Made from only 6 ingredients, these easy lace cookies are ready in 30 minutes and they taste like sweet brown butter and caramel. Sandwich with a little chocolate for an extra special treat. Everyone loves these and they’re gluten free too!
Welcome to day 7 of Sallyโs Cookie Palooza! If youโre just joining us, here are all the recipes published so far:
- Peppermint Bark Cookies
- Spritz Cookies
- Christmas Cookies in a Jar (with free printable!)
- Santa’s Whiskers Cookies
- Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Gingerbread House (December Baking Challenge!)
Day 7 calls for something easy. So easy you’ll think you’re doing something wrong. Made from only 6 ingredients, these lace cookies are ready in 30 minutes and they taste like sweet brown butter and caramel. As if you took caramel, mixed it with brown butter, and made it into a thin and crispy cookie. THEY’RE HEAVEN.
What are Lace Cookies?
Lace cookies are very thin and crunchy cookies made from butter, sugar, salt, and other ingredients. The other ingredients vary depending on the recipe. Some recipes use oats and flour, other lace cookie recipes use nuts. Lace cookies get their name from their delicate and see-through appearance. My mom always used to make theseโthey’re a beautiful cookie!
They’re also one of my favorite gluten free dessert recipes. It’s nice to have a gluten free option among your spread of Christmas cookies!
How to Make Lace Cookies
In an effort to keep these gluten free AND to add elevated flavor, my lace cookie recipe uses almond flour. In addition to almond flour, you’ll also need: butter, brown sugar, salt, milk or corn syrup, and vanilla extract. That’s it!
- The cookie dough is prepared on the stove. And I use the term “cookie dough” loosely as this is more like a cake batter. All the ingredients, except for the vanilla extract (stirred in later), are cooked for a few minutes in a saucepan before spooning onto the baking sheet. This cooking stage melts the ingredients together, while baking in the oven will create caramelized sugar and brown butter flavors.
- No chilling the cookie dough. But let it rest for about 5 minutes. The cookie dough will slightly thicken, making spooning onto the baking sheets easier.
- Only 1 scant teaspoon of cookie dough per cookie. Because they’ll spread!
- Short baking time – only 8 minutes. The cookies won’t spread out at first, but around the 4 minute mark, they’ll begin their spreading journey! Listen to the butter sizzling around the edges. I love these unique cookies!
Forget everything I taught you about how to prevent cookies from spreading. You want lace cookies to be extra thin and crisp because that’s where all the caramelization happens. ๐
Be Extra
Though lace cookies have the most interesting flavor and texture, it’s Christmastime which means we can add a little flair. Sandwich your lace cookies with a generous spread of Nutella or melted chocolate and prepare for the cookie sandwich of a lifetime. Can you truly think of a better flavor combination than butter, caramelized sugar, vanilla, almond, and chocolate?! Nutella can get a little messy, so if you’re gifting or traveling with the lace cookiesโI suggest melted chocolate. Unlike Nutella, melted chocolate will set. I have instructions for chocolate in the recipe notes below.
If you love adding a little chocolate to your cookies, give your chocolate ginger cookies and pinwheel cookies a dip in chocolate, too!
With an ingredient line up like this, how can lace cookies not taste good?
I just love how quick and simple these areโmuch appreciated during the busy holiday season and PERFECT if you want a unique cookie recipe to serve alongside the classics like Christmas sugar cookies and shortbread. This recipe also joins 30+ others in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipesโready in 1 hour or less!
Easy Lace Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 30-32 cookies or 15-16 sandwiches
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Made from only 6 ingredients, these lace cookies are ready in 30 minutes and they taste like sweet brown butter and caramel. Sandwich with a little chocolate for an extra special treat. Everyone loves these and they’re gluten free too!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup (130g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (75g)ย almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml)ย light or dark corn syrup or milk*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: 1/2 cup Nutella or melted chocolate (see note)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan on low heat. Once melted, add the brown sugar, almond flour, salt, and milk/corn syrup. Cook and whisk until sugar has dissolved and ingredients are completely combined, around 3-4 minutes. (Note: If melted butter is separating from the mixture, remove the pan from heat and vigorously whisk until it is all combined again. It will eventually come back together.)
- Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla extract. Mixture will be grainy and shiny. Allow cookie dough to sit and thicken for about 5-10 minutes as the oven preheats. The mixture will thicken as it cools down.
- Preheat oven toย 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Drop scant teaspoonfuls (1 scant teaspoon of mixture per cookie, not Tablespoon) 3 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 6-8 minutes until golden brown around the edges. The edges and centers will sizzle and bubble as the cookies bake!
- Allow cookies to cool for 5 full minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Cookies dry and crisp up as they cool.
- Once cool, enjoy cookies or sandwich with Nutella or melted chocolate. To sandwich, spread either Nutella or melted chocolate onto the bottom of one cooled cookie and sandwich with another. See recipe note if using chocolate.
- Cookies without Nutella/chocolate filling will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week. Cookies with Nutella/chocolate will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions:ย Baked cookies, with or without Nutella/chocolate filling, freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. You can prepare the cookie dough in steps 1 and 2, cover tightly once cooled, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature, then continue with the recipe.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Saucepan | Whisk | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Almond Flour: I like using Bob’s Red Mill brand almond flour, found in the baking aisle of major grocery stores. If you can’t find almond flour in the store, you can make your own by simply pulsing almonds until they reach a gritty and rough flour-like consistency. Instead of almond flour, you can use the same amount of oat flour. (Buy oat flour or pulse whole oats into a flour.) All-purpose flour isn’t ideal because the cookies will not spread or caramelize. Some readers have used coconut flour, but note that the taste and texture is off. I strongly recommend almond flour.
- Either 1 Tablespoon of milk or corn syrup works in this lace cookie recipe. You need a liquid and the resulting cookie tastes exactly the same no matter which you choose. I prefer corn syrup because I find it makes the cookies just a *little* crispier.
- Nutella can get a little messy, so if you’re gifting or traveling with the lace cookiesโI suggest using melted chocolate for sandwiching the cookies. Unlike Nutella, melted chocolate will set. Instead of sandwiching, try dunking the cookies in melted chocolate or drizzling the chocolate on top. Whichever way you prefer, use about 6-8 ounces of chopped semi-sweet chocolate. (I like Ghirardelli or Bakers brand, both found in the baking aisle.) Melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave in 15-second increments, stopping and stirring after each until completely smooth. Sandwich, dip, or drizzle onto cooled cookies. Allow chocolate to set completely in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These did not turn out for me. The mixture sort of became a big blub and the butter separated and I couldn’t bring it back together. I wonder what I did wrong?
Hi Mara, weโre happy to help troubleshoot. Make sure that your pan is set over LOW heat. Keep stirring until the butter comes together. If you decide to try this recipe again and the butter separates, remove the pan from the stove and whisk vigorously, the mixture will eventually come back together and give you a cohesive dough.
Been reading comments before launching inโฆ..notice folks having trouble with round shape.
Musing about whether the pan with indentations I use for burger buns (muffin tops) would work to make a more *perfect* circle with just right amount of dough?
Or my 4โ crumpet/English muffin rings?
Anyone tried that?
Thanks!
I think the burger buns pan sounds like a great idea! I may try that! Thanks
If you experience splitting after chilling the dough to make ahead, try adding 1-2tsp white sugar on the stove! Worked wonders for me and the cookies turned out great.
These are the first cookie Iโve made that didnโt turn out. Spent 15 minutes whisking the butter back together only for it to separate again while the dough was cooling. After whisking again the butter separated while the cookies were baking.
What is the calorie count on these these oatmeal cookies?I could not find the sugar amount either
Hi Teresa! We donโt usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Perfect recipe! Comes out great every time! People love these!
