Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• pinch of salt (approx. 1/8 tsp.)
• ¼ tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. Instant tea - not iced tea
• 2 Tbs. water
• ½ cup melted margarine
• fortunes typed or written on slips of paper

• Cream the egg whites, sugar, and salt thoroughly in a medium bowl.
• Mix in the remaining ingredients in order listed, except for the fortunes.
• Cover the bowl and chill for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Set out a few muffin tins and clean white cotton gloves.
• Do not shape and bake more than 2 cookies at a time.
• For each cookie, drop 1 teaspoonful of batter onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.
• Gently spread the batter with the back of a spoon to make about a 3-inch circle.
• Bake for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the edges just barely turn light brown.
• Quickly remove the cookie sheet from the oven.
• Slide one cookie off of the sheet with a spatula and place on the counter or table.
• Wearing the cotton gloves, place a fortune in the center of the circle and bring 2 sides of the cookie into the center and pinch to form a traditional fortune cookie shape.
• Place the folded cookie carefully in a muffin tin to cool without losing its shape.
• Repeat the process.
• If the cookies get too stiff to mold, place the cookie sheet back in the oven for 30 seconds.

NOTE: Although it is a time consuming recipe, we made an all day adventure out of it and didn't mind the extra time it took. We had great fun writing the fortunes and holiday messages. One year we put in clues for the children to find hidden "treasures" around the house - a candy cane, a small toy. The fun we had making them was almost as much as the fun we had eating them, and they taste good too.