Chinese New Year: Fortune Cookies

Fortune Cookies weren’t invented in China. In fact, they originally come from California. Asian workers building the railroads developed these cookies as a sweet ending to a meal. For your Chinese New Year Tea, make your own fortunes to add to the cookies.

1 egg white
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a cookie sheet. Write fortunes on strips of paper about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Generously grease 2 cookie sheets.

Mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Sift the flour, salt, and sugar and blend into the egg white mixture.

Place teaspoonfuls of the batter at least 4 inches apart on one of the prepared cookie sheets. Tilt the sheet to move the batter into round shapes about 3 inches in diameter. Be careful to make batter as round and even as possible. Do not make too many, because the cookie have to be really hot to form them and once they cool it is too late. Start with 2 or 3 to a sheet and see how many you can do.

Bake for 5 minutes or until cookie has turned a golden color 1/2 inch wide around the outer edge of the circle. The center will remain pale. While one sheet is baking, prepare the other.

Remove from oven and quickly move cookie with a wide spatula and place upside down on a wooden board. Quickly place the fortune on the cookie, close to the middle and fold the cookie in half. Place the folded edge across the rim of a measuring cup and pull the pointed edges down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outside. Place folded cookies into the cups of a muffin tin or egg carton to hold their shape until firm.

My World Wednesday: Of Dolls and Tea

Since my tea theme has been Chinese New Year, I want to show you these little dolls. They were given to my mother-in-law 80 years ago by her Aunt Dorothy. Aunt Dorothy lived in the Panama Canal Zone when it was being built (it opened in 1914.) She’d just finished nursing school when the call came out asking for nurses to go to Panama. While she was there, she met her engineer husband and they lived in Panama for many years. They had access to wonderful foreign things because of the ships passing through.

As you can see, these little dolls were well loved; they weren’t just kept on a shelf. They are dressed in beautifully embroidered clothing which is still in good shape. I don’t know any more about them, and in fact, had forgotten all about them until about 3:00 last night.

Now for a different turn, Katherine at Yellow Rose Arbor mentioned I might want to do the meme she had on her site. I’m going to give it a try but with a tea twist. I'm not going to tag anyone for this but if you want to use it, please do.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you;
2. Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours;
3. Post the rules on your blog;
4. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog;
5. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post;
6. Include links to their blogs; Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. My earliest memories are of having tea and toast for breakfast. I was probably about 3 when I finished with tiny kid food and went to tea. Today researchers don’t recommend giving tea to kids because it may stunt their growth. It troubles me to no end to realize that maybe I could have been a professional women’s basketball star.

2. As a kid I put 3 heaping teaspoons of sugar in my tea and I loved lemon. Once I discovered quality tea, I didn’t need any sugar or lemon or milk.

3. Tetley Tea in bags was the tea of choice when I was growing up. I drank this every day for 30 years. And even today when I’m sick with a bad cold or flu, this is the tea I want in my cup…with lots of sugar.

4. In the days before Celestial Seasonings packed the grocery store shelves with colorful boxes of flavored teas, my mother managed to find big assortments of different teas. Each winter night after dinner, we each carefully picked one to try. I remember Earl Grey being a big favorite.

5. My mother-in-law took me to my first tearoom about 20 years ago. I was hooked the moment I sat down.

6. My friend Lisa and I meet in a tearoom at least once a month for a cream tea. We spend a couple hours talking over pots of tea and scones.

7. Lisa and I seriously considered opening our own tearoom. We even had a location picked out in the antique district of a local town. The more we thought about it though, the more we realized that all the cooking and baking every day would probably be too much of a grind. We’re much happier being customers today.

Chinese New Year Tea: Almond Cookies

Almonds are used for sweet rather than savory dishes in China.

½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup finely chopped almonds
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg, lighten beaten
25 whole blanched almonds

Preheat the oven to 350º. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and slowly add to the butter, stirring until smooth. Add the chopped almonds and extract and stir until smooth.

Drop tablespoons of the mixture onto the baking sheet, spacing about 1¼-inches apart. Dip your thumb into some flour and make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Brush each cookie with the beaten egg and place an almond in the center of each indentation. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly and transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

Chinese New Year Tea: Mandarin Almond Chicken Salad

Another little bite, much lighter after the fried dumplings.

