Pink Carnation Cookery: "Emerald Ring" Cookies

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, Christine brings us Irish Lace cookies inspired by The Deception of the Emerald Ring. Brew yourself a strong cup of tea, put some Irish ballads on the iPod, and here we go….

In The Deception of the Emerald Ring, Letty and Geoff run off to Ireland to help the Pink Carnation on yet another spying mission. To celebrate the trip of Lord and Lady Pinchingdale, and St. Patrick’s Day, we bring you Irish Lace Cookies.

Emerald PaperbackRecipe taken from Epicurious:

Ingredients:

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix butter and sugar until creamy.
3. Add flour, milk and vanilla extract to butter mixture
4. Add oats.
5. Drop cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets, about 3 inches apart.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden
7. Let cool for 1 minute or until firm enough to move with a spatula.
8. Move to wire rack and cool completely.

The recipe said this makes about 40 cookies, based on using rounded teaspoon-sized drops. I got about 15 large-ish cookies using a teaspoon. Some of them didn’t flatten out as much as they should have, so I would make them much smaller next time. Also, try to make the drops as even as possible. Some flatted completely and others only flattened about halfway.

There’s also an option to roll them, but the reviews were mixed on that. Some people had a very easy time doing it, others said the cookie crumbled way too easily.

Getting them off the cookie sheet wasn’t the easiest thing, even after I waited a few minutes. The cookies were still too soft and lost shape every time I tried to lift them up. Probably a result of the uneven spreading. The ones that were the easiest to lift (and least likely to fall apart) were the ones that had spread the most evenly. Photo is the one that came out the prettiest. Looks pretty good when it’s done right!

photo(1)

Overall, very delicious recipe, but the execution is going to take a few tries to get right. They’re wonderfully sweet and crispy once they cool completely. Lots of mistakes with this attempt, but even mistakes can be delicious!

I adhere strongly to the theory that anything with oats in them must be healthy. (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.) Therefore, these cookies are a guilt-free treat.

There is also something about oat-based cookies that strikes me as distinctly appropriate for Letty. She does seem like the sort who would go for the oatmeal raisin rather than the chocolate chip, don’t you agree?

Thanks so much for the recipe, Christine! And happy St. Patrick’s Day, all….

5 Comments

  1. Lynne on March 8, 2014 at 12:55 am

    Yummmmmmmmm……

  2. Rachel Beecroft on March 10, 2014 at 9:09 am

    Hello Lauren and Christine – I cooked these at the weekend with my children and they were yummy – thank you!

    By the way, it’s interesting that you have a different St Patrick’s day in the US – here in Britain it’s not until 17th March, so we’re ahead of ourselves with these cookies.

    • Lauren on March 10, 2014 at 10:10 am

      It’s the same here– I just messed up my post timer and posted it too early. : )

    • Christine on March 10, 2014 at 12:34 pm

      So glad you enjoyed them! Hope they came out prettier than mine did, but they certainly were delicious. (And glad to know there’s someone trying these recipes!)

  3. […] the link to the wonderful Irish lace cookie recipe Christine shared for her Pink Carnation cookery series lo […]

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