top 'o the morning to ya!

This week I tried to find an "Irish" cookie recipe. You see my sister-in-law Amanda loves Ireland so much she married it. Well not Ireland but a real Irishman named Mark. Mark is a really nice guy and every time I see him I manage to say something stupid. Most notably the time I asked him if they have ultrasounds in Ireland. But like I said Mark is a nice guy, the kind of guy who graciously accepts Uncle Sam nutcrackers as gifts.

After looking at pages and pages of leprechaun and four-leaf clover sugar cookies I decided on "lace cookies." But honestly the authenticity of my Irish cookie recipe is as accurate as a random Google search. Maybe the Irish don't eat lace cookies anymore than we Americans do. But I figured they were worth a try.

I've been eying lace cookies for a couple weeks. They just looked so intimidating especially when my previous knowledge of them was from a food article titled Ladies Who Lunch. Ladies who lunch wear fancy clothes, munch on Brie, plan charity balls and apparently like to eat lace cookies. But me? I'm the kind of lady who's lunch usually consists of flip-flops and  cutting the crust off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Nonetheless it is just a cookie and even a cookie enjoyed by the fancy shouldn't be intimidating. So I made them and imagined all of the Irish stereotypes, drunks and leprechauns, side-by-side enjoying them with me.

Mark and Amanda will be coming back to the States for a wedding reception sometime this Spring. My new refined cookie palate tells me I should probably start thinking of something fancy to get them. But don't be surprised if I just get them that classy, plush, Statue of Liberty M&M I saw Mini-Golfing last year.

Either way! Congrats and three cheers for my new Irish in-laws!

almond lace cookies

In my search to find an "Irish" cookie recipe I kept coming back to lace cookies. But from there you have to narrow it down from "almond lace", "oatmeal lace", "pecan lace", etc. I picked almond, simply because I had almonds. I don't have the exact place I found the recipe, but it or variations of it are all over the internet. 

Almond Lace Cookies

1/2 cup chopped almonds (or ground in a food processor)

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 TBSP heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract [I used almond but would probably do 1/2 of each next time]

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease cookie sheets. 

2. Boil the chopped almonds for 2 min. in just enough water to cover them. Drain and use a food processor to chop finely. [I chopped in food processor, but didn't boil and I don't think it would make a difference.] 

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour, sugar, heavy cream, extract and chopped almonds. 

4. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 1/2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Keep plenty of space or you will have them melt together. 

5. Bake until golden rims form, about 5 minutes. [I always want to cook cookies for too long and these were no exception, I cooked them for a minute longer and I shouldn't have.]

6. Let sit for a minute or two and then place on rack to make flat or on form to shape*.  They are really soft when they come out of the oven but harden pretty quickly after that. 

My Notes: 

 *I wanted to make cookie cups so I inverted a greased muffin tin and put the hot cookies on them to cool into formed cups. However teaspoons sized cookies were too small for a traditional sized muffin tin- I'd either use a mini-muffin tin or use a larger cookie to form my cups next time.

You can also cool them flat and drizzle with chocolate.

Or fill with freshly whipped cream and berries. Or dare I say both??