Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: They taste like your childhood -but better! Not quite as sweet and with the perfect hint of cinnamon.
Texture: My favorite part! The cookies are the perfect chewy complement to the rich and creamy filling.
Ease: Easier to make than you might think!
Pros: A better tasting and less artificial version of your favorite nostalgic treat.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Absolutely.
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Move over, Little Debbie. These Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies are about to become your new best friend.
I like to call these the “adult-version” of Oatmeal Creme Pies. No, they don’t contain alcohol; however, these cookies are decadent and so flavorful. With no artificial flavorings, these copycat cookie sandwiches are made with ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry.
Remember how thin and squishy the store-bought cookies were? These babies are thick and chewy with a hint of spice from the cinnamon and chock full of the creamiest, smoothest buttercream frosting.
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
What is it about fall that’s so nostalgic? Is it the cooler weather, the sound of leaves crunching under your shoes, the building anticipation for the upcoming holidays?
Whatever it is, I’ve been itching to recreate desserts that I loved growing up, and what better way to bring back the best memories of childhood than by recreating a dessert BETTER than what I had as a kid?
The best part about these cookie sandwiches? I guarantee the first bite will evoke all those childhood memories of sitting in the lunchroom and skipping over your sandwich to go straight to your Little Debbie snack while playing with your Tamagotchi, or, let’s be real… listening to Britney Spears on your Walkman.
I think you’re going to love these Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies. Or Oatmeal Creme Pies. However you spell it 😉
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Oatmeal Cream Pies
What are Oatmeal Cream Pies?
Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies are soft and chewy oatmeal cookies filled with vanilla buttercream. I always found the original version left me desiring more buttercream in the middle. My Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies are thicker, more flavorful, and have the perfect cookie-to-frosting ratio.
How to Make Soft, Chewy Cookies for Oatmeal Cream Pies
- Measure Your Flour Correctly: I always recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure your flour. It’s so easy to accidentally compact the flour into measuring cups, which can result in dry, hard cookies that don’t spread. If you don’t have a scale, use the spoon and level method instead.
- Don’t Reduce the Sugar: Sugar does SO much more than just sweeten baked goods. Learn all about sugar’s role in baking here.
- Eggs: This recipe uses two large eggs plus one egg yolk, lending moisture and richness to the dough. This makes these cookies softer and chewier.
What Kind of Oats For Oatmeal Cream Pies?
This recipe calls for old-fashioned rolled oats, which give the cookies that characteristic craggly look, chewiness, and flavor.
Can I Add Raisins or Chocolate Chips to my Oatmeal Cookies?
You can, though that’ll change the texture and add a little more height to your cookies.
The Sugar in Oatmeal Cream Pies
- The cookie recipe calls for both granulated sugar and dark brown sugar.
- I recommend sticking with the dark brown sugar if possible. The rich butterscotch flavor it lends complements the nutty oats beautifully.
- Dark brown sugar is made with more molasses, bringing more moisture to the cookies, and helping keep them softer for longer.
- You can use the same amount of light brown sugar if needed, but the cookies will be slightly lighter in color and may not be quite as moist or flavorful.
- Tip: Do you have granulated white sugar and molasses on hand? Learn how to make brown sugar!
How to Avoid FLAT Oatmeal Cookies
If your cookies end up flat, butter that was too warm is likely the culprit. When creaming butter and sugar, your butter should be at a COOL room temperature. 67°F is perfect – or even a couple degrees cooler if your kitchen is very warm. If your butter is too warm, your cookies will spread into flat puddles.
Just take a look at the cookie comparison below:
Does This Oatmeal Cookie Dough Need to be Chilled?
No dough chilling required! I don’t like to refrigerate dough made with oats for too long because oats are such a drying ingredient and really suck up moisture, and you don’t want the dough to dry up too quickly. If you wish to refrigerate this dough, you absolutely can – just avoid refrigerating longer than 48 hours – otherwise, you risk drying out your dough.
How to Store Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
Store Oatmeal Cream Pies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature before serving. The sugar in the frosting acts as a preservative, so these cookies can be stored at room temperature, but no longer than a couple of days.
Can I Freeze Oatmeal Cream Pies Whole?
Yes! Wrap Oatmeal Cream Pies individually in plastic wrap and store inside an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight, then let come to room temperature before serving. You can also scoop the cookie dough into balls and freeze those. Learn how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen here.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Lofthouse Cookies
- Cosmic Brownies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Monster Cookies
- Bourbon Rye Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
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Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 3/4 cups (222 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at cool room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at cool room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (270 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
For the filling:
- 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (313 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Make the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the oats with a rubber spatula.
