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
can these cookies be frozen?
My daughter and I made these cookies a few days ago and they turned out awesome! My problem was after they were cooled, We stacked them to put in bags for little gifts and they stuck together. Even the crispier ones.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Oh no about them sticking together. I would suggest placing bits of parchment between them for gift bags if they seem like they may stick together when stacked.
Simple recipe and a fun – different cookie. VERY sweet, which my husband likes. I enjoyed them with minced pecans added.
omg…delicious!!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Dee.
I have not tried this yet but have looked for and have come across quite a few similar recipes (some called molasses crisps) I have been trying to find a cookie similar to the Pepperidge Farm Brand : Brussels Cookie. It looks kind of like this but you don’t see whole chunks of oatmeal. They look like perhaps the oatmeal is chopped to a finer consistency and maybe add either pecans(think it’s this one) or walnuts chopped very fine. What I am looking for is almost exactly the same as what Aly, poster #47 said she did with the recipe. I am thinking the ones called Molasses crisps would be close to this since molasses is used to make brown sugar. The Brussels cookies have a thin layer of chocolate in-between 2 cookies. Aly said she used semi-sweet chocolate for her middle layer, I have wondered what would taste good AND have a good semi-soft (not too soft) texture? I thought perhaps a layer of chocolate ganache? It may be a lot of work,but when I worked in a bakery having to make store stock cakes where several were covered in chocolate ganache, and then decorated with chocolate fudge frosting, and dark&white chocolate candies (also was chocolate cake filled and covered first with chocolate whip topping) Sounds rich,but thanks to the layer of chocolate whipped topping it mellowed the richness dramatically and made it just perfect and although it was our most expensive cake,it flew off the shelves! So , my question for you Robyn, is this: Have you ever had a P.F. Brussels cookie? If so,do you think the taste of your cookie is similar before putting chocolate in-between two cookies? If you haven’t, can you, to the best of your ability, describe the taste and texture of your cookie? (I am looking for a semi-crisp cookie(due to problems with my teeth I can’t handle anything super crispy) I realize this is an old post,but also see comments from just two weeks ago as well. I hope you see this since I do not know if I was supposed to try to tag you in some way. The comments are helpful and I am sorry you have to deal with some of the harsh ones. Every baked good is a trial and error, even WITH a written recipe, due to differences in altitude, oven temperatures not . being properly calibrated,(like mine seems to be at the moment & it’s a new one) eggs not being fresh, people accidentally using margarine instead of butter, and a whole host of other issues that could cause their recipe not to turn out like yours did. It could be something you failed to realize you might have been able to explain better and some comments can be used and have the intent being a piece of ” constructive criticism” and can be helpful to you as I’ve also seen here and you promptly handled each one in a very diplomatic matter. So those of you who are jumping down her throat automatically looking for someone to blame for your lack of success with this (or any ) recipe, check your own possible miss-steps before tearing Robyn apart, and if and when you KNOW you’ve checked every possible solution, there is a much kinder and more diplomatic way to give constructive advice! No need for bullying anyone! I apologize to you Robyn for those hurtful and inconsiderate comments! Thank you for your post and any answers you might be able to give me! (not rating cookie, since I have yet to make it)
I am baking these now and they taste delicious (I snuck a few before they completely cooled.) One tip- follow the recipe when it says a teaspoon (small one at that) of batter on the pan. I didn’t and I ended up with a giant pan of cookie! I didn’t have parchment paper so I sprayed vegetable oil on my tray before cooking. You do have to use a little more oil than usual if you are doing this. Also, if you use oil you need to let it cool a little longer otherwise they just “ball up” when you try to scrap them off. Next time I make them I will make sure I have the parchment paper.
Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Hello! I literally JUST made these and they are cooling as i type. The flavor of these cookies are amazing! You’re right they are buttery. I think the next batch I will reduce the amount of butter by a 1/4 cup and see what happens. First go round, I ended up a sheet tray cookie! Worked out well as I broke it up into “brittle” Next batch I made smaller and still moldeld together for the most part. Third tray I did even smaller cookies and two cookies per row plus i staggered them. Worked out way better and I also immediately slipped the parchment paper off the sheet onto the cooling rack. My ovens temp is outta wack so i cooked them at 350 for 4 mins and they came out with a nice slightly burnt edge with a good crisp. Defiantly going to try to perfect this recipe. so far it’s a winner in my books – I give 4 starts only because of the fussing about with cookie size. they need to be really small teaspoons.
I made these last week and had to throw them away because they stuck to the parchment paper. Should I have sprayed it ?
Hi: My family made these every year for Christmas cookies with a couple of differences: Ours had chopped pecans or walnuts in the dough and we would cook until very crisp and sandwich 2 cookies together with semi-sweet chocolate, they were one of my favorites. If refrigerated they stay well for up to 2 weeks.
Not sure what happened, but I have to say these didn’t work for me at all. I tried many different ways of baking them – putting them way farther apart than 2 inches on the baking sheet, baking them for 5 minutes, baking them for 7 minutes, letting them cool on the baking sheet, and taking them off the baking sheet and letting them cool on the parchment paper. Nothing worked. These were just a big, gooey mess. I’m glad they work for the author’s family, though. The flavor is great.