Old-Fashioned Lace Cookies
Submitted by janinegoldstein
Old-fashioned lace cookies with pecans, brown sugar, and corn syrup, rolled into delicate cylinders while still warm. Shatteringly crisp and caramel-sweet.
YIELD
48 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
15 minREADY
30 minLace cookies are one of those recipes that look like they came from a French pastry shop but use just five pantry ingredients. Flour, chopped pecans, corn syrup, butter, and brown sugar cook into a thin batter that spreads into gossamer-thin discs in the oven, bubbling into a caramel-colored web of crispy, nutty candy.
The technique is everything here. Drop tiny amounts of batter far apart (they spread dramatically), bake until the bubbling slows, then work fast. While still hot and pliable, each cookie gets rolled around a wooden spoon handle into an elegant cylinder. You have about 30 seconds per cookie before they harden and snap.
Fill the finished cylinders with piped whipped cream for a stunning dessert, or serve them flat alongside custard or fresh fruit.
Kitchen Tips
- Use level teaspoons, not tablespoons. Too much batter and the cookies spread into each other
- Leave 3 inches between each drop. These expand significantly as the sugar melts
- Roll while hot but not burning. If they cool and stiffen, pop the sheet back in the oven for a minute to re-soften
- If they break, eat them. Honestly. Broken lace cookies taste just as good as pretty ones
Variations
- Chocolate-dipped: Dip one end of the cooled cylinders in melted dark chocolate
- Flat lace cookies: Skip the rolling and leave them as thin, crispy discs to shatter over ice cream
- Almonds instead of pecans for a more delicate, European-style lace cookie
Ingredients
Directions
These cylinders-of-lace cookies are a lovely accompaniment to a fruit or custard, or may be enjoyed all by themselves.
You can also whip cream and pipe it into the delicate cylinders.
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350℉ (180℃).
Sift the flour and toss with the chopped pecans.
Combine the corn syrup, butter and brown sugar in a saucepan.
Bring the mixture to the boil over moderate heat, stirring constantly.
Remove the pan from the heat.
Gradually stir in the flour and nut mixture.
Cool slightly.
Drop the batter by level teaspoonfuls about 3 inches apart on a non-stick cookie sheet.
Bake 5-to-6 minutes, or until most of the bubbling stops and the cookies are a caramel color.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool on the sheet just until they can be handled.
While the cookies are still hot, remove each in turn and roll it into a cylinder around the handle of a wooden spoon.
If they are too hard to be rolled, return them to the oven for a minute to soften them slightly.
If they break, eat them.
These freeze well in a tight container.
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