I canโt wait to add these to my cookie roster this Christmas! Just wondering how long they stay crisp with the chocolate in the middle? Iโve made a similar recipe before and it seemed like they went super soft by the next day :/ Thanks!
Hi KP, Cookies without Nutella/chocolate filling will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week. Cookies with Nutella/chocolate will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.
I made these tonight and they turned out amazingly!
Hi, thanks for this recipe! I’ve been looking for a florentine recipe like I used to get a local deli as a kid and this one seems in the same realm. Any thoughts on how finely chopped candied orange peel and ginger might fare in the dough?
Hi Janis, we havenโt tested those ingredients in this recipe, but let us know if you do any experimenting!
Would these come out of a muffin tin? Im looking for neat, consistent circles.
Hi Ems, we fear these would not stay in one piece when removing from a muffin tin. Youโll want to make sure they are nice even circles going into the oven. That helps them stay in the round shape. If theyโre not even circles, you can use a spoon to help shape the warm cookies back into a circle. Hope this helps!
These cookies can be shaped immediately after removing from the oven. Many recipes roll them on a dowel or the handle of a wooden spoon to form a crispy tube. You could try to shape the cups on an inverted cupcake pan while the cookies are still hot. Good luck and Happy Holidays!
I am looking for some “different” cookies this year AND I have a really interested student BUT he has a LOT of allergies – egg, oats, and all nuts
I can work with everything BUT the almond flour – we used to be nut free so anything with nuts has been off the table for more than a decade…do you have an alternative?
Hi Veronica! Instead of almond flour, you can use the same amount of oat flour. (Buy oat flour or pulse whole oats into a flour.) All-purpose flour isnโt ideal because the cookies will not spread or caramelize. Some readers have used coconut flour, but note that the taste and texture is off.
Can these be frozen once baked? With or without the filling? Thank you.
Hi Kathryn, yes! The baked cookies, with or without Nutella/chocolate filling, freeze well up to 3 months. See recipe notes for more details.
Hi Sally! Can we add rolled oats in the recipe? I have seen versions of this with oats and would love to try but Iโm scared to add because I might end up wasting the whole cookie dough if the ratio is not right.
Hi Carla, you can certainly try adding oats if youโd like โ we havenโt tested it so weโre unsure of the exact amount, but there are many recipes out there that do use oats if you want to take a look! Or, see recipe notes for using oat flour (or finely pulsed whole oats) instead of almond flour.
Super tasty and easy (if you follow the directions). A tsp scoop would make the process much faster and simpler, if you have one!
I had to make then twice because the first time I thought I followed directions exactly, but they didn’t turn out quiet right. When she says melt the butter over low heat, she really means low heat! I was being impatient to get the butter to melt faster and melted over medium heat. As a result, the sugar seized up and the dough got hard as it cooled. The cookies didn’t spread very much and they ended up too thick and chewy. Once I followed the directions correctly, the dough remained pliable as it cooled and they spread out perfectly.
Somehow I ended up getting 60 single cookies out of the recipe, and I definitely used a tsp
Thank you very much for sharing this recipe, Sally! It reminds me very much of delicious Dutch stroopwafels, which have a thin layer of caramel sandwiched between the cookies, and are meant to be set on top of a cup of hot coffee so the caramel can soften up and get all gooey. Do you happen to have a recipe for a caramel that will set nicely like the chocolate does? I’d love to try modifying this recipe to see if I can get it to work as a stroopwafel for Christmas
Hi Kim, a few readers have reported success using our salted caramel between these cookies. Let us know if you try it!
These sounds awesome. My neighbor in addition to having gluten allergies also has nut allergies. Can I use gluten free flour to achieve the same results?
Thanks, Jamie
Hi Jamie, Instead of almond flour, you can use the same amount of oat flour, see recipe notes for details.
Great, delicate cookie. Probably the best gluten free cookie Iโve tasted. Disappointed that I bumped my cookie rack so half of them ended up shattered on the kitchen floor, but these are easy to make again.
Is it okay to use almond milk to make gluten & dairy free?
