Use Your Microwave To Sneakily Open Up A Fortune Cookie And Slip In A Note Of Your Own

Fortune cookies may not be packed with flavor, but we love them anyway because it's fun to eat food that talks back to you and has something more to say than snap, crackle, and pop. Most commercial fortunes, however, can be a bit on the dull side, since they're less about predicting the future and more about spreading hackneyed bits of so-called wisdom, like, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Have you ever thought you could do a better job? Well, here's your chance, with a hack that lets you covertly open a store-bought fortune cookie using the heat from a microwave.

Start by wrapping the cookie in a damp paper towel. Heat it in the microwave for 20 seconds, which should be enough to soften the shell. Gently pry it open and remove the slip of paper it contains, then insert your own. The cookie should harden up again in a minute or so. If it came in a plastic wrapper and you've opened this neatly, you can even re-insert the cookie and seal the plastic by carefully melting it with the indirect heat from a lighter.

What you choose to write on your fortunes is entirely up to you: exercise your wit (Artificial intelligence is coming for your fortune cookies), propose marriage, or include winning fortune cookie lottery numbers (although the only way to guarantee the last-named, unless you're psychic, is to use yesterday's). You can even be super-obnoxious and turn your fortune cookies into an ad for your side hustle. If you do, though, you might want to sweeten the pot by adding a little something extra on the outside of the cookies.

One way to add extra flavor to your fortune cookies would be to dip them in melted chocolate — white, milk, or dark would all work. You can then sprinkle them with colored sugar, jimmies, shredded coconut, or chopped nuts. If you're feeling really artistic, you could use several different shades of food coloring to dye white chocolate, then paint designs on your cookies.

As you begin experimenting with custom fortune cookies, you might break a few in the process. But those broken pieces can be saved to add to crumb crusts or to make a crunchy dessert topping. You can also pulverize fortune cookie pieces into super-fine crumbs and combine them with melted coconut oil. When poured over ice cream, this mixture hardens into a magic shell-type topping. Finish this fortune cookie sundae with an intact cookie containing one of your special fortunes, you'll have a truly one-of-a-kind dessert.