Oatmeal Lace Cookies are crisp, delicate, buttery and delicious! This lace cookies recipe is a family favorite and makes a large quantity of cookies!
Oatmeal Lace Cookies have always been one of my husband’s favorite cookies. I’ve known that but quickly forget from time to time as they aren’t a cookie I have regularly made. So, the other night I asked him, “what’s a favorite special cookie that you’d like for me to make for you?”
His immediate reply, “Lace cookies.”
His Mama has always made them, especially at Christmas. And they are amazing!
Oatmeal Lace Cookies
Which isn’t hard to believe, because let me just tell you, I have never, ever, ever tasted one thing that my mother-in-law cooked that was not absolutely out of this world scrumptious.
You know, I have truly been blessed to be surrounded by phenomenal cooks in my life with my Grandmothers, Mama, and aunts. I count myself even more blessed to be able to learn even a little bit about recipes, cooking, entertaining large crowds, and many other life lessons from my mother-in-law. What an honor to learn from all these wonderful ladies!
So, back to these oatmeal lace cookies. Lace cookies get their name because as they bake, they spread and bubble and bubble and bubble and form little holes in the cookies.
There are so many recipes for lace cookies, but my mother-in-law’s recipe actually originated from a local restaurant where special parties and luncheons were often held. They’ve since closed, but thankfully shared this recipe with her before they did so.
This oatmeal lace cookie recipe makes a LOT of cookies. I mean a whole lot of cookies, close to six dozen. That’s what makes this lace cookie recipe so perfect for Christmas cookies, luncheons, showers, parties and more! There are plenty to share and still have a few to enjoy!
Come to think of it, maybe that’s why my mother-in-law makes them each year for her huge family.
Here’s the Oatmeal Lace Cookie recipe my family loves. One warning though, they are buttery and oh so addictive.
Oatmeal Lace Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) butter
- 2 1/4 cups (479 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 2 1/4 cups (200 g) rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons (23 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) kosher salt
- 1 large (50 g) egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375º F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats. Set aside.
- Heat butter and brown sugar in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently with a wooden or silicon spoon, until butter has melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in oats, flour, salt, egg, and vanilla.
- Drop cookie batter by the teaspoon onto prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie to allow them to spread.
- Bake for 5 -7 minutes, watching closely to prevent them from over-baking. The lace cookies should be golden brown.
- Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 30 seconds and remove onto racks to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
You can prepare the dough and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. When you are ready to bake, drop the dough by teaspoons onto parchment lined baking sheets 2 inches apart and follow the recipe baking instructions. Freezing Oatmeal Lace Cookie dough: Drop dough by teaspoons onto a parchment covered baking sheet. Cover and place in the freezer for 1 hour or until the dough is frozen. Remove from the freezer and place the cookie mounds into airtight containers or freezer bags. Label the bag with the date and name of the cookies. When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove the container from the freezer. Remove the number of cookies from the container that you wish to bake and place them at least 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. You will not need to thaw the dough before baking. Bake as directed in your recipe but you will probably need to add a couple of extra minutes to the baking time. Storing baked cookies: Cool the baked cookies thoroughly. Layer cookies between pieces of parchment of waxed paper and place into an airtight container. These cookies should keep up to 1 week.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
These cookies are excellent. Read a lot of the comments. Parchment paper was a must. First batch was one big cookie – used a pizza cutter and made them into squares. The rest of the batches were mostly cookie shapes with only minimal cutting. As stated earlier one teaspoon means one teaspoon or smaller. Refrigerating the batter was a good idea as the day I made them it was 90 degrees.. Thanks for sharing this
I have made lace cookies many many times but not with this recipe. This recipe turned out horrible! Cookies were like Carmel. I’ll go back to old recipe.
I’m so sorry it didn’t work for you.
Back in high school and fellow French student shared a French lace cookie. Pretty much the same as this but finely chopped pecans replaced the oatmeal. They were fabulous. Can’t wait to try these
A couple notes for myself. When she says a teaspoon, she means a teaspoon. My last batch were humble teaspoons and came out the best. They also cooked for around 9 minutes. Patience is important. Looking for a deep golden brown color. Otherwise they fell apart and were chewy/crumbly v. Crisp (preferred). Flavor is delicious….
Will these freeze? If not do they keep well, how long? I want to make for a party a few days ahead.
I’m looking for a oatmeal cookie recipe my mom used to make it was back in the 40s you hade to roll it up in waxed paper and put in in the refrigerator get it supper cold then slice and bake .it is called oatmeal crisp.
I made these the first time and they came out superb! My fiance LOVED them and begged for them again about a month later but this time they came out very liquidy and did not hold up, it turned into a mess, I did follow the directions except I used dark brown sugar, thinking that was the problem I tried another bath with light brown, same thing, they were mainly liquid. I cannot for the life of me figure out what I did wrong, can you help?
Make sure you only use real butter. Try keeping dough in fridge between batches until it is nice and firm. Check size of egg in case it’s too big. Stick to light brown sugar. Dark brown sugars has more molasses than light brown. Those are my best guesses.
Baking the cookies on Parchment Paper was an excellent suggestion. I slid the paper off the pans to cool and was able to lift the cookies right off.
Making this cookies to mail to our grandchildren. Will see how many make it into the box. They are delicious. Even those that folded when I removed them from the pan. They taste like toffee covered oatmeal. Will definitely be making them again. Thank you for sharing your family’s recipe.
Not sure how many I will have left by the time I finish baking! These are delicious. A teaspoon is truly all you need. It make take the first batch to figure out how to be certain they don’t spread too much. In my oven, it seems to be about six minutes. Great recipe with no edits.
These were spectacular. I followed the recipe exactly. I deliberated about whether to use salted or unsalted butter, but decided in the end to use one stick of each. Thank you for sharing!