Hi Erica, yes, you can use almond milk here.
Hey these cookies were delicious. I loved the crunchy texture and was thinking of using them inside a cake (or as a topper). I was just wondering if they would stay crunchy or get soggy in the butter cream? Thanks !
Hi Soupy, we fear they may get a bit soggy when layered in a cake, but you can certainly give it a try. Let us know if you do!
I like to make these ahead and freeze them in preparation for Christmas, but the cookies are so thin they always break. Is there a way to thicken the batter to help prevent this?
Hi Jen! Yes, these are cookies are quite thin and delicate. How are you freezing them? We’d recommend freezing them in an air-tight container with parchment between the layers. This will help them to stay stacked nicely. Then thaw overnight in the refrigerator before enjoying.
Hi!
Thank you for the recipe! These are one of my favorite cookies!!
I made them for the first time and mine did not come out lacey. They were a bit wet on top and bubbly. I was wondering if you have any tips for me? โบ๏ธ
Hi Martina, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. Some bubbles are completely normal. It may be a matter of not stirring the mixture on the stove enough in step 1, but again, itโs normal for them to have bubbles on top. They are a bit stickyโthat is the nature of these cookiesโthey may become a little sticky as they sit. But if they dough seemed a bit too sticky as you were making it, it could be that the pot is too big. Do you have a smaller pot you could try to use? Also, try turning down the heat. That could help too. Thank you for giving these a try!
I canโt find any information about whether these would be okay to freeze after baking and cooling completely. Can you please advise whether they would be okay, and if so, for how long. Thank you.
Hi Ali, see Notes after the recipe: Baked cookies, with or without Nutella/chocolate filling, freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving.
I did freeze the cookies which I had sandwiched with chocolate, for about a week, and had to throw them out after. They completely lost their lovely texture and were kind of gross as they were too moist. Having said that, these cookies, when eaten fresh or stored for a couple of days at room temperature, are amazing! They were a hit with my guests today, especially my friend who eats gluten-free. I will be making them again (fresh or the day before) when I have another occasion to serve them. Thank you for the recipe!
These are so very good! I used cream instead of milk and they didnโt really spread out as much so I will use milk next time. But they are still so very delicious! I melted chocolate chips with a teaspoon of coconut oil and spread on the back of each cookie. This is amazing love this recipe! Thank you! No one would ever know itโs gluten free!
I love these cookies so much, and they couldnโt be any easier. Plus, itโs a really nice option for gluten-free folks. They look so elegant, and taste so decadent – like a Heath or SKOR bar. These are definitely going on the Christmas plates!
Hi Sally !
Thank you for all your amazing recipes.
I was wondering if I could use other nuts, in particular hazelnuts or hazelnut flour?
Do you think it would work? Would there be any other changes needed?
I think it would taste great with chocolate.
Thank you !
Hazelnut flour should be just fine.
The recipe was easy to make and to shape them if they spread too much. I used dark chocolate for some filling, and dark chocolate with peanut butter for some. Very good and easy to make
Forgot to reta
Me and my BFF made theses at a sleepover and they were so good! We ate about half the batch before we even finished baking them, this recipe is 10 out of 10 definitely giving it five stars should totally make this recipe. Itโs so tasty, especially dipped in chocolate, I would recommend semi sweet chocolate
Can I use plant based butter instead of the butter?
Hi Ali, we haven’t tested it, so we’re unsure how the cookies may change with that swap. Let us know if you do decide to give it a try.
Hi sally this is such a great recipe! However Iโve had to bake it for much longer because it wonโt crisp up. Itโs lacy but even after it cools itโs not crisp- and with the one that did turn out a little crisp the sugar gets stuck in my teeth. I canโt understand where I went wrong
Would you recommend Bob’s Red Mill Super-Fine or just the regular almond flour?
Hi Peggy, we use and prefer Bob’s Red Mill Superfine Almond Flour, but regular almond flour should work here.
Thank you for sharing nice recipes so selflessly.
May you grow more and more.