½ cup finely chopped cooked chicken
½ cup drained canned mandarin orange segments, chopped
¼ cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
2 tablespoons Miracle Whip
Crackers of your choice

Mix chicken, oranges, cranberries, almonds and dressing; cover. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Top each cracker with chicken salad mixture just before serving. Garnish with a sprig of parsley for more color.


Anita at Prairie Dreams tagged me for this You Make My Day Award! Thanks, Anita, you make my day too. Now I'd like to pass it on to Katherine at Yellow Rose Arbor and Rose-Michelle at A Cup of Tea with Friends.

Chinese New Year: Jiaozi

If you eat only one food for Chinese New Year, make it jiaozi (gee-owl'-zee). It will bring you luck all year long. For the tea, this is another item you might want to buy from your favorite Chinese restaurant. I wanted to include the recipe though for the adventurous.

Filling:
6 cups Chinese (Napa) cabbage, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound ground pork
2 cups garlic chives, finely chopped
2 ½ tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon cornstarch

50 round wheat dumpling wrappers
Red rice vinegar

To make the filling, put the cabbage and salt in a bowl and toss lightly to combine. Allow to stand for 30 minutes. Squeeze all the water from the cabbage and put the cabbage in a large bowl. Add the pork, garlic chives, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, ginger and cornstarch. Stir until combined and drain off any excess liquid.

Place a heaping teaspoon of the filling in the center of each wrapper. Spread a little water along the edge of the wrapper and fold the wrapper over to make a half moon shape. Use your thumb and index finger to form small pleats along the sealed edge. With the other hand, press the 2 opposite edges together to seal. Place the dumplings on a baking sheet that has been lightly dusted with cornstarch. Do not allow the dumplings to sit for too long or they will go soggy.

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add half the dumplings, stirring immediately to prevent them from sticking together, and return to a boil. For the traditional method of cooking dumplings, add 1 cup cold water and continue cooking over high heat until the water boils. Add another 3 cups cold water and cook until the water boils again. Alternatively, cook the dumplings in the boiling water for 8-9 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and drain the dumplings. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.

The dumplings can also be fried. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frying pan, add a single layer of dumplings and cook for 2 minutes, shaking the pan to make sure they don’t stick. Add 1/3 cup water, cover and steam for 2 minutes, then uncover and cook until the water has evaporated. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.

Serve with red rice vinegar.

Chinese New Year Tea: Tea Eggs

10 regular eggs or 20 quail eggs
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice wine
1 star anise
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 slices ginger, smashed
3 tablespoons Chinese black tea leaves

Place the eggs in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let the eggs simmer for 10 minutes. Refresh the eggs in cold water. Drain the eggs and lightly tap and roll the shells on a hard surface to crack them. Do not remove the shells.

Put the tea cooking mixture ingredients in a heavy bottomed bowl or saucepan with 4 cups water and heat until boiling. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 20 minutes. Add the cooked eggs and simmer for another 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the eggs sit in the tea mixture until cool enough to handle. Remove the shells and serve the eggs warm or cold, cut into wedges, with some of the cooking mixture on top.

Chinese New Year Tea: Sweet and Sour Soup

Of all the many delicious Chinese soups, this is my favorite. This soup is not difficult to make but you can buy it from your favorite Chinese restaurant for this tea if you can't find the ingredients.

4 mushrooms
4 ounces lean cooked pork, thinly shredded
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 ounces firm bean curd, drained
½ cup canned bamboo shoots, rinsed and drained
4 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 tablespoon rice wine
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 eggs, beaten
1-2 teaspoons white pepper
Chopped scallion

Combine the pork, a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch. Thinly shred the bean curd and bamboo shoots to the same size as the pork.

Bring the stock to a boil. Add the pork and stir to separate the meat; then add the mushrooms, bean curd and bamboo. Return to a boil and add the salt, red pepper flakes, rice wine, soy sauce and vinegar. Slowly pour in the egg, whisking to form thin threads and cook for 1 minute. Combine the remaining cornstarch with enough water to make a paste, add to the soup and simmer until thick. Put the pepper in a bowl, pour in the soup and stir. Garnish with scallion.