Cubicle kitchen: Coffee-Laced Oatmeal Lace Cookies

Sometimes you can take for granted that certain ingredients will be in your pantry.  Like, say all-purpose flour.  Thankfully, when you find yourself without one thing or another, there's always another option.  And when what you're missing is flour, there's a whole Google-verse of gluten-free recipes to choose from.  The trouble there is usually finding recipes that don't require flour at all, rather than ones that use chickpea or some other concoction to fake it.

Because I had just brought in peanut butter cookies the week before, I wanted to steer clear of another nutty treat.  So I turned to another gluten-free staple, oatmeal.  I had been wanting to make some of those thin, crispy lace cookies for a while, and doing them with oatmeal instead of flower made them a little chewy as well as crunchy.  I added some instant coffee to add another layer of flavor and make them particularly appropriate for our afternoon coffee klatch.  If you want them to be more than just laced with coffee flavor, though, feel free to add more.

Making these can get a little messy because the 'dough' is so loose.  You are really just taking pinches of the mixture and trying to get them close enough together that they stick together when baking, without them sticking to your fingers.  Or at least, only as much sticking to your fingers as you want to surreptitiously eat.  I might have enjoyed licking my fingers a little too much, because I decided to bake two batches of these over the course of the same weekend.  But it's okay, because they are so delicate and tiny that people don't have to feel guilty about eating several at a time.

Coffee-Laced Oatmeal Lace Cookies
Adapted from Chinese Grandma: Flourless oatmeal lace cookies
Makes about four dozen (at least)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (could also use old-fashioned)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• Dash of salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  It will be very loose, that's fine, just make sure everything is mixed in completely.
3. Take teaspoonfuls of the mixture and form roughly-shaped circles onto parchment paper-lined baking trays.  Pat circles down to ensure you get the flat, lacy look in your finished cookies.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes until cookies are golden brown.  Allow cookies to cool before removing from tray.