The Story
It was by far one of the most popular television segments I’ve ever done. In fact, I received requests for several years after a baking segment we aired about Old Fashioned Lace Cookies. Now, as I was enjoying a hot summer day indoors, happily lost in a good book (one of my antique cookbooks, Mary Margaret McBride’s Encyclopedia of Cooking), I stumbled across the recipe for one of the most unexpectedly simple and elegant cookies of all time. I’m struck once again (as I am so often while researching your heirloom recipes) at the clever inventiveness of this creation. A little corn syrup, a little butter, brown sugar, some chopped nuts, and into the oven they go, teaspoonfuls of caramel-colored globs. But in no time at all, out come beautiful and bubbling discs of sugared antique lace! I love this recipe for a lot of reasons. I love it because it’s easy. I love it because it always has such a surprise finish. And I love it because you do. Please give these Old Fashioned Lace Cookies a try and let me know how you like them! They are wonderful served by themselves or piped with your favorite filling.
| Servings |
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)
- 1 cup pecans (finely chopped)
- ½ cup light corn syrup
- 8 tbsp butter
- ⅔ cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 350ºF. 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 medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and 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 5-6 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. If you wait too long, they may stick to the baking sheet (gently lift up the outer edge of the cookie with a thin spatula to see if the cookie has firmed up enough lift off baking sheet). Transfer cookies onto a platter to serve. If you prefer to roll the lace cookies into a cone or cylinder, follow this step: While the cookies are still warm, roll the cookie disc around a handle of a wooden spoon or any other rounded wooden kitchen utensil to form a cone or cylinder shape. If they are too hard to be rolled, return them to the oven for a minute to soften them slightly. Once cooled, the cylinders can be piped with mousse, whipped cream, pudding, or ice cream. Cookies may be kept frozen in an airtight container.
