Evadell Guilbeau's Lace Cookies

a favorite family recipe from a childhood neighbor and friend

submitted by Julie Christensen

makes about 3 to 4 dozen small cookies

1½ cups Quick Oats

½ cup butter

¾ cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

Heat oven to 350° F. Melt butter, remove from heat and mix in oats, stirring well. Sift in sugar, flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Add the slightly beaten egg, vanilla and chopped pecans and mix well.

Line 2 or 3 cookie sheets with foil. Drop the mixture by the ½ teaspoon onto the foiled cookie sheet. Leave room, as the cookies will spread. Bake cookies one sheet at a time, allowing the sheet to cool slightly before reusing.

Bake 9 to 11 minutes, depending on the oven. Cookies will puff up then fall while cooking. Allow them to turn slightly brown before removing from oven. Let cool and harden and then use a metal spatula to carefully remove them. Transfer to a cool surface to allow them to cool completely, and then place in an airtight container until serving.

Neighbor Evadell Guilbeau would arrive at our south Louisiana home with tins and hampers from time to time. No contents were more prized than these cookies, which made use of the abundant pecans that seemed to be in everyone’s grandmother’s yard. The aptly named cookies are airy and light - and no one can eat just one.