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Scottish Fancies
1 egg 1 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 teaspoon salt 2/3 tablespoon melted butter 1/4 teaspoon vanilla Beat egg until light, add gradually sugar, and then stir in remaining ingredients. Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls on a thoroughly greased inverted dripping-pan one inch apart. Spread into circular shape with a case knife first dipped in cold water. Bake in a moderate oven until delicately browned. To give variety use two-thirds cup rolled oats and fill cup with shredded cocoanut.
A lace-thin oatmeal wafer built on one egg, with no flour and no leavening. The batter is loose and the cookies spread and crisp as they cool, so the spacing and the pan surface matter more than anything else here.
- Moderate ovenBake at 350F. Watch from about 8 minutes; they go from pale to over-browned quickly at the thin edges.
- The inverted dripping-panA dripping-pan is a roasting pan, and turning it over gave the cook a flat, rimless surface. Use a heavy baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat instead, which also solves the sticking these cookies are prone to.
- SpacingOne inch apart is optimistic. Spread thin as directed, these run together easily; leave two inches between teaspoonfuls and expect to bake in batches.
- Case knifeA case knife is a plain table knife. Dipping it in cold water keeps the sticky batter from dragging as you spread each mound into a thin circle.
- Odd fractionsThe 1/3 teaspoon salt and 2/3 tablespoon butter are as written; read them as a scant half teaspoon and two teaspoons. Precision is not critical in a batter this small.
- Rolled oatsUse old-fashioned rolled oats. Quick oats are cut finer and rolled thinner, and instant oats are pre-cooked and dried; either tends to give a pasty wafer rather than a lacy one.
- CocoanutFor the variation, unsweetened shredded or desiccated coconut is closest to what was sold then. Sweetened flake coconut will make an already sweet cookie sweeter and browns faster.
- CoolingLet them set on the pan for a minute so they firm enough to lift, then move to a rack. Lifted too soon they tear; left to go cold on the pan they weld to it.
- YieldAbout two dozen small wafers. They soften in humid air, so keep them in a tin with a tight lid.