Lady Bird Johnson's Lace Cookies

I was trying to decide what to make yesterday, when a reader mentioned she'd like to see a lace cookie recipe without oats. This one immediately came to mind. It's a vintage recipe originally from Lady Bird Johnson who served them at the White House and at her ranch in Texas. The cookies are delicate, crisp, and rich, yet fairly easy to make (once you get the hang of it).

Other Ingredients

Lady Bird's original recipe calls for margarine, which was typical of the era. I swapped it for salted butter to give the cookies a deeper flavor. That, plus I don't think today's margarine would even work in these. Maybe some of the better "vegan butter" types would, but I'm sticking with butter for now.

Along with the butter the ingredient list includes mostly pantry staples.

• Light brown sugar
• Salted butter
• Karo corn syrup
• All-purpose flour
• Sweetened flaked coconut
• Vanilla extract

You don't need eggs, baking soda, or leavening, just a saucepan, a spoon, and a baking sheet. You'll also need a little practice. My first cookies spread quite a bit and were overdone, but the second and third rounds were better because by then I had an idea when to pull them. I'd never baked them in my current oven, so this was an adventure. There's also the choice of whether to use parchment or not. With parchment, the cookies spread less but in a more jaggedy fashion.

On an ungreased insulated baking sheet, they spread into disastrous looking puddles, that when peeled off the baking sheet are quite beautiful. So if you have an insulated or just a thick nonstick baking sheet, I'd go with that.

How to Make Lace Cookies

These cookies come together fast:

• Melt the butter, brown sugar, and Karo syrup together in a saucepan until smooth.
• Stir in the flour, coconut, and vanilla.
• Let mixture cool and stiffen slightly.
• Shape into balls using rounded teaspoonfuls and drop onto baking sheets, spacing far apart, since they spread dramatically.
• Bake until golden and lacy around the edges.
• Let completely before lifting them off the parchment. They firm up as they cool. If baking directly on the sheet pan, you can carefully scrape them off while still a tad warm.

Baking Tips

• Space them at least 3 ½ inches apart to give plenty of room for spread.
• Watch the time: They go from golden to burnt in seconds, so keep an eye on them during the last minute.
• Shape them: If you want uniform rounds, you can "scoot" them gently with a cookie cutter right after baking.
• Before you begin, keep an inverted muffin tin neary so you can put a few warm cookies over the cups and turn them into little cookie cups! While still warm, drape a cookies over the tin and let cool.

Storage

Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The cookies freeze well, too. Just layer with wax paper and seal tightly. For extra crispness after freezing, reheat them for a few minutes in a low oven.

Recipe