One of my most favorite cookies are lace cookies. They’re a delicate see-through toffee-like cookie that melts in your mouth when you bite into them. You can leave them flat, or shape them in a few different ways and no matter what you choose, they’ll be as beautiful as they are delicious. These cookies are incredibly easy! The batter only requires a very small list of ingredients (that you probably already have in your cupboard) and comes together in one pan in minutes. These are sure to impress!
Ingredients Needed
- unsalted butter
- light brown sugar
- dark corn syrup
- quick oats (NOT old fashioned)
- flour
- vanilla extract
- heavy cream
- salt
How to Make Oatmeal Lace Cookies
This is a simple overview of the recipe, you’ll find a full printable recipe below!
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a saucepan, cook butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat until boiling.
- Remove from heat and whisk in oats, flour, vanilla, cream, and salt. The batter is a more runny consistency the warmer it is. As it comes off the heat and cools a little, it becomes a little thicker.
- Drop 1-teaspoon scoops of batter 3 inches apart on baking sheets. It will feel weird because you wonder how that tiny thing can turn into a large cookie! But as they cook, they spread out super thin and the sugar caramelizes.
- Bake 6–8 minutes until golden and bubbling stops.
- Cool on sheet: 1–2 minutes for shaping, or 10 minutes to leave flat. Or, replicate Costco’s Florentine cookies by sandwiching chocolate in the middle of two.
- To shape, flip warm cookie and roll around a handle to cool.
- Gently remove from parchment and serve.
Different Shaping Options
There are a few different ways you can shape these cookies. See the recipe card for more detailed directions, and be sure to read the “tips” section!
Tips on Shaping
- Important – Just Try One First! If you’ve never made these before, try shaping just one before you do a whole pan. These are not hard to make, but I think they do take a few to get the hang of how they look and feel. If you overcook them, they’ll crisp up super fast when they come off the pan and can break easily, and if you undercook they’ll be soft and chewy. Just right creates a cookie that literally melts in your mouth, like a thin, crisp toffee.
- Shaping: there are a variety of ways you can shape and serve these. The recipe card contains more specific directions.
- Flat Disks: they are delicious plain, or drizzled in chocolate
- Costco Florentine-Style: You can replicate Costco Florentine cookies by sandwiching these with melted chocolate in the middle.
- Rolled Cigar: To make a rolled cigar shape, flip the warm cookie upside down and then roll it around the handle of a wooden spoon, or a dowel, and let it cool completely. You can also drizzle with chocolate (optional).
Frequently Asked Questions
Use rolled oats (old-fashioned) for a classic texture; thick-cut gives a heartier bite, while quick oats work too—avoid instant or steel-cut oats.
Oatmeal lace cookies are meant to spread thinly; the high butter-and-sugar ratio and thin batter create the characteristic lacy, crispy finish
Cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature. They’ll stay crisp for 5–7 days, but may soften after the first day.
While still hot from the oven, carefully roll them around a dowel or bottle to create tubes. See our recipe card for full details!
Oatmeal Lace Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 6 tablespoons brown sugar, packed light
- ¼ cup dark corn syrup
- ½ cup 1.5 oz quick oats NOT old fashioned
- ¼ cup flour 1 ¼ oz
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons heavy cream
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350℉. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in medium saucepan; cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until boiling. Remove from heat.
- Off heat, add oats, flour, vanilla, cream, and salt and whisk until well combined.
- Using 1-teaspoon measure, drop scoops of batter 3 inches apart on prepared sheets. Bake until golden and no longer bubbling, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets for 1-2 minutes if shaping cookies or 10 minutes if leaving flat – see below for shaping tips.
- Gently remove cookies from parchment and repeat with remaining batter. Serve.
Shaping
- Flat: If you want to simply try the flat disks, they are delicious plain, or drizzled in chocolate.
- Rolled Cigar: To make a rolled cigar shape, flip the warm cookie upside down and then roll it around the handle and let it cool completely. The trick with rolling is that it has to be at just the right temperature. After they come out of the oven, you have a short time before they harden up, but they'll also be piping hot! You'll need to wait until they're cool enough to touch, and then roll them over a spoon handle (or something similar) to shape.Once shaped and cooled, you can leave them plain, or drizzle them with chocolate like I did.
- Costco Florentine-Style: You can replicate these by sandwiching these with melted chocolate in the middle. Florentines are usually made with ground almonds in place of oatmeal, but these will taste very similar! It will spill out the little holes, but just place on parchment until it dries and hardens.
Questions & Reviews
can you make ahead and freeze? thanks
I’ve never tried freezing this particular recipe but I suspect you could.
Can you use clear corn syrup instead of dark corn syrup?
For sure! Just be aware that the light lacks the color and flavor of the dark syrup so they might be just a bit different, but otherwise it won’t affect the recipe at all.
Thank you very much. Now it’s time for me to bake a batch( or two)
I don’t have heavy cream. Can I use almond milk?
No you will definitely want to use heavy cream here.
How long do these stay fresh? I would like to make in advance for a party. Thank you!
You could make them a day in advance, as long as you’re not in a humid environment!
I’ve made a variation of this with crushed ginger snaps in the cookie. Then after the cookies are rolled and cooled, I piped in some white chocolate ginger mousse. So good! These are fun to experiment with fillings.
Oh my gosh yum!
For shaping these, do you have to leave it on the handle until it’s cool?
No, it just takes a few seconds. I actually find it easiest to use 2 spoons. Roll one and immeditely set it down and move to the next. Then go back to the other spoon. It works pretty great!