These are beautiful, delicate oatmeal lace cookies with hints of caramel and an irresistible crunch! These easy lace cookies are crispy and light as air.
The fourth day of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies 2014.
Oatmeal Lace Cookies are easy drop cookies that only require a little bit of patience. One of my parents’ friends would send a little tin filled with these delicate, crunchy, sweet cookies every year. My Mom and I looked forward to it all Christmas season! This lace cookie recipe is Mrs. Ledford’s.
The sugar caramelizes while baking and combines with the oats to produce a magical flavor. I personally think they taste even better frozen! Make a batch of these lace cookies to serve with chewy gingerbread boys, cardamom crescents, and raspberry linzer cookies!
Table of Contents
What are oatmeal lace cookies?
Oatmeal lace cookies are drop cookies made from a thin oatmeal batter that is dropped by the ½ teaspoon on baking sheets. The cookies spread and caramelize while baking for a thin cookie that resembles lace!
Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour: There is barely any all-purpose flour in this recipe. Truth be told I break all my own measuring rules and I dip a tablespoon measure right into the flour bag, level it off and dump it in. If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it!
- Quick Oats: I used quick oats for a completely uniform batter, but you could also use rolled oats that you've processed or not. It depends on the finished texture that you want.
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar is here for sweetness and is in perfect proportion to the butter and flour.
- Kosher Salt: Kosher salt is lass salty than table salt and a teaspoon weighs less than other finer ground varieties. It heightens the flavor here and will keep your cookies from tasting dull or flat.
- Melted Butter: It is critical that the melted butter for this recipe is hot! It helps dissolve the sugar and make a cohesive batter that will spread during baking.
- Whole Egg: The eggs are here to add fat, moisture and leavening. The fat from the yolk adds richness and helps keep the cookies chewy. Beating in the eggs just enough will add a little or a lot of leavening depending on the desired texture. Eggs also emulsify the batter and keep everything texturally perfect.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla Extract adds a beautiful flavor itself but it also boosts the flavor of other ingredients around it.
Substitutions
- Gluten Free: To make these lace cookies gluten free make sure your oats are gluten free and substitute gluten free all-purpose flour for the wheat all-purpose flour. I always use Cup 4 Cup because it has the best texture.
- Rolled Oats: Use any type of oat that you want. I use quick cooking oats for a smooth batter, but rolled oats will give a nice texture to the final lace cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions about Lace Cookies
Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer. Layer the cookies between waxed paper or parchment. Do not store with any other cookies or they will absorb the moisture and soften.
Oatmeal lace cookies will keep up to a month at room temperature or several months frozen.
Oatmeal lace cookies freeze perfectly. I love to eat them straight from the freezer but you could also allow them to thaw at room temperature.
You can make as large a batch as you would like. Each lace cookie only uses a ½ teaspoon of batter, so really your only limit is your patience!
Growing up we received a small tin of these cookies as a gift every Christmas and they arrived remarkably intact. I don't know what her secret was because the year I shipped these to friends and family, they all received oatmeal lace cookie crumbs.
The batter bakes best as soon as it is prepared! There is no need to chill the batter before scooping. If you would like to make it ahead or in batches, then allow the batter to come to room temperature before proceeding. Chilled batter will produce thicker, less lacy cookies.
Chef Lindsey's Recipe Tips
Bake oatmeal lace cookies on aluminum foil for effortless removal! Bake, allow cookies to cool completely and then peel off!
Recipe
Old Fashioned Oat Lace Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats (or quick oats )
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup butter (melted, still hot, not cooled)
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325° and line several baking sheets with aluminum foil (shiny side up).
- I have very hearty rolled oats and so I processed mine in the food processor just to break them down some.
- Mix oats, flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Pour very hot melted butter over the flour mixture and stir until the butter has coated everything and the sugar has dissolved. Add the eggs and vanilla; stir well.
- Drop ½ teaspoons of the batter 2 inches apart on ungreased foil lined sheets.
- Bake 1 sheet at a time 10-12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through, until they turn a golden brown. Let cool on pan on a wire rack.
- When cool they will peal effortlessly off the foil!
- Store in an airtight container and don’t forget to hide a secret stash for you! You earned it!
Notes
Before You Go!
Check out our other delicious, chef-developed recipes for Cookies!
this reminds me of the oat cookies I get whenever I go to Ikea (totally addicted) oat cookies sandwiched together with semisweet chocolate in the middle...yummmmm
Definitely going to do this!
I want to these...do you think its best to start with quick oats? thanks!
Hi Smita, Quick Oats might be too flimsy but you could certainly try and see. I used old-fashioned rolled oats, but the kind that is still fairly quick cooking like Quakers.
Thank you! I too have some really hearty oats, so I will break them down a bit in the food processor as you did. I want to make an ice box cake with these. You know, layers of cookies and a light fluffy chocolate mousse in between. Some of the cookies will soften and release the caramel....
I'm calling you out here! I think you may have burned half your batch on purpose. And now I want my kitchen to smell amazing and have dozens of cookies laying all over the place. Or I could just beg you to send me some instead. I mean, you did burn half the batch...why not get back in the kitchen and prove to yourself that you can make an entire batch "burn free"? (That's my weak attempt to get you to make some more of these cookies...did it work?) #CookieMonsterDiet
Bahaha! I wish I could say that I did burn them all on purpose and don't tempt me into making another perfect batch! Ain't nobody got time for pride around the holidays! 🙂
These oat lace cookies, I made today!
They came out perfect! So thanks a bunch! 🙂
That's wonderful to hear! Thanks for stopping back by to let me know!
What great looking cookies Lindsey! These look like they'd make a great gift for the holidays! I would ruin these gorgeous cookies I am sure! You know the disasters that can happen around here! 🙂
No you wouldn't!!! You're wonderful in the kitchen (or so I imagine anyways!)
Lindsey, these sound amazing! I'll bet they're easy to burn...they're so thin...but it would be worth the effort. I love the oat twist on classic lace cookies! Pinned. 🙂
Thanks, Marcie! I burned half of them!!! Not good!
ohhhh yeah!!! I am new to the laceys game but I LOVE EM
Get on it! I know you love cookies! And these are way easier than puff pastry and you make that look easy!
These cookies look so good! Love the lace appearance, so pretty! These dipped into a cup of coffee would be bliss! 😀
Oh such a good idea!!! They would be phenomenal in coffee!
I've never had an oat lace cookie (that I know off) but I will gladly trying to stop thinking and typing and "listen to your nose" which says to follow the smell of oats and caramelized sugar to your freezer! 🙂
Haha! That you know of! The ones in my freezer are burned and I wouldn't give them to you anyways! Not because I'm a hoarder of the lace cookies but because they aren't up to snuff!
These look incredible Lindsey, I love crispy cookies and I am loving all your cookie recipes! Keep them coming 🙂
These are right up your alley, Manali! No need to explain to your relatives that "this is how Americans like their cookies - chewy" 🙂
I've never had oat lace cookies before, Lindsey! But I'm loving that they're laced with caramel. I love how crunchy they are, and what a great idea to freeze them! Pinned!
Thanks for the pin, Gayle!
Yum, I could imagine these crispy little nibbles with my morning coffee! Delicious!
Great idea!!!