DIY: How to Make Homemade Valentine’s Day Fortune Cookies for Your Sweet!

This <a href="http://inhabitat.com/index.php?s=valentine%27s+day">Valentine's Day</a>, show your loved ones how "fortunate" you are to have them by making them a batch of scrumptious homemade fortune cookies! You can write personalized predictions and sweet nothings on strips of recycled paper and tuck them right into each cookie for a sweet surprise. Read on to see the full <a href="http://clossette.com/category/diy/">DIY</a> - there are only a few ingredients so you can whip these up in a snap!

<h3>HOME MADE FORTUNE COOKIE INGREDIENTS:</h3> - 1/4 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour - 1/4 cup of regular sugar - 1 egg white (you can substitute in <a href="http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/egg-replacements.aspx">1 Tbsp. plain agar powder dissolved in 1 Tbsp. water, whipped, chilled, and whipped again</a> if you want to make your cookies vegan) - 3 Tbsp. of water - 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract - A pinch of salt <strong>Helpful tips:</strong> These cookies admittedly take a bit of practice to get perfect, but there are a few tricks to getting them to come out as nicely as possible: - The less cookies you do on one sheet, the easier it is. - If you find that your cookies are too mushy in consistency, add a bit more water. That may sound counter-intuitive, but the water makes the batter easier to spread thin which helps dry the cookies out properly. - Don't use too much batter for each cookie. A little more than a teaspoon of batter should do the trick.

<h3>STEP 1:</h3> First, make your "fortunes by cutting up some recycled white paper into 3" x 1/2" strips. Write your Valentine's Day fortunes well-wishes on them.

<h3>STEP 2:</h3> Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and grease up two cookie sheets. Be sure to grease them well since the cookies tend to stick. <h3>STEP 3:</h3> Mix together the vanilla and egg white with a whisk until foamy.

<h3>STEP 4:</h3> Using a sieve, sift in the flour, the sugar and finally the water and incorporate all of your ingredients well.

<h3>STEP 5:</h3> Using a spoon, place small dollops of the batter onto your cookie sheet and spread them into 3" or 4" circles. The thinner and more round you make the circles, the better your cookies will turn out. Make sure your cookies don't touch one another. You can probably do about 3 cookies per batch but they cook really fast. <h3>STEP 6:</h3> When your oven hits 400 degrees place your first batch in the oven and bake for about 6 minutes, watching them through your oven window to make sure they don't burn.

<h3>STEP 7:</h3> Take your cookies out and, using a spatula, place one on a non-stick surface. As quickly as you can, place a fortune in the center and fold your cookie in half but don't press it flat. Leaving a little bit of air in the middle, bend your already folded cookie in half the other way to create the classic fortune cookie shape. Place your folded cookie into a cup or a small bowl to help it keep its shape until it hardens.

<h3>STEP 8:</h3>: Repeat for your other cookies and let cool. Then serve them up to your main squeeze!