Oatmeal Lace Cookies are an easy cookie to stuff your holiday tins with: they are delicate, crisp, and indulgent with caramel flavors that will last through the holidays. Keep reading to check out what other cookies that were shared by the Creative Cookie Exchange hosts will last in a holiday tin.
Sammy informed me yesterday that it did not feel like Christmas because I had not made Christmas cookies. Mind you she told me this as I was finishing up two batches of marshmallows and baking these cookies, so I think that was a little unfair, but it is true that the holidays have been either rushed or ignored around here this year. I suppose it was inevitable with the surgery, but now that I am playing catch up, I needed something easy to add to our tins and these Oatmeal Lace Cookies fit the bill perfectly.
I have definitely been a bit frazzled, so when I decided I was determined to participate in this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange (how could I not– I adore this theme and my long time readers know that I feel quite strongly that holiday cookies must last in a tin) I also decided I needed to think easy. One of the many cookie recipe containing emails showing up in my inbox included these Oatmeal Lace Cookies and it felt like a sign. First, I love lace cookies at the holidays (check out my Espresso Hazelnut Lace Cookies) but something about nut cookies feels more involved. I need to find the nuts, I need to possibly grind the nuts, and none of those things are that hard, but I am operating with fewer brain cells these days folks. Second, despite my love for lace cookies, especially at the holidays, I have never made the oatmeal version. Third, I literally had just ordered a bulk package of rolled oats–when I meant to order extra thick rolled oats. So I had some oatmeal waiting to be used up.
The minute Alex saw these she got super excited and asked if they were the caramel cookies I make. My first instinct was no but then I realized yes these are the cookies she means (any lace cookie). Caramel is exactly what they taste like, which makes sense when you consider the high sugar and corn syrup content. (The caramelization of those sugars is what holds these cookies together in the absence of eggs; really these cookies are half cookie and half confection.) I am happy to report she loves these as much as she loves the hazelnut versions (see link above), and these cookies were the perfect cookie to start with for my somewhat anemic holiday cookie tins this year. The oats crisp up perfectly, and the cookies last quite nicely in a holiday tin.
I got the recipe from Saveur, and while I am quite happy with my cookies, mine seem to be more buttery than theirs. I am ok with this, it is the holidays after all. I wonder if this could be because I used Organic Valley’s Cultured Pasture Butter. I bought a lot of this butter, which I consider an indulgence, when a local store was going out of business (storewide 80% off!) and threw it in the freezer. I was tired of saving it for something special (plus I still have plenty left!) and decided these cookies were “something special.” Without doing a side by side taste test I could not tell you what the butter added, but the cookies are flat out scrumptious. I did notice they were not too sweet for me, unlike the nut versions, so perhaps that was the butter. With so few, milder ingredients, premium butter will always serve you well. My butter was salted so I reduced the salt in the cookie to a scant 1/8 teaspoon (and used fine sea salt, which I prefer for baking). Because that was my only change, I am just going to link you to the recipe.
The theme for this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange is “Cookies That Last In a Tin,” and as I mentioned I am super excited about this theme. I get so frustrated every year by all of the brownies and drop cookies shared for the holidays. If you put those in a tin they will go stale in a matter of days. To me holiday cookie tins are meant to last through the season, so I hope you check out all of the other cookies being shared below, and if you are really inspired, check out my Holiday and Christmas Cookies in the archives.
You can check out these cookies and also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.
If you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:
Almond Flour Sugar Cookies from A Baker’s House
Carrot Cake Biscotti from What Smells so Good?
Cinnamon Chocolate Shortbread from Food Lust People Love
Mexican Chocolate Cookies from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Oatmeal Lace Cookies from The Spiced Life
And if you are looking for an Oatmeal Lace Cookies collage to pin, I’ve got it right here!
Oh I think these would be gluten free, right? No flour? Just oats? and if I used GF oats I am good to go! Hope so because these look beautiful!
Sadly they do have a little flour, so they would not be gluten free–but I do wonder how they would hold up with naturally gluten free grain flours, because as I mentioned the main thing holding them together is the caramelization.
What beauties, Laura! I think yours turned out even prettier than the ones on Saveur. Great theme this month!
Thank you! When I went back and glanced at theirs I was surprised by how different they looked. And yes I love this theme too.
These are so gorgeous!! I’m so glad you participated this month with all you’ve got going on. xoxo