These butterscotch lace cookies are as pretty as they are delicious. They are a thin and buttery oatmeal cookie that melts in your mouth and is loaded with flavor. Here are the tips and tricks to making these unique oatmeal cookies.
About Butterscotch Lace Cookies
The secret to butterscotch lace cookies is the brown sugar and butter that melts to give you crunchy cookies unlike anything you’ve ever had before. When they bake, the cookie batter spreads into a paper-thin cookie and the edges are a crispy bite of toffee heaven. That’s where the butterscotch name comes from.
These oatmeal lace cookies are so tender and flaky. To me the edges of these crispy cookies tastes like toffee candy. It’s such a sweet surprise when you bite into the cookie, and it melts in your mouth. There’s also a nice contrast in texture with the crispy edges and the chewy center. The rolled oats in the recipe help give the cookie that chewy bite.
How to Make Oatmeal Lace Cookies
These delicate lace cookies are different from most cookie recipes. First, they have very little flour. Only a few tablespoons of all-purpose flour are used to help bind the wet ingredients together. And there is no white sugar in this recipe. The flavor comes from brown sugar and melted butter. But it’s not just the ingredients that are unique with this lace cookie recipe. How you make the cookies is also different from most cookie recipes.
I mentioned that the secret to these butterscotch lace cookies is the butter and brown sugar that is used in the recipe. But the real secret is how they are mixed together. You want to put the quick oats, or rolled oats, in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the brown sugar. Mix until smooth and then pour the brown sugar mixture over the oats. Cover the bowl and let stand at room temperature overnight.
The magic happens as you sleep. The brown sugar and butter mixture softens the oats and coats them with the surgery mixture. This helps make the lace cookies so tender.
Tips Learned from My Failures
Now I don’t want to scare you off from making these cookies, but I did find them a little tricky. The prep for the cookies couldn’t be easier and I loved that I could prep the oats the night before. In the morning, I mixed up the oat mixture because it had hardened up overnight, and then I added the remaining ingredients. I did not include molasses as that wasn’t the flavor I wanted for these cookies. I chose to stick with letting the teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon salt be the flavor boosters for these homemade cookies.
The original recipe called for using a heavily greased baking sheet, but in my tests this did not work. I used a non-stick cooking spray and the cookies all stuck. The batches where I used parchment paper were much more successful. These cookies are so delicate that if they stick to the cookie sheet at all they’ll break. With parchment paper I didn’t have that problem.
My first batch of cookies were not a success. I used my #40 cookie scoop that I use for most of my cookie recipes. The problem was there was too much cookie dough, so the cookies did not bake properly. You see, you need the cookies to bake in a way where the butter melts and spreads-out the cookie. It essentially drags the oats along with it, creating the lace-like pattern as it bakes. If you use too much cookie dough, the edges will overbake before the oatmeal center has time to bake.
I also found that the problem with a cookie scoop is that it makes dough balls that are too firm. Just like with using too much cookie batter, if you use a solidly packed ball of dough, it doesn’t bake as well either. The perfect method was when I used a teaspoon of dough per cookie. When you drop level teaspoonfuls of dough on the prepared baking sheets, you get just the right amount of dough for the cookies to bake perfectly.
Be sure to drop dough at least 3 inches apart on prepared sheets. Since these cookies spread so much, you’re much better off sticking with baking about 9-11 cookies per sheet and allowing plenty of space for each cookie.
You also want to make sure that you bake these cookies for long enough. If you know my other recipes, then you know that I typically say to pull cookies out of the oven when they still look underdone. These butterscotch lace cookies are the exception.
You need to bake the cookies until the edges are dark golden brown. I set my timer for 5 minutes and would start checking them at that point. However, I found that 7-8 minutes was the magic number for most of my batches. When I tried making bigger cookies it took upwards of 10-12 minutes, which was too much time for the edges of the cookies.
Butterscotch Lace Cookies
Equipment
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Saucepan
- Large bowl
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter melted
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 2 1/4 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 T molasses optional
- 3 T flour
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Place oats in a large bowl.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Turn off heat once melted.
- Add brown sugar to melted butter and stir to combine.
- Pour the melted butter and sugar mixture over the oats.
- Stir mixture, cover, and let rest overnight at room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add remaining ingredients to oat mixture. Stir to combine.
- Drop teaspoonful of cookie dough, 3" apart, on parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake 5 to 7 minutes, until cookies are brown around the edges.
- Let cookies cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Do not refrigerate oat mixture overnight. Leave it out at room temperature so that the oats can absorb the butter.
- Cookies will spread when baking so be sure to leave plenty of space between cookie dough.
- Use parchment paper, or a greased cookie sheet.
- Store in an airtight container to maintain the cookies crispness.
- Do not make cookies on a humid day, as they will absorb the moisture.
Storing Lace Cookies
These butterscotch lace cookies have the most beautiful appearance that I couldn’t resist making them. I loved that it’s a really easy recipe, and one that I can prepare ahead of time. While it’s recommended to let the oat mixture rest overnight, if you’re short on time you could let it rest for at least a couple of hours. The longer the better though.
The pretty see-through appearance of these oatmeal lace cookies makes them a pretty choice for a special occasion. Your guests will be so impressed with the look and flavor of these cookies. But they are delicate cookies, so they don’t travel as well as others. They also soften with moisture, so baking these on a humid summer day is not ideal.
For storing the cookies, I recommend using a cookie tin or airtight container. If you need to layer the cookies, be sure to use parchment paper, or freezer paper to separate layers. Otherwise, the cookies will stick together.
I hope you’ll give these butterscotch lace cookies a try. There’s really nothing better than sitting down to enjoy a cup of tea and these tender cookies.
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