Oatmeal Cream Pies
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These oatmeal cream pies are softy, chewy oatmeal cookies with a marshmallow buttercream frosting. If you loved the classic oatmeal cream pies from the box as a kid, then you are going to fall in love with this homemade oatmeal cream pie recipe.
Believe it or not, growing up I didn’t partake in the Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies from the box. Chocolate fudge rounds, absolutely. Star crunch cookies – always! But my husband’s favorite Little Debbie snack hands down is the oatmeal cream pie.
So what’s a good wife to do? Make an amazing homemade version that would blow those boxed ones out of the water. And you know what? I did!
And if I knew this was what I missing out on as a kid, I definitely would have begged for these at a grocery store instead.
The Key To Perfect Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
The key to these cookies was getting a soft oatmeal cookie that spread just enough to hold the frosting. You don’t want a crispy cookie that when you take a bite all the frosting squishes out, right?
I used my Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe as the base and after a few tweaks and changes. I landed on this oatmeal cream pie recipes It is the perfect vehicle for a marshmallow buttercream frosting.
So Little Debbie fans you ready to be transported back to your childhood? Let’s do this…
See Also:
- Pucker up and enjoy one of these homemade lemon cookies with easy lemon glaze drizzled over them!
- Coconut macaroons are an easy gluten free chewy coconut cookie. Dip in chocolate for an easy chocolate treat!
- Grab a jar of peanut butter and make these wonderfully easy old fashioned peanut butter cookies with criss cross pattern on top!
- Make these brown sugar chocolate chips cookies made with 100% brown sugar making them wonderfully chewy!
Ingredients Needed
For the cookies:
- Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Unsalted Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Eggs
- Molasses– This helps give extra flavor and a little bit spread to the cookies. You could always try swapping with honey or maple syrup.
- Vanilla
- Quick Oats – I prefer the texture of quick oats for this recipe. If you only have old-fashioned oats, then simply pop yours in the food processor to break them down a bit.
For the frosting:
- Unsalted Butter
- Confectioners Sugar
- Marshmallow fluff – You can use store-bought fluff or try making your own homemade marshmallow fluff!
- Vanilla
How To Make Oatmeal Cream Pies
Make the cookies:
Whisk dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
Heather’s Baking Tip
You want to make sure to measure your flour correctly. Weighing your flour is best But if you do use dry measuring cups, spoon the flour into your cup and level it off. Scooping directly from the bag can result in too much flour and yield a dry crumbly cookie.
Cream butter and sugar.
In a second mixing bowl with an electric mixer (I use my stand mixer with a paddle attachment) cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated white sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes and light and creamy.
Heather’s Baking Tip
Make sure your butter is properly softened to room temperature (about 68-70oF). Your finger should be able to press into the butter but not all the way through and the butter should not be greasy. This will ensure your cookies come out the right texture and don’t spread too thin in the oven.
Add remaining wet ingredients.
Add in your eggs one at a time beating to combine after each addition. Then add in the vanilla extracct, and molasses and beat to combine.
The molasses is not only going to give these cookies great flavor, but also help the cookies spread a bit in the oven.
Add in your dry ingredients
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Stir just until no flour streaks remain.
You want to make sure to not overmix at this point or you will end up with tough, chewy cookies.
Stir in the oats.
With a rubber spatula, stir in the quick oats. I prefer the texture of quick oats for these oatmeal cream pies, but If you don’t have quick oats simply use your food processor to break down old-fashioned oats into quick oats!
Chill The Dough
I’ve made these with and without chilling and both turn out fantastic! But a softer cookie I like chilling the dough for up to 24 hours and then baking.
Scoop the cookies.
Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, or tablespoon scoop the cookies into 1 ½-inch balls onto prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
Bake and cool the cookies.
Bake cookie sheet on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove from the cookie sheet and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
Make the marshmallow buttercream frosting
Mix butter and sugar. In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine the butter and confectioners sugar. Mix on low speed at first, then increase the speed to medium until combined.
Add fluff. Add the marshmallow fluff to the mixture and beat until combined. Scraping down the bowl as needed.
Add vanilla. Add the vanilla extract and mix on medium to high speed for 5-7 minutes until light and creamy.
Assemble The Oatmeal Cream Pies
I like to match up the cookies by size first, matching the same sized ones together, this way they will be perfect matched and same size when they become a sandwich.
You want to pipe the marshmallow frosting onto the bottom of one cookie round. Sandwich with another cookie round pressing slightly together.
Recipe FAQ’s
If they are unfrosted, they can be stored in an airtight container for 2 days at room temperature. If they frosted and assembled, then I would store them in the fridge. Be sure to store them in an airtight container so they don’t dry out. They should keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, but may soften over time. Let them sit at room temperature for an hour before serving so the frosting can soften.
I would wrap each one individually in plastic wrap, and keep in a plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, I would unwrap and thaw at room temperature before serving.
Using old fashioned oats will change the texture and baking time slightly. I recommend placing your oats in the food processor and breaking them down in a bit and you will have quick oats in a pinch!
You can make the cookie dough for up to 72 hours ahead of time and keep covered and refrigerated. When ready to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for several minutes before scooping and baking. The cookies can be made up to 2 days ahead of time and wrapped and kept at room temperature before assembling. The frosting can be made and stored in the fridge for 4 days, but will need to be re-whipped before using.
