Uncanny Goodness. Time Saving Recipes: Chocolate Lace Sandwich Cookies

Quaker Oats

Featured Ingredient: Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

Last night I had the rare pleasure of going out to dinner with my husband. My oldest son is now 14 years old and I figured he would be willing and able watch his 10 year old brother for a couple of hours (at least for money). After dinner my husband and I went to Home Goods to look for some bargains. For those of you who don't have Home Goods it is a discount store that's part of the TJ Maxx family which sells, as you might expect, all sorts of housewares.

While perusing the cooking and appliance section (big surprise) I came across a giant cookbook by bon appetit dedicated specifically to desserts. Nearly 700 pages of anything and everything decadent from cakes to cookies, custards to candy. 200 recipes alone of something with chocolate in it. At $22 that was a no-brainer. You can also get a full year subscription to the magazine by buying the book (offer expires 5/31/11) so I got it just in time.

One of my goals for Sunday, besides adding a blog post, was to break in the cookbook. I came upon a recipe for Lace Cookies with Chocolate filling. When I was a little girl, my parents used to go Jutland Bakery in Darien, CT on Sunday mornings after church. I would always ask for chocolate lace cookies. That bakery is no longer there but my fondness for lace cookies with chocolate lives on. Since it was Sunday, the recipe seemed appropriate. This is a cookie, I never made before. It was actually quite easy. The key is to have at least two racks and a decent size work area where to cool your cookies and then place them on paper towels to absorb any excess butter.

The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons orange zest. I thought these were yummy but ended up with a little too much of an orange note for me. I might cut back to 1 teaspoon and replace the other teaspoon with vanilla extract next time.

Chocolate Lace Sandwich Cookies - Makes 20 cookies

1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest (from 1 large orange)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted, butter melted
1/4 cup whole milk
4 oz Ghiradelli bittersweet or seminsweet chocolate, chopped

Position rack in top third of oven and preheat oven to 350F.

Line a heavy rimless cookie sheet with a silpat or foil. (I used foil). Stir together brown sugar, oats, flour, orange zest, baking powder and salt.

Add melted butter and milk and stir well. Let batter stand for 15 minutes.

The recipe book said 10 but I found with each batch, as the batter sat longer the baked cookies were less spread out and more uniform.

Drop batter by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets, space at least two inches apart. (You will be surprised that 1 teaspoon makes such a large cookie. They are twice the size you would see in a bakery.)

Bake for 9 to 10 minutes until cookies are bubbly and golden brown. Remove from oven. NOTE: the cookies will be very soft and will fall apart if you try to move them individually at this time - they will harden and stick together as they cool). Carefully slide baking mat or foil with from cookie sheet with cookies on it onto a rack to cool. Once cooled remove cookies with a small offset spatula by sliding it under them and then transfer to paper towels to absorb any excess butter. Use clean foil or mat for each batch.

Lace cookies out of the oven

Marry up matching size cookies and line a baking sheet with foil. Melt chocolate in double boiler. Spread a little bit of chocolate on the bottom side of one cookie. Press a similar size cookie on top and place on cookie sheet.