Happy Chinese New Year everyone! To celebrate, I created a delicious tea infused fortune cookie recipe! The best part, besides all the powerful antioxidants, is the slimming affect of the tea! Oolong has been shown to help shed stubborn pounds by boosting your metabolism and blocking the fattening effect of carbohydrates. Fortune cookies aren’t just for “fortunes” either! Write a love note or a day brightener as a “fortune.”  Watch the other person’s expression when they see their personalized message. It’s fun and it tastes so much better than the store bought cookies. Plus it’s quick and easy.

Ingredients:

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons Simply Slim tea brewed*

* Use 1 tsp of Simply Slim tea for 1/2 C of water and brew for 3 minutes. This will create a strong and intense flavored tea.  Take 3 tsp for the recipe.

1. Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 inches x .5 inch. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease 2 baking sheets.

2. Create a 3-inch round stencil out out of a plastic can lid.

3. In a bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract and vegetable oil until frothy.

4. Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a separate bowl. Stir the tea into the flour mixture.

5. Add the flour into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.
Note: you can also dye the cookies at this point with food coloring.

6. With a small offset spatula, spread batter through the stencil so it is a circle onto a silpat or parchment paper, about 6 per cookie sheet.
7. Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 – 15 minutes).

7. Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass, wooden spoon or the edge of a muffin tin until the ends meet. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape.

Each serving includes (based on a total yield of 9 cookies):
Calories 93, 11 g Carbohydrates, 1 g Protein, 5 g total Fat, 1 g Saturated Fat, 0 mg Cholesterol, trace Fibre, 72 mg Sodium, 18 mg Potassium.