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
Thank you for your recommendations Robyn. I’m sure this will make a huge difference! I look forward to having a successful outcome so that I can share some of these amazing cookies with friends and family.
Hi Robyn, I got your recipe from a friend who had made these cookies as a gift to me at Christmas They were amazing. I made some myself this morning. They were a flop! The taste was the same, but the cookie dough was dark and the butter/brown sugar syrup part spread out and the oatmeal and remaining ingredients didn’t spread. They never bubbled. In looking at what I could have done wrong I think I may have over cooked the butter/brown sugar mixture. I stirred the brown sugar and butter together until it was smooth and fully incorporated. By that time it had just started producing bubbles. That is when I incorporated the dry ingredients. Another thing I did was mix the flour, oatmeal, salt, and egg together before adding it to the butter and sugar mixture. I added the vanilla last. I then mixed just long enough to incorporate it all into the butter/sugar in the pot and removed the pot from the stove top unit. I immediately started putting the teaspoons of cookie mixture on the cookie sheet fitted with parchment paper. I baked for 4-5 minutes. The butter/sugar part was chewy like caramel and the center of the cookie was still chewy, but not sticky like caramel. HELP!!! I want to make these cookies and have them turn out like yours do!! Thank you.
Sandy, you heat the butter and brown sugar just until the butter has melted and the mixture is combined then add your other ingredients. Don’t mix the other ingredients together before you add to the butter and brown sugar mixture. I think you may have cooked the butter and brown sugar too long and mixing the other ingredients together before adding to the butter/brown sugar mixture could have caused part of the problem, too. Hope this helps.
I added cranberries and white chocolate pieces…worked well and they are a hit!
Thanks, Kristie. I bet they were delicious with those additions.
I make your recipe every year with a small variation that adds a nice touch. I take the required beaten egg and vanilla, add 2 drops of rum and soak raisins in the fridge for an hour and then add the whole bowl to the batter.
This recipe is dynamite as is. I just love the plump raisins and rum. Yum!
I haven’t tried adding raisins to this cookie recipe, Robin, but it sounds good.
Excellent! I have these at a restaurant in La Grange, GA when I was a child and have idealized these since then. These measure up! Yum! I added a handful of finely chopped pecans. The one detail for knowing when they were done that helped me is that the *entire* cookie should be bubbling on the cookie sheet, and then it’s ready to come out. I needed a little longer for them to congeal on the cookie sheet before removing them than the 30 seconds, but man these are so good!! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Salted or unsalted butter?
I use salted butter Gerri.
How do you get the cookies so round? Mine are not round.
I just drop them by the teaspoon or sometimes I use a teaspoon size cookie scoop, Ann.
Hi there – these are excellent every year! Can I use margarine instead of butter? Thanks
I never make these with margarine, Tannis. Some margarines have less fat and more water than butter and can cause the cookie batter to be too thin and the cookies to spread too much while baking.
Being from Europe our ‘sticks’ of butter are different from American ones. Although I’m fine measuring flour and sugar by American ‘cup’ I find it difficult and inaccurate when it comes to butter. Could you please have the ingredients weighed? I would love to try these amazing looking cookies but I’ve had so many failures with ‘cups and sticks’.
thank you and Xmas greetings
Each half cup stick of butter is 4 ounces or 113 grams, Nadine. Hope you enjoy the cookies.
Looking forward to making these tomorrow. I noticed when the recipe is scaled, the amount of butter changes but the words “2 sticks” stays the same. So if you cut the recipe in half, it shows 1/2 cup of butter (2 sticks) – which may be confusing – the 1/2 cup is right but 2 sticks is double the amount needed.
Thanks so much for pointing that out. I have updated the recipe.