Lace Cookies

This is one of Patrick and Katie's favorite recipes. It's really easy to make and they are very pretty and delicate. The hardest part is not letting them burn. The recipe comes from a 1972 edition of The Cookies and Candies Cookbook published by Southern Living. For those of you who don't know, Southern Living is published by Oxmoor House which is located in Birmingham, Alabama. So are the offices of Southern Living for that matter. Oxmoor Road is the name of the boulevard where the offices are located. Or, at least, they were when I was growing up there.

It's funny, really, but two of my best friends were (and maybe still are) working there at the same time. I've lost track of them a bit. They've both re-married and I don't know their new last names. One of them was my very best childhood friend. We played with Barbies and pretended we WERE Barbie. My friend was a ballerina and I was a singer so, of course, our Barbies were entertainers. It was just fate. We grew apart when I moved to another area of the city, but our moms were best friends forever.

The other friend was my best friend in college. She was a lot smarter than me and actually finished college. She was also a better actress than I was and got a lot of roles in the theatrical productions. She couldn't sing that well, though, so I at least had that going for me. We had some great times, though. Ahh, those were the days.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 c. sifted all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup quick-cooking oats

2 T. milk

A note about the ingredients--As I have said before, it's best to use real butter in baking, but if you'd rather use margarine, you must use one with a higher fat content so the cookies will hold their shape. The flour too. We don't sift much any more and it's really not necessary to sift. Just run a fork through the flour before measuring. When you measure it, though, try spooning the flour into the measuring cup instead of scooping. It helps keep the flour airy. And, any kind of milk will do in this recipe.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour your cookie sheets. (You can use Baker's Joy, but it's a lot cheaper to use a little Pam, wipe it down and then flour)

2. Melt butter in a saucepan.

3. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix well.

4. Drop by half teaspoonfuls about 3 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Spread them even

thinner with a spoon or spatula. (The cookies are going to spread so it's important to keep them far apart)

5. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove from oven and let stand for a minute. Carefully remove the cookies from the cookie sheet with a wide spatula and put on wax paper. They will fall through a regular wire cookie rack.

6. Cool thoroughly...Enjoy!