• 1 egg white
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 200°C.  Use two baking trays in rotation as cooler trays work better for the batter. Grease baking trays well. Write fortunes on strips of paper and roll up.  Mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Then sift the flour, salt, and sugar and blend into the egg white mixture. Place two teaspoonfuls of batter on the baking tray. Tilt the tray to move the batter into round shapes (the batter will stick to a wooden spoon) about 6cm in diameter. Be careful to make shapes as round and even as possible. The cookies need to be hot to be formed. Once they’re cool it’s too late. Go slowly, do two at a time until you gain confidence.

Bake the cookies for 5 minutes or until the outer edge of the cookie has turned a golden colour, the centre still pale. While one sheet is baking, grease the other. Work fast, use a spatula to remove the cookies, and place upside down on a wooden board. Place the fortune on the cookie, close to the middle and fold them in half.  Shape the folded edges over the handle of a wooden spoon and bring the ‘ears’ close together. Makes 10

Recipe by Malu Lambert • Photography C&D Heierli 

Serve with Zandvliet My Best Friend Semi Sweet 2009