When I was a little girl, I loved going to the bakery to help pick out cookies when we were hosting a special occasion at our home.
I would stand in front of the display case and point to the prettiest ones that I thought would help decorate our dessert table.
And I always had a favorite…
Delicate and covered in tiny holes, sometimes with a layer of chocolate or decadent ganache sandwiched between them or drizzled on top, lace cookies were always my first pick.
Around the time we were planning my first child’s christening, I came across a recipe for these beautiful sweets.
I hadn’t even considered that I could recreate this childhood favorite of mine in my own kitchen. I was even more excited that I already had most of the simple ingredients in my pantry!
That weekend, I must have made three or four dozen for the reception. They were a huge hit!
With basic baking ingredients like butter, oats, sugar, and flour, you probably have what you need already on hand to make these for your next special occasion.
All you need now is the recipe! Take a look below, and get ready to make a beautiful, sweet delight everyone will love.
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Lace Cookies
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 5-6 dozen cookies 1x
Description
Lace cookies are a beautiful dessert that use basic ingredients you already have in your pantry.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups unsalted butter
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate morsels, melted (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and salt.
- Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Mix until blended thoroughly.
- On four clean sheet pans covered in parchment paper or silicone mats, drop rounded tablespoons of batter about 2 inches away from each other. You should have 8-10 mounds on each pan.
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies have spread flat and are a deep golden-brown color. Remove from the oven and cool completely on the pan.
- Using an offset spatula, gently remove each cookie and place on a serving tray.
- Repeat steps 5-7 for the remaining batter.
- If using, decorate the cookies with melted chocolate, making sandwiches or drizzling the chocolate on top. Let cool and harden completely before serving.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Baked Goods
Keywords: lace cookies, dessert, chocolate, oats
Cooking by the Numbers…
Step 1 – Prep
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Measure out all of the ingredients. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl.
6 dozen too many? You can easily half the recipe. I did so with great success!
Cover a baking sheet pan with a completely flat layer of parchment paper or a silicone mat. Do not grease.
Step 2 – Melt the Butter
Place the butter in a small saucepan. Melt completely over low heat on the stovetop without browning. Set aside to cool slightly.
Step 3 – Mix Dry Ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and salt. Mix until all the ingredients are evenly mixed together.
Step 4 – Add the Liquid Ingredients
Add the cooled melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract to the bowl of dry ingredients. With a sturdy spatula or spoon, mix together until thoroughly combined.
Step 5 – Portion Batter on Baking Sheet
Using metal spoons or a small scoop, drop small, rounded tablespoons of dough on the prepared sheet pan. Leave about 2 inches of space in between each one.
You don’t want to overcrowd the pans – the dough will spread drastically. You want to leave enough space so that the dough can spread without running into the other cookies as it bakes.
Stay within the range of 8 to 10 mounds per pan.
Step 6 – Bake and Cool
Bake for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until they are slightly browned around the edges. Allow them to cool completely on the baking sheet.
Carefully remove the cookies from the pan using a small, offset spatula. They cookies should come off easily.
Be gentle! The cookies are very delicate and can break easily.
If some of cookies did spread into each other (hey, it’ll happen!), there is no need to worry. Once they have cooled, they should still break off into individual cookies at the points where they spread into each other.
Repeat with the remaining batter.
Step 7 – Decorate with Chocolate
Once they have cooled completely, melt the chocolate in a bowl, if using. Dip one side of a cookie in a thin layer of chocolate, and combine with another plain cookie to form a sandwich.
You can also drizzle chocolate on top, or dip one half of the cookie in chocolate. The choice of chocolaty goodness is yours!
Place on a cutting board or tray. Repeat with the other cookies.
Let the chocolate harden completely before serving.
Love that Lace!
Caramelized and delicate, lace cookies are a beautiful dessert to serve for any special event you are celebrating.
Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries – any of these fun occasions will surely be memorable, especially with the sweet help of these buttery, crispy treats!
While the creamy chocolate provides a perfect contrast, you can definitely serve them on their own without this extra ingredient.
This might be the case if your chocolate seizes on you! But we can help fix this melting mishap.
If you need more ideas for sweet, homemade pleasures, take a look at all of Foodal’s delicious dessert recipes and all of our cookie ideas.
Have you made these before? How do you like to serve them? Give us all the details in our comment section below!
Don’t forget to Pin It!
Photos by Nikki Cervone, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. With additional writing and editing by Nikki Cervone.
*Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Jennifer Swartvagher
Jennifer is an experienced journalist and author. Her work has been featured on TODAY Parents, The New York Times Blog, BlogHer, Scary Mommy, and scores of other parenting and cooking publications.
I am going to make these around Christmas! Pinned
Ah, a perfect Christmas treat! Thanks, Nicole, hope you enjoy the recipe.
Just found this recipe while I was searching for a cookie recipe to make with my grandaughters.
They look delicious and easy to make.
Wondering if we could add nuts? They want almonds and pecans in their cookies
Hi Sanda,
Lace cookies like these aren’t usually made with nuts, so we’re not sure how adding them to the batter might affect the resulting texture. But what you could try is sprinkling your choice of chopped nuts on top after you dip them in chocolate, for a nutty coating.
Hi, the recipe says 1 egg. The photo below shows 2 eggs and also the instructions mention 2 eggs. The photo also looks like there is much more butter than 2/3 of a cup.
Unfortunately I’m making this recipe at the moment.
Hopefully you are around to help me out.
Thank you
Katherine
Katherine, hi! We are so sorry you were having some difficulties. It was totally our fault! We have fixed the mistakes, and edited and updated the recipe. Let us know how they turned out, and if you have any other questions. No harm in having even more cookies to try and share, right?
The batter was too liquid and when I put in oven it ran all over the pan.
This is a mess.
Oh no, Becky! We’re sorry this was a fail!
The batter, though a little liquidy, should still hold its shape when you scoop it into tablespoons and place them on the baking sheet. If the batter looks waaaaaay too liquidy the next time you make the recipe, we have some suggestions:
Try adding a few more tablespoons of flour at a time until you get the right consistency. You can also add 1/4-1/3 cup more oats, if you prefer that rustic texture.
You can also chill the batter in your refrigerator for about 30 minutes to one hour to help set the batter, if it still seems too liquidy to scoop.
Make sure your oven is preheated all the way before baking. If it’s not preheated, the batter won’t set properly and will “melt” rather than bake.
We hope you try making this recipe again, with our helpful tips!
how long can u leave cookies in sealed container?
These can be stored for about 3 days between layers of wax paper in an airtight container at room temperature, or in the refrigerator for about a week.
Spreads out too much and not uniform. Not a pretty cookie!
Love the recipe. Making them for Christmas and was testing out. I just wish they were a bit more crispy. I didn’t want to leave them in oven and over bake.
★★★★