Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie Recipe
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This oatmeal butterscotch cookie recipe, known as oatmeal scotchies, is simple one to make, whips up quickly, and full of butterscotch flavor! With lots of hearty oats, a hint of cinnamon, these butterscotch oatmeal cookies are an easy cookie recipe that’s ready in about 30 minutes or less!
I think I’m becoming a bit obsessed around here with oatmeal cookies. Starting with the classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, to an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe chock full of chocolate chips to some fun variations like White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. And as Fall approaches I knew the next oatmeal cookie to make its debut on the blog is this oatmeal butterscotch cookie recipe or “oatmeal scotchies”.
I never knew I was such a fan of butterscotch chips until I made these Seven Layer Bars and realized my favorite part was the butterscotch flavor! So I thought why not stir some in to some oatmeal cookie dough?
I love these oatmeal butterscotch cookies because they start with my simple oatmeal cookie dough made with melted butter, hearty old-fashioned oats and butterscotch chips. They come soft and chewy, and basically perfection.
Give me a big stack of oatmeal cookies and a giant glass of milk and I’m one happy girl. And I think after one bite, you will be too…or boy…or person.
What Is A Scotchies?
You may also know these oatmeal butterscotch cookies as oatmeal scotchies because of the butterscotch chips that are added to them. Hence the name “scotchies” referring to the “scotch” chips.
So call them by their full name of oatmeal butterscotch cookies or get right to the point and call them oatmeal scotchies. Either way make them!
Why You Will Love These Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
- Easy To Find Ingredients – Like any good cookie, these oatmeal butterscotch cookies are made with simple to find pantry staple ingredients. It uses regular flour, and you can use quick or old fashioned oats. Nothing fancy or fussy to buy to whip these soft and chewy butterscotch oatmeal cookies.
- Quick To Prep And Bake– Making these butterscotch oatmeal cookies, will take about 10 minutes of prep time and then about another 10 minutes to bake. That means cookies in 30 minutes or less!
- No Electric Mixer Needed – I love this soft and chewy oatmeal butterscotch cookie recipe because I don’t need to get out my stand mixer for them. The recipe uses melted butter, so all you need is a couple bowls, a whisk, and a spatula. That’s it!
Pantry Staple Ingredients Needed
- Flour – You will just need some all-purpose flour for this oatmeal butterscotch cookie recipe. Bleached or unbleached will work just fine.
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon – I love adding a little ground cinnamon to this recipe to bring a little extra flavor to the party.
- Butter – I always bake and prefer with unsalted butter so I can control the salt and it’s fresher than salted butter. If you only have salted butter, then reduce the salt in the recipe to a 1/2 teaspoon.
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla – I love using pure vanilla flavoring, but imitation definitely work with great results. Use what you have for this recipe!
- Oats – I recommend old-fashioned oats because they have a heartier texture, and are not dry and powdery like quick oats, but quick oats will work. Use what you have on hand for this oatmeal cookie recipe!
- Butterscotch chips – I used Nestle butterscotch chips, but any brand will work. There’s no real substitute for these in this oatmeal butterscotch cookie recipe, but butterscotch chips are usually found in just about any grocery store next to the regular chocolate chips.
How do you make these oatmeal butterscotch cookies?
1. Combine dry ingredients.
Preheat your oven to 350oF (177oC) and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper (or a silicone baking mat, or lightly grease with cooking spray).
In a large bowl, combine your flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Simply whisk and set aside. Easy peasy.
Heather’s Beginner’s Baking Tip
Want perfect oatmeal scotchies? Measure your flour by using a kitchen scale! Not every baker will measure flour the same way using a measuring cup and that difference can result in a cakey cookie, one that is flat, or one that is perfect. If you don’t own a kitchen scale yet, make sure to then spoon the flour into the cup and level it off. Do NOT pack it down into the cup or scoop directly from the bag, which will result in too much flour.
2. Combine melted butter and sugars.
In a second large bowl with a whisk combine the melted butter and sugars. Then whisk them together until smooth and combined.
