Recipe: Butterscotch Lace Cookies

butterscotch cookies recipe

Welcome to Day 2 of Jersey Bites’ 12 Days of Cookies! Today’s recipe is for Butterscotch Lace Cookies, from Christine Van Arsdalen.

Christmas in my family means your freezer becomes the home of 10 or more cans of holiday cookies. Though one is rather short and the other has pointy ears, the white-haired individuals who make all those cookies are my Gram and Pop, not elves in a tree. These beloved cookies are a collection of recipes gathered over the years from Betty Crocker, a school lunch lady, and my great grandmother. Over 50 years and a lot of practice later, each one has been refined and adjusted to produce the perfect cookie.

The family favorites were eventually compiled into what my sister and I call “The Cookie Bible.” The 1970’s looking hand typed packet contains the perfected recipes complete with my grandmothers notes.  Being that I can’t share them all I chose to share my favorite, a warm buttery cookie that is sure to melt your heart this winter.

Butterscotch Lace Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 ½ cups brown sugar (packed)
2 ¼ cups rolled oats
½ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. flour
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions
1. Add sugar to butter or margarine; pour over rolled oats. Let stand at room temperature overnight so oats absorb butter.
2. Heat oven to 375°F.  Mix remaining ingredients into oats. Drop level teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart on heavily greased baking sheet. Bake only 12 cookies on a sheet.
3. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until brown around edges. Allow to remain on sheet a few minutes, until firm, then immediately remove with spatula to cooling rack.

NOTE: Do not make these cookies in hot, humid weather, as cookies absorb moisture and become limp.

Makes 11-12 dozen, medium sized.

Christine Van Arsdalen is a born-and-raised Jersey Girl, native to central and coastal NJ. As the author of the blog the Dexterous Diner, Christine chronicles her efforts as she indulges her foodie side on her very small budget which she likes to call “champagne dining on a beer budget.” She grew up being yelled at by an old Italian woman in the kitchen who was, surprisingly, not her mother. Her love of food grew from a combination of cooking in a restaurant and fond memories of creating scrumptious meals from scratch with her father. Today, she travels around the state of New Jersey and beyond searching for new twists on her old favorites: foods that bring you back to your childhood in a modern and sophisticated way. She loves unexpected and creative combinations, both in the food she eats and cooks. Though her palate has become more refined, she is still excited by a grilled cheese sandwich; that, and a great cup of coffee.