• Prepare your fortunes by writing the messages you want to include in the cookies on a pieces of paper roughly 1cmx10cm in size. Fold them a few times to make them small enough to fit inside.
• Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan.
• Grease two baking trays/silicon sheets (if using) with a little butter.

Make the cookie mixture

• In a bowl, whisk the egg white until it's just starting to foam. Don't over beat the egg whites as this will add to much air to the mixture.
• Add the vanilla extract, flour and caster sugar and whisk until combined.

Bake the cookies

I bake the cookies two at a time as they need to be formed before they cool. If you try and bake more in one go you'll find that they crack when you try and shape them.

• For each cookie - place a teaspoon of mixture onto the greased tray/silicon sheet and use a palatte knife to spread the mixture into a circle roughly 10cm in diameter. You need to spread the mixture as thinly and evenly as possible (about 1mm thick). This can be a bit tricky so you may need a couple of goes to get the hang of it.
• Place the baking tray into the pre-heated oven and bake for 4-5 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown (the centre will still be pale).
• While the first two cookies are baking, prepare the second batch on a different tray.
• Once the cookies have baked, remove from the oven and shape them.

Shape the fortune cookies

You need to shape the cookies as quickly as possible after they have been removed from the oven. Please be careful as they will still be very hot.

• Place a fortune in the centre of each cookie.
• Fold the cookie in half.
• Pick up the cookie by the two corners of the fold. Place the centre of the fold on the edge of a cup or mug and gently pull down the two corners, ensuring the edges stay as held together as possible. This will create the typical fortune cookie shape.
• Place the cookie into the muffin tin (or similar) to help it hold it's shape until it cools completely.
• Repeat until all cookies are baked and shaped.