3. Add eggs and vanilla extract.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract and just whisk them together.
You want to make sure your eggs are at room temperature so they don’t seize up the melted butter. I place my eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using them and they are good to go!
4. Combine wet and dry.
Then just go ahead and combine the wet and dry ingredients together. Be careful at this point to not overmix. I stop mixing once I see the last of the flour has been mixed in.
Heather’s Beginner’s Baking Tip
Overmixing will cause gluten to form, which can result in a tough cookie. Gluten is the protein that forms when the flour becomes hydrated. The more you mix, the more gluten that will form. And although we need some gluten for structure, if we keep mixing too much forms and we end up with a tough, chewy cookie.
4. Add oats and butterscotch chips.
Stir in your oats and butterscotch chips. Again be careful to not overmix. Just a few good stirs and you are all set.
I prefer using old-fashioned oats because they have a larger heartier texture, but quick oats can also work.
5. Scoop And Bake The Cookies.
You can scoop the oatmeal butterscotch cookie dough using a small cookie scoop or use two spoons. You want to bake these cookies on the center rack of your oven in the preheated 350oF.
Cookie Size
For larger oatmeal butterscotch cookies scoop about 1/4 cup of dough (3 1/2 ounces each) and place only 6-8 onto a cookie sheet and flatten with my hand a little bit because they are bigger they won’t spread as much, or for smaller cookies (about 2 tablespoons of dough) – I like this medium sized scoop) then place 12 cookies on the cookie sheet.
For larger cookies cook time: 15-18 minutes
For smaller cookie (“normal” sized) cook time: 10-12 minutes
7. Cool Your Cookies
I know the hardest part, but you want to let your butterscotch oatmeal cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet to set up a bit, then transfer to a wire rack.
Then. Simply. Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.
Heather’s Beginner Baking Tips
- Pack your brown sugar. Unlike flour, which should not be packed into the cup you want to make sure to pack your brown sugar into the cup to get an accurate volume measurement.
- Make sure your eggs are at a room temperature – Place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using. This will make sure that the cold eggs don’t seize up the melted butter.
- Use a cookie scoop for even sized cookies – Even sized cookies will all bake up the same if you use a cookie scoop, so no unevenly baked cookies!
- Bake in the center of your oven – Make sure your baking sheet is placed onto the center rack of your oven. If they are placed too high or too low the tops or bottoms may burn.
- Cookies should be soft in the middle when the timer goes off– When the timer goes off, the edges of the cookies should be golden brown and set, and soft in the middle. They will continue to bake up and set as they cool.
Recipe FAQ’s
Cookie spreading is a bummer. There 10 reasons that I can think of why your cookies may have spread. If they do spread a bit, when they come out of the oven and take a spoon and press the edges of the cookie inward or use a round cookie cutter and place on the outside of the cookie and rotate it around the edges to help make them round.
Yes and you should. You can freeze them baked or unbaked.
To freeze unbaked: Scoop the cookies onto a cookie sheet, and freeze solid. Then place into a sealable plastic bag or airtight container. You can bake frozen, without thawing, but add on a few extra minutes of baking time.
To freeze baked: Allow the cookies to cool completely. Then when ready to eat, allow to thaw. I like to pop them into the microwave for about 20 seconds to bring them back to ooey gooey life.
Here is a complete tutorial on How To Freeze Cookie Dough
Cover and store your butterscotch oatmeal cookies at room temperature for up to one week.
Time-Saving Shortcuts
- Weigh your ingredients. For faster prep, weighing your ingredients will always take lots less time and improve your accuracy.
- Place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes. You need your eggs at room temperature but that can take a long time. So place them in warm water and they will be ready in no time!
- Make the dough now, and bake them later. If you need these cookies in a couple days, then make the dough today and chill for up to 72 hours. Just cover the dough with plastic wrap, and pop in the fridge for up to 3 days. Then when ready to bake, let them sit for several minutes on the counter before scooping and baking.
More cookie recipes
If you loved these oatmeal butterscotch cookies, then try one of these cookie recipes to try next!
