Claire's Lace                                                                           Click here for printable recipe

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Lace cookies were one of my favorite things to bake when I was a child. They were easy to make, but they looked as though I'd labored over them for hours. I used them in Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil because they're as sweet and delicate as Claire was when she was a child.

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

1 cup sifted flour
1 cup chopped flaked coconut or chopped walnuts
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix flour and coconut (or walnuts).

Combine light corn syrup, brown sugar, and butter or
margarine in heavy saucepan. Stirring constantly over medium heat, bring syrup mixture to a boil. Remove from heat.

Gradually blend flour mixture, then vanilla, into syrup mixture.

Drop scant teaspoonfuls, 3 inches apart onto foil-covered cookie sheets (dough will spread during baking).

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Cool on wire rack until foil peels off easily. Remove foil. Place cookies on a rack covered with absorbent paper.

Reprinted from AUNT DIMITY BEATS THE DEVIL by Nancy Atherton by permission of Penguin Books, a member of Penguin Putnam, Inc. Copyright 2000 by Nancy T. Atherton. All rights reserved. This excerpt, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.