These Oatmeal Creme Pies are made with soft-baked, chewy oatmeal cookies and fluffy vanilla buttercream. They are the perfect dessert! Move over Little Debbie!
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These oatmeal cookies are soft and chewy, filled with cinnamon in every bite. Two cookies are sandwiched together with a sweet, rich buttercream that melts in your mouth. Even if you don't love oatmeal cookies, the buttercream in between these makes all the difference. It's an amazing combo.
Not going to lie to you guys, I was not a huge oatmeal creme pie lover growing up. Not sure why, because I have always loved oatmeal raisin cookies. I guess I was more of a Tastykake kid than Little Debbie! Now I know better. Oatmeal creme pies are where it's AT.
Ingredients needed:
These are basic cookie & buttercream recipes, but I will point out a few things below:
- Quick oats- read below on why I use quick oats over old-fashioned and also how to make your own quick oats.
- Butter- I use unsalted! If you only have salted, just omit the salt the recipe calls for.
- Molasses- this gives your cookies some extra chew, which we want in these oatmeal cookies.
- Powdered sugar- this is what we mix with the butter to make buttercream frosting.
- Heavy whipping cream- also for the buttercream. I have not tried substituting this for another dairy product in this recipe.
Step by step instructions:
Step 1: Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, then set aside. Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and molasses and mix everything until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined, your batter will be thick!
Step 2: Scoop on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 9-10 minutes in a 350 degree F oven, or until lightly golden brown around the edges. Let them cool on a cooling rack before icing
Step 3: Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream until combined, and then beat on high speed for about 3-4 minutes. If the filling seems too thick, add a couple more teaspoons of heavy cream. If it's too thin, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar.
Step 4: You can use either a piping bag/Ziploc bag to pipe the frosting or just spread 1½ tablespoon of creme onto the bottom half of the cookies; top with remaining cookies to make a sandwich.
Commonly Asked Questions
Growing up on Little Debbie OCP's meant eating every last bit of that sugary, sweet vanilla cream filling. This recipe has upgraded that filling to vanilla buttercream, making it extra rich and fluffy.
Old fashioned or rolled oats are great in granola recipes or to make overnight oatmeal, but for these cookies, we want smaller pieces of oats in order to get a good consistency in our cookie.
If you only have old-fashioned oats at home, make yourself some quick oats by pulsing them in the food processor or blender! It's super easy.
Yes, you can! To half the recipe just cut all ingredient measurements in half. You can double the recipe by doubling the ingredients, or make smaller cookies (so you'll have more) by using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop.
Absolutely! Especially since you have to wait for the cookies to cool, and then frost, making them the day ahead will make them a little less time-consuming. If you are making the day ahead, store cookies in an airtight container. If you make the buttercream ahead, store covered in the fridge.
Before you are ready to frost the cookies, bring the buttercream to room temperature by letting it sit out for about an hour. Then use an electric mixer to give it a quick mix so that it's nice a fluffy. You might need to add a tablespoon or so of heavy whipping cream.
tips & tricks
- This recipe makes super thick cookie dough, so use an electric mixer to help speed up the process. If you don't have one, no worries! You can totally make these by hand, it'll just take a little extra elbow grease.
- A large cookie scoop (2tbsp) gives you pretty large cookies. If you want smaller oatmeal creme pies, just use a smaller cookie scoop or about 1 tablespoon per cookie
- Don't overbake the cookies because you want them to be easy to bite into with the filling. They might look under-baked when they first come out but they will continue cooking while they cool.
- Use a piping bag and tip for a super pretty filling. I used a round tip but you could use a star tip as well. If you don't have a piping bag/tip you could also use a ziploc bag- just snip a small bit off the end and use that like a piping bag. You can also just use a knife to spread the buttercream onto the cookie sandwiches.
- If the oatmeal creme pies are too warm and the icing is falling out while you take a bite, stick them in the fridge/freezer for a few minutes to harden up.
Storing and freezing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, then after that in the fridge to keep them fresh for up to 1 week.
You can make this cookie dough and freeze it before baking, I would recommend scooping them first. It saves you some time later! Let them come to room temperature before baking.
You can also make and freeze the cookies after baking and before putting the icing on, as well as after putting the icing on. They should stay good in a freezer-safe container for up to a month.
More cookie recipes to try:
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📖 Recipe
Oatmeal Creme Pies Recipe
Ingredients
Oatmeal Cookies
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 cups quick oats
- 1 cup unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon molasses
Buttercream Filling
- ¾ cup unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and oats. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together until light and creamy. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and molasses. Mix until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl when needed.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Your batter should be very thick and you might need to mix it by hand after it initally combines. Use a large cookie scoop (or two tablespoons worth) to scoop the dough, roll into a ball, and drop them onto your baking sheet. I put 6 cookies on at a time since they are larger and tend to spread out more.
- Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes, until lightly golden brown around the edges. You don't want to overbake these because we want them to be soft. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
- For the filling: Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream until combined, and then beat on high speed for about 3-4 minutes. If the filling seems way too thick, add a couple more teaspoons of heavy cream. If it's too thin, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar.
- You can use either a piping bag/Ziploc bag to pipe the frosting, or just spread 1½ tablespoon of creme onto the bottom half of the cookies; top with remaining cookies to make a sandwich.
Video
Notes
- This recipe makes super thick cookie dough, so use an electric mixer to help speed up the process. If you don't have one, no worries! You can totally make these by hand, it'll just take a little extra elbow grease.
- A large cookie scoop (2tbsp) gives you pretty large cookies. If you want smaller oatmeal creme pies, just use a smaller cookie scoop or about 1 tablespoon per cookie
- Don't overbake the cookies because you want them to be easy to bite into with the filling. They might look under-baked when they first come out but they will continue cooking while they cool.
- Use a piping bag and tip for a super pretty filling. I used a round tip but you could use a star tip as well. If you don't have a piping bag/tip you could also use a ziploc bag- just snip a small bit off the end and use that like a piping bag. You can also just use a knife to spread the buttercream onto the cookie sandwiches.
- If the oatmeal creme pies are too warm and the icing is falling out while you take a bite, stick them in the fridge/freezer for a few minutes to harden up.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, then after that in the fridge to keep them fresh for up to 1 week. These can also be frozen for up to 1 month.
Kristen says
These cookies are my favorite! They are sooo delicious an easier to make than I thought!
Kelly Hamilton says
Thanks for trying this recipe, Kristen! Happy to hear you love these
Jenna says
Made these for a girls night and they were a huge hit! Love them, made them exactly as the recipes says!
Kelly Hamilton says
Thanks so much for trying this recipe, Jenna! Glad you and the girls loved them 🥰