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Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour *spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup (2 sticks, 226 g) unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1 cup (213 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups (200 g) old-fashioned oats
- 2 cups (340 g) butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Prep oven and pans. Position a rack in the center of your oven, and pre-heat your oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or silicone baking mat, or grease with cooking spray).
- Combine dry ingredients. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk your flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients. In a second mixing bowl whisk together your melted butter and sugars until evenly combined, about 1-2 minutes. Add in your eggs and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
- Combine wet and dry mixtures.. Add in your dry ingredients, and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon to combine. Be careful to not overmix.
- Add oats and mix-ins. With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in your oats, butterscotch chips until evenly mixed throughout.
- Scoop and bake. Use a 1-inch (small) cookie scoop (or about 1 1/2 tablespoonfuls) scoop 12 cookies and place about 2 inches apart onto a cookie sheet. Bake on the middle rack in the preheated 350°F for 10-12 minutes for until edges are set and golden brown and middles still look slightly soft, and puffy but dry.
- Cool cookies. Remove baking sheets from the oven and allow cookies to cool 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring the cookies to cool on a cooling rack.
Notes
- Storage: Store these cookies, covered at room temperature, for up to a week. Any longer and I would freeze them.
- Freeze: Scoop the cookies onto a cookie sheet, and freeze solid, about 1 hour, then place into a sealable plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. You can bake frozen, without thawing, but add on a few extra minutes of baking time. Or to freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months too. Allow the cookies to cool completely before freezing in a sealable bag. Then when ready to eat, allow to thaw. I like to pop them into the microwave for about 20 seconds to bring them back to ooey gooey life.
- Butter: If using salted butter, use only 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Larger cookies: Using a large scoop (or a 1/4 cup), scoop your cookies on to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and flatten with your hand until about 1/2-inch thickness. Space about 2-3 inches apart. Place 6-8 cookies on one sheet. Bake for about 15-18 minutes until edges are set and golden brown and tops are dry but puffy.
- Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract is best for flavor, but imitation vanilla extract will also work.
- Oats: You can use either old-fashioned oats or quick oats, but I prefer the texture of old-fashioned.
These cookies were delicious. I tried the recipe because of using melted butter which I have never used in a recipe. They were so easy to make and I didn’t have to get out my mixer.
I like the way they came out, much thinner.
I will make these again.
Thanks Patti! Glad you loved the cookies as much as I did. And yes not getting out my mixer is one of my favorite reasons for making these!
I haven’t made oatmeal cookies in such a long time and these are really tempting me! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I cant wait to make them!
Made these cookies last night with my niece and they were such a treat! The flavour is wonderful, buttery and almost caramel-like. They disappeared super fast! 🙂
aw glad you and your niece loved them!
Butterscotch is one of my favorite flavors so of course I had to try this recipe. It turned out fantastic! These cookies did not last long, they were so good!
I almost wish I didn’t find this recipe because these cookies are so GOOD!! I can’t stop eating them! I love the texture, flavor, and how easy they are to make! They are my new addiciton.
aw glad you loved them Katie!
These cookies are just lovely! My son couldn’t get enough of them. I’ll be making them again for sure!
These cookies were so delicious! I found plant-based ingredients and used vegan butter, flax eggs, and vegan butterscotch. It worked amazingly! Love your recipe so much!
that’s awesome May I’m glad you were able to make the vegan adjustments!
These cookies were absolutely delicious! We loved them so much and my kids had so much fun making them. I made another batch and put them in the freezer.
Oh my goodness, these are the best flavored oatmeal cookies I have made in quite some time. Great with a tall glass of icy milk warm right out of the oven.
aw thank you Mikayla, glad you loved the recipe!
I just love the additional of butterscotch chips to oatmeal cookies. It was such a delicious, welcomed change and is now a new favorite of my kids too!
that’s fantastic Lauren!
I love this recipe of oatmeal butterscotch cookies! It is delicious and simple to make. It was a hit with my kids, and I need to prepare more.
glad you loved them Jade!!
Everyone in my family loved these cookies. So yummy!
I can’t resist a fresh-baked cookie. The combination of oatmeal and butterscotch is so delicious. These will be a hit with the grandkids.