A beautiful, delicate oat cookie with hints of caramel and an irresistible crunch! Crispy and light as air, these cookies are sure to delight.
12 Days of Christmas Cookies
Anticipation.
Every year I anticipated the arrival of these Old Fashioned Oat Lace Cookies. One of my parents’ friends would send a little tin filled with these delicate, crunchy, sweet cookies, and every year I would savor each and every one!
They are crispy and light as air with notes of homemade caramel!
These Old Fashioned Oat Lace Cookies are more involved than they seem: The batter is easy to pull together but you drop it by the ½ teaspoon-full and then you have to watch them cook like a hawk! They will burn in 15 seconds.
I burned about half of my cookies. Slow on the uptake? Maybe.
Or maybe because I was trying to make these!
The sugar caramelizes and produces a magical flavor and the oats provide texture. There is no "oaty" flavor just sugary, caramelized crunch yumminess!
You will learn from my mistakes. Do not multitask, listen to your nose and watch those cookies, and you will have 10 dozen beautiful lace cookies! {And your kitchen will smell amazing!}
My husband is a more recent addition to Lace Cookie Mania: My mom keeps all her sweets and chocolates in the basement freezer (for the obvious reason) and my husband knows just where to look when he wants a sweet treat! Last year he stumbled upon these cookies and he was hooked!
Full Disclosure: I ate enough lace cookies to make a grown man feel sick and then mailed off the remaining perfect ones to friends and family. Let’s just say they received lace cookie crumbs. Eh. Better luck next year.
And then I stashed the burnt ones in my freezer because I like my caramel just on the edge of burnt, and these caramelized cookies hit the spot when frozen!
Shhh. Don’t tell my husband!
These Old Fashioned Oat Lace Cookies are for the fourth day of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. You won't want to miss the Raspberry Linzer Cookies, Holiday Bark or Cherry Pecan Cookies!
Old Fashioned Oat Lace Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled 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
More Holiday Treats to Make the Season Bright!
Spiced Apple Cider Cranberry Cupcakes
Soft Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
Deni says
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!
smita ghosh says
I want to these...do you think its best to start with quick oats? thanks!
Lindsey says
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.
smita ghosh says
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....
David @ Spiced says
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
Lindsey says
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! 🙂
Sophie says
These oat lace cookies, I made today!
They came out perfect! So thanks a bunch! 🙂
Lindsey says
That's wonderful to hear! Thanks for stopping back by to let me know!
Kristi @ Inspiration Kitchen says
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! 🙂
Lindsey says
No you wouldn't!!! You're wonderful in the kitchen (or so I imagine anyways!)
marcie says
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. 🙂
Lindsey says
Thanks, Marcie! I burned half of them!!! Not good!
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
ohhhh yeah!!! I am new to the laceys game but I LOVE EM
Lindsey says
Get on it! I know you love cookies! And these are way easier than puff pastry and you make that look easy!
Jess @ whatjessicabakednext says
These cookies look so good! Love the lace appearance, so pretty! These dipped into a cup of coffee would be bliss! 😀
Lindsey says
Oh such a good idea!!! They would be phenomenal in coffee!
Shashi @ runninsrilankan says
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! 🙂
Lindsey says
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!
Manali @ CookWithManali says
These look incredible Lindsey, I love crispy cookies and I am loving all your cookie recipes! Keep them coming 🙂
Lindsey says
These are right up your alley, Manali! No need to explain to your relatives that "this is how Americans like their cookies - chewy" 🙂
Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice says
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!
Lindsey says
Thanks for the pin, Gayle!
annie@ciaochowbambina says
Yum, I could imagine these crispy little nibbles with my morning coffee! Delicious!
Lindsey says
Great idea!!!