lace cookies
Makes:
about 5 dozen |Prep Time:
10 minutes |Cook Time:
7 minutes per batch
What’s a middle-aged girl like me doing making back-to-school snacks? Well, as of tonight, I am officially a student again, a graduate student in non-fiction creative writing at the University of San Francisco, AKA getting an MFA at USF. So when I found this recipe in an old cookbook, I made a batch to have on hand for when I come home hungry from class. If you’re thinking, “she should be eating carrot sticks and string cheese!” a) I’ve outgrown those and b) this recipe makes so many wafer-thin cookies that each one contains very little sugar and nearly no flour. Plus, a friend of mine and I used to eat the same kind of cookies after class in high school, which makes me feel like I’ve come full circle.
ingredients
2-1/4 cups rolled oats
2-1/4 cups lightly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (or use more sheets, if you have them). In a large bowl, stir together oats, brown sugar, flour, salt, butter, egg, and extract. Mix until everything is well blended.
Working in batches, drop the batter by the teaspoonful on parchment-lined sheets, spacing at least 3 inches apart and 2 inches in from pan edges (they spread like crazy). Bake for 7 minutes or until cookies are bubbly and dark golden, almost caramelized at the edges (you do not have to switch pan positions during baking). Remove from oven and, holding the baking sheet at an angle to the counter, lift an edge of the parchment paper up with an oven mitt and pull the whole sheet, with cookies attached, onto the counter to cool (see photo, above right). Reline baking sheets with parchment and continue making cookies, doing as many batches as you need to use all the batter.
Once cookies are cool, eat what you want then freeze the rest in a plastic container as they are fragile and shatter easily. Eat straight from freezer or let come to room temperature.