CHOCOLATE-DIPPED FORTUNE COOKIES

Prep time 20 mins Baking time about 1 hour Makes 15

2 large eggs, whites only 3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled 1ml almond essence 75g cake flour 2 tbsp cornflour 105g caster sugar 180g white chocolate, broken into pieces Powdered food colouring, in your favourite colours

Preheat the oven to 150ºC. Write messages on small pieces of paper and fold them up, ready to put into the fortune cookies. Beat egg whites, butter and essence together until foamy.

Sift together cake flour, cornflour, caster sugar and 1ml salt. Stir in 3 tbsp water. Add to the egg white mixture and stir until smooth. Line a baking tray with a silicone baking sheet, or grease the baking tray. Make 10cm circles of the mixture on the baking sheet. (To ensure a good shape, cut 10cm circles from a sheet of acetate. Spread about 1 tbsp of the filling into each circle shape. Lift the acetate off to leave the circle shapes behind.) Bake in a preheated oven for 8-12 mins. Watch carefully to ensure they don’t overbake. Remove from the oven and work very quickly. Remove a biscuit from the baking tray. Put a fortune in the middle and fold over, then press the two ends over the side of a glass to form the shape. Put the cookie into a muffin pan until it has hardened. Repeat. Melt the chocolate. Use powdered food colouring to colour the chocolate. Dip the cookies in the chocolate. Dry on a wire rack and store in an airtight container until ready to serve.