South Carolina Lace Cookies

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with aluminum
foil, placing the shiny side of the foil face down, and butter lightly.

In a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender, finely
chop the pecans for 10 to 20 seconds, being careful not to pulverize.

In a large bowl, combine the pecans and flour and set aside.

In a large heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the granulated
sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup and butter. Cook, stirring constantly,
until the butter has melted and both sugars have dissolved, about 5
minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Gradually add the flour-pecan
mixture, stirring until well blended. Stir in the vanilla extract. Drop the
batter by tablespoons onto the lined baking sheets, allowing only 6 cookies
per baking sheet and leaving at least 3 inches between the cookies to allow
them to spread as they bake. Using buttered fingertips, press each cookie
flat and even, to a diameter of about 3 inches.

Bake until golden brown and bubbly, 8 to10 minutes. Keeping the cookies on
the aluminum foil, transfer the foil from the baking sheets to wire racks
to cool for 2 to 3 minutes. When cookies are firm but still warm, quickly
but carefully peel the foil from the cookies and transfer them back to the
wire racks to cool completely. If the cookies become too firm to remove
from the foil, return them to the oven briefly to soften.

Store the cookies in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper,
at room temperature, for up to 4 days, or wrap in freezer paper and freeze
for up to 1 month.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies