Havreflarn Oat Lace Cookies

Havreflarn, or oat lace cookies, are popular in Norway and Sweden, and if you don’t live in Scandinavia you might recognize these as Ikea cookies. But personally I think homemade havreflarn cookies are far superior to the Ikea version.

Havreflarn are super simple, made with just butter, sugar, an egg, a bit of flour, baking powder and rolled oats. But their delicate lace structure makes them look quite fancy as well. Havreflarn are popular around Christmas, but they’re so basic that I also see them anytime of year here in Norway. They’re similar to my favorite Norwegian Christmas cookies mandelflarn, or almond lace cookies, but a bit less luxurious since they’re made with oats instead of almonds.

But probably the best thing about havreflarn cookies is that they’re made with ingredients you’re likely to already have in your kitchen. Well, it’s the best thing but perhaps also the most dangerous thing – if I’m ever craving something sweet I can pretty much always whip up a quick batch of havreflarn without any prior planning. And I love these cookies so much I’m tempted to make them all the time.

The most important thing to remember when making havreflarn is to keep the cookies really tiny. I drop a small teaspoon of dough for each cookie and try to err on the side of too small rather than too large, as these cookies spread a lot in the oven. This is why you’ll also want to keep lots of space between each cookie.

And if you want your cookies to be a nice round shape, try to drop the havreflarn dough in very round circles. But it doesn’t matter if they aren’t perfectly round, they will still taste the same.

And then when baking these cookies keep a close eye on them in the oven. They’re so thin that they can go from perfectly golden to burnt in a matter of seconds. However you also don’t want to take them out of the oven too early, as then they’ll be chewy instead of crisp, and the caramel flavor won’t be as rich. I try to keep them in the oven until they’re a deep golden, a bit before I think they’re going to burn.

While I think Havreflarn are delicious on their own, you’ll also often see them dipped in chocolate, or even two sandwiched together with a layer of chocolate in the center.

If you’d like to make doble havreflarn, or double havreflarn, with chocolate in the center, melt dark chocolate in a water bath or microwave. Place a spoonful of melted chocolate on the back of a havreflarn cookie and then add a second havreflarn on top of the chocolate, pressing the two cookies together well. Let the chocolate filled cookies set in the refrigerator.

You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.