared, then use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the rest. The batter should be thick, smooth, and just a bit glossy.
Use a tablespoon to scoop 1 tablespoon of batter onto the greased baking sheet and use the back of the tablespoon to spread it out into a roughly 3-inch/8-cm circle. Leave some space between your next circle as the cookies will spread slightly in the oven.
Kate’s Pro Tip
Start Slowly!
Start with two cookies at a time, or even one if you’re unsure about the shaping process. Once you get comfortable with the technique, you can try increasing the number of cookies baked per batch.
Continue until you have three cookies spread on the pan, or even two to start. You need to shape the cookies before they cool off so don’t do too many at once!
Bake the fortune cookies for 8 to 9 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through so they cook evenly. The tops of the cookies should look dry, with the edges browning slightly.
This part may take some fine-tuning. If they don’t brown on the edges, they’ll be undercooked and won’t crisp up. But if they brown too much, they will be too brittle and snap when you try to fold them, so keep an eye out. Your oven may be different!
When the cookies are done, remove them from the oven. As soon as the cookies are cool enough to touch, use a metal spatula or palette knife to lift the cookie and place a fortune in the center.
Quickly but carefully, fold the cookie in half around the fortune. Hold each side of the cookie along the top curved edge and use the rim of a glass to fold the cookie into the proper shape, pushing down on the inside and the outside of the glass to hold the sides together.
Place the cookie inside the muffin tin to cool, which will hold it in the right shape.
Repeat with the remaining cookies before they cool. Once all the cookies are folded, repeat until all the batter is used up, re-greasing the pan each time (or washing if needed).
If you get the hang of folding the cookies quickly, you can stagger the baking times and bake multiple batches at once. Shaping the cookies is tricky and best for older kids and adults, as you have to do it when the cookies are straight out of the oven. Anyone doing the shaping should be prepared for hot fingertips!
Kate’s Pro Tip
Pan Prep Tip
If you find the cookie batter is sticking to the pan, you can line the pan with parchment paper or silicone, but sometimes parchment will buckle under the cookie and create ridges. The cookies were the thinnest and crispest when baked directly on the pan, however a marked Silpat mat can be useful too.
The circles on my Ikea mat gave me the exact size I needed and helped me to portion the cookie batter evenly. I found the batter spreads much less than on a buttered tray, which makes them far easier to fold once baked.
These sourdough discard fortune cookies don’t stay crisp for long, but they also disappear from my house almost instantly!
Store the cookies in an airtight container, I’ve found that glass containers keep the cookies crisp longer than plastic containers.
How To Store + Freeze
Store these cookies in an airtight container for a day or two, after which the cookies tend to soften. They still taste good, they just lose that characteristic fortune cookie snap.
For the best texture, I recommend storing in a metal tin or glass container. I don’t recommend freezing them as they have a delicate shape and you’ll lose the crunch.
Frequently Asked Questions
The muffin tin isn’t absolutely essential, it just keeps the fortune cookie in its signature shape rather than letting it open up as it cools. If you don’t have one, or find that your cookies aren’t exactly the right size, you could use small bowls or just let the cookies open up slightly.
It’s really easy for the batter to slide in different directions! If your baking tray buckles in the oven or there’s a bit of extra butter underneath, the cookies can sometimes spread into uneven circles. I find a silicone baking mat to work best. You can also swirl the circles quickly with a biscuit cutter, like you would with cookies, to ensure they are perfectly round.
I found that the cookies were more likely to spread unevenly when using oil. If you’re having issues with sticking, try letting the baking sheet cool between batches, then wash and re-grease the sheet. It helps to have at least two baking sheets!
Sourdough Fortune Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer or hand mixer
- 2 Baking Sheets
- Silicone Baking Mat (optional)
- Pint Glass or large cup
- Muffin Tin or small bowls
Ingredients
- 3 Large Egg Whites, (about 105g, if your eggs are small, you may want 4 whites)
- 150 g Sugar
- 100 g Butter, melted, plus more for greasing pan
- 100 g Sourdough Discard, (use discard, not starter)
- 2 g Almond Extract, (½ teaspoon)
- 75 g All Purpose Flour
- Pinch of Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 330ºF/165ºC (see note below) set on fan forced/convection. Grease the baking sheets with a thin layer of butter and have your fortunes all written up!
- Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or a large bowl with a hand mixer) whip the egg whites and sugar on high speed until white and frothy, about 1 minute.
- Add in the melted butter, sourdough discard and almond extract and mix on low speed until well-combined. Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed until most of the flour has disappeared, then use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the rest. The batter should be thick, smooth, and just a bit glossy.
- Use a tablespoon to scoop 1 tablespoon of batter onto the baking sheet and use the back of the tablespoon to spread it out into a roughly 3-inch/8-cm circle. Leave some space between the circles as the cookies will spread slightly in the oven. Continue until you have three or four cookies spread on the pan, or even two to start. You’ll need to shape the cookies before they cool off, which happens quickly, so be prepared as soon as they come out of the oven!
- Bake the fortune cookies for 8 to 9 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through so they cook as evenly as possible. The cookies should look dry on top, with the edges browning slightly. This part may need some fine-tuning. If the fortune cookies don’t brown on the edges, they’ll tear when you try to fold them. But if they brown too much, they will be too brittle and snap when you try to fold them, so keep an eye out. See note below about different ovens.
- When the cookies are done, remove them from the oven. As soon as the cookies are cool enough to touch, use a metal spatula or palette knife to lift the cookie and place a fortune in the center. Quickly but carefully, fold the cookie in half around the fortune.
- Hold each side of the cookie along the top curved edge and use the rim of a glass to fold the cookie into the proper shape, pushing down on the inside and the outside of the glass.
- Place the cookie inside the muffin tin to cool, which will hold it in the right shape. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
- Once all the cookies are folded, repeat steps 4-8 until all the batter is used up, re-greasing the pan each time (and washing if needed). If you get the hang of folding quickly, you can stagger the baking times so you can do multiple batches at once.
- These sourdough discard fortune cookies don’t stay crisp for long, but they also disappear from my house almost instantly! Store the cookies in an airtight container, I’ve found that glass containers keep the cookies crisp longer than plastic containers.
Notes
- Sourdough discard works best. And it must be from a 100% hydration starter, so not too thick. I tested the recipe with really thick sourdough starter and they just wouldn’t crisp up in the oven because it had too much flour.
- I have used an Ikea silicone baking mat instead of greasing the pan, which helps a lot. The circles on the mat give me the exact size I need and help me to portion them evenly. I also found that when using the silicone baking mat the mixture didn’t spread out. Sometimes the mixture spread, or became oddly shaped so I couldn’t fold it in half easily with a buttered pan.
- This recipe has been made in multiple kitchens. I found 165ºC too cool in my oven, but it was perfect in others. 175ºC was the perfect temperature for me. This reiterates that you need to work with your oven! Every oven will be different. You want it hot enough to cook the sugar, but not too hot that they go brown too quickly.
- Make sure your fortunes aren’t too big, thinner rectangles are best, no more than ½-inch x 2-inch strips.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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