- Using a spoon or large spring-loaded scoop, drop 3-tablespoon sized balls of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a measuring cup.
- Bake for about 12 to 14 minutes, or until the edges are slightly browned, rotating baking sheets halfway through. Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Make the filling:
- Mix all ingredients together with an electric mixer on low until combined, then beat on medium-high speed until light, fluffy, and smooth, about 5 minutes.
- Spread or pipe the filling on half of your cookies and use the remaining cookies to sandwich. Serve or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Would thick cut old fashioned oats work?
Hi Tara! We’ve only tried this recipe with old-fashioned rolled oats. Let us know if you give thick-cut oats a try!
Oh man, as someone who’s (probably) a bit older than you, no. These don’t taste like my childhood but better- they just taste like my childhood. Older oatmeal creme pies used to look almost identical to the ones you made there, and taste amazing. I have no idea when they became those flat little grease ball squishy things, but I stopped eating them over the years. Used to be a favorite childhood snack, but the ‘new’ ones (not actually new, just… newer than me lol), are awful by comparison. They used to have big rolled oats and that same texture and size. This is like what I’ve been nostalgic for, for the past… 30 years or so.
Fairly easy and delicious! I weighed my cookie dough balls so they would hopefully be the same size.
We used a half cup less powdered sugar- just keep mixing so more air and fluffy for icing.
Very simple and well written recipe, that turned out pretty good. I would suggest using a one ounce scoop for the dough, and the filling is very, very sweet. Overall, I thought it was pretty good and look forward to making it again.
these are so good. reminds me of when the children were little. Mine turned out huge, but will be great for the Farmer’s Market.
These are great! Love the cookie part, but the filling is missing something, the ones in the store don’t use buttercream frosting as this recipe calls for. I’m thinking back to once upon a time I made whoopie pies and that filling, in addition to the butter, had shortening and marshmallow fluff. I remember it tasted much more similar than this Of course I think of this after I made a batch of these Just food for thought
KJEBH I took your suggestion and added a container of marshmallow fluff and then added about a cup of beanutbutter. I did use half the amount of butter. This made a delicious pb fluff frosting that was amazing with the oatmeal cookie
family loved them
I’ve tried making these for the past 2 days. The first dough I made I realized I used warm room temperature butter so my cookies were flat. This time I made sure the butter was at a cool room temperature but they are still turning out flat. I’m not sure what else I could be doing wrong. Every other cookie recipe has turned out amazing.
Hi Jadia! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies aren’t turning out as they should. They are not designed to be a super thick cookie, as you can see in the pictures, as they’re destined to be sandwiched together with delicious filling! How old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda/powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here! If you’re looking to make these slightly thicker, I would recommend skipping the flattening before baking, to encourage the cookies to stay a little thicker. You can also try refrigerating the dough overnight, to allow the liquid in the dough to fully hydrate the flour, and bake up a little thicker. Learn more about that here! (just don’t refrigerate for more than 24-48 hours; longer than that will dry it out, since oats are a drying ingredient). I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
I’ve got the cookies in the oven. They are going in a tin with a few other selections as a birthday gift for a dear friend. He is going to love them!
My family is totally obsessed with these cookies, my mom has made them at least 4 times by now and continues to make them for family gatherings! They are amazing right after assembling, but also they freeze super well and are absolutely delicious right out of the freezer or cold after thawing for a few minutes!
I come from a family that rarely trusts any recipes outside of ATK. However, we tried making these cookies for a fun baking day and let me just say…..I now come from a family that rarely trusts any recipes outside of ATK AND Handle the Heat!
Anyways, I would 110% recommend this recipe! Thank you so much! (:
Wow, we are in incredible company then! Thank you so much – we are honored 🙂 So thrilled you love this recipe!
Don’t think I’ve commented in a blog before but these oatmeal cookies are the best I’ve tried. I don’t even do the frosting center lol (which is what I wanted at the time)
I’ve now made two batches. One with and one without raisins. I think this is ruining my gym diet
I dont understand “3 tbsp size scoops”…is this for one pie?
thanks
Ginny
Hi Ginny! The 3-tablespoon size cookie scoop refers to the size of the cookie scoop used to scoop out the cookie dough when ready to bake. This is the type of cookie scoop we recommend – in the large 3-tablespoon size. I hope that helps 🙂