This could for a few reasons- most likely your butter was too warm, or you over-creamed the butter and sugar. Try chilling your next batch of cookie dough before baking which will reduce how much the cookies spread. Here are 10 reasons why your cookies are flat, and how to fix them.
More Recipes To Try
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Oatmeal Cream Pies
Ingredients
For the oatmeal cream pies:
- 2 ¼ cups (270 g) all-purpose flour *spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup (2 sticks, 226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (213 g) light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon molasses *see note
- 2 cups (198 g) quick oats *see note
For the marshmallow filling:
- 1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks, 283 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 ½ cups (283 g) confectioners sugar
- 7 ounces marshmallow fluff
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the cookies:
- Preheat and prepare cookie sheets. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. (note: if chilling your dough, do not preheat your oven until ready to bake).
- Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar. In a second mixing bowl with an electric mixer (I use my stand mixer with a paddle attachment) cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated white sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes and light and creamy.
- Add wet ingredients. Add in your eggs one at a time beating to combine after each addition. Then add in the vanilla extract, and molasses and beat to combine.
- Add in your dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Stir just until no flour streaks remain.
- Stir in the oats. With a rubber spatula, stir in the quick oats. I prefer the texture of quick oats for these oatmeal cream pies, but If you don’t have quick oats simply use your food processor to break down old-fashioned oats into quick oats! (I like to chill my cookies for 24 hours before baking as it yields a softer cookie, but I've made this with and without chilling and both turn out great.)
- Scoop the cookies. Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, or tablespoon scoop the cookies into 1 ½-inch balls onto prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Bake and cool the cookies. Bake cookie sheet on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove from the cookie sheet and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
Make the marshmallow cream pie filling:
- Mix butter and sugar. In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine the 1 ¼ cups butter and 2 ½ cups confectioners sugar. Mix on low speed at first, then increase the speed to medium until combined.
- Add fluff. Add the 7-ounces marshmallow fluff to the mixture and beat until combined. Scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add vanilla. Add vanilla and mix on medium to high speed for 5-7 minutes until light and creamy.
Assemble the oatmeal cream pies:
- Pipe marshmallow frosting onto the bottom of one cookie round. Sandwich with another cookie round pressing slightly together.
Notes
- Make ahead: You can make the cookie dough for up to 72 hours ahead of time and keep it refrigerated. When ready to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for several minutes before scooping and baking. The cookies can be made up to 2 days ahead of time and wrapped and kept at room temperature before assembling. The frosting can be made and stored in the fridge for 4 days, but will need to be re-whipped before using.
- Storage: If they are unfrosted, they can be stored in an airtight container for 2 days at room temperature. If they frosted and assembled, then I would store them in the fridge. Be sure to store them in an airtight container so they don’t dry out. They should keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, but may soften over time. Let them sit at room temperature for an hour before serving so the frosting can soften.
- Freezing: I would wrap each one individually in plastic wrap, and keep in a plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, I would unwrap and thaw at room temperature before serving.
- Oats: I used and recommend quick oats for this recipe. If you only have old-fashioned oats you can place the oats in a food processor and break them down a bit.
- Molasses– This helps gives the cookies flavor and spread a little bit. But if you don’t have any you could try swapping with honey or maple syrup.
This recipe is SO good. The cookie part of these cream pies are the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever eaten. Easily the most delicious recipe I’ve tried for desserts this whole year. I do think step one in making the filling should read 1¼ cups of butter in stead of 1¼ sticks of butter.
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the oatmeal cream pies. I appreciate you catching that typo in the filling—it’s been fixed. Happy baking! 😊
I’ve made these many times now. They’re so good. I have family visiting this weekend and one of the girls is gluten-free. Do you think swapping out the flour for GF flour will still work? I’m not very familiar with GF baking and was wondering if you are. Appreciate it!
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoy the Oatmeal Cream Pies. 😊 I haven’t tested this one with gluten-free flour, but I’ve recently switched to using gluten-free baking myself. I’ve had great results with King Arthur 1:1 measure for measure flour. Hope that helps, and enjoy your time with your family! 🍪✨
I love that you can make these pies ahead and freeze them as well. This is so convenient. I have never made marshmallow filling, what a treat!
Oh my, I hadn’t tried oatmeal cream pies before, but now I am in love with them! I made a batch and can’t stop eating them!
glad you loved them Freya!
I don’t think we had store bought oatmeal cream pies here in Europe when I was young. Like you I loved chocolate Swiss rolls, still do! These homemade cream pies look delicious and I’d love to give them a try.
Ahhh a childhood classic!! My mom would treat me sometimes and put one in my lunchbox…it truly just brightened my day. Homemade is always better and these look superb!
love when a recipe brings back memories 🙂
You really outdid yourself with this recipe! I am obsessed with everything about these oatmeal cream pies!!
aw thank you Leslie!
These cream pies are so delicious! Sweet but not too sweet, and the combination of the chewy cookies and creamy filling is just irresistible.
My husbands about to fall in love with me all over again for making these oatmeal cream pies! He often requests the store bought ones he loved as a kid BUT these are SO. much better!
so happy to hear that he loved them Lauren!!
These cream pies oatmeal cookies are so delicious and look so easy to make.
My kids will def love this, yummy!
Who doesn’t like butter and sugar! Love the use of oats and molasses. Cheers!
These oatmeal cream pies are a dream come true recipe. These pies have always been a favorite and homemade is always better.
You’re right — from scratch recipes are the best!