oatmeal cream pies

oatmeal cream pie | wee-eats.com

One of my all-time favorite childhood snacks, hands down, is the oatmeal cream pie. Something about the pillowy-soft, chewy cookies and their sweet, creamy filling is absolutely irresistible.

You can find about a million recipes for oatmeal cream pies on the web, but the majority of them are either a> too complicated (for me), b> use buttercream (which is TOTALLY not what is inside of those things I ate as a kid), or c> too fancied up. 

None of this is to say that those recipes wouldn’t be delicious, but I was looking for something that met the criteria below:

  1. Is delicious…
  2. But still nostalgic.
  3. Isn’t so time-consuming that I would rather drive to the store and come back with a box of Little Debbies

oatmeal cream pie | wee-eats.com

The one I finally found met all of the criteria above. It’s fast, easy, delicious, and tastes so close to the plastic-wrapped cookies at the store, that I couldn’t help but be overjoyed.

For the cookies end up with an unbelievable flavor, thanks to the molasses and brown sugar, while still saying super soft and pliable thanks to the use of shortening and brown sugar. You can either bake them either immediately or let them chill out for a bit in the fridge. If you are preparing the dough ahead of time and freezing it, you will definitely want to thaw it before baking or the cookies will end up much thicker, though still perfectly delicious.

The cookie below was baked from frozen and, as you can see, is much thicker than its brothers and sisters shown in the pictures above. I didn’t have any issues baking from an hour or two in the fridge, but from overnight in the fridge or frozen they wouldn’t flatten out the way that the Little Debbie versions do.

oatmeal cream pie | wee-eats.com

The filling is like the marriage of sticky, marshmallow goodness and light, fluffy buttercream. You will want to prepare the filling on the day-of and keep it at room temperature for the easiest cookie-sandwich assembly. To fill the cookies, I piped my filling in a spiral(-ish) on top of the cookie and then sandwiched the other cookie on top, pressing gently to secure the cookie and push the filling towards the out edge.

oatmeal cream pies

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: appx 15 cream pies

Serving Size: 1 oatmeal cream pie

Ingredients

    For the cookies
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ½ cup shortening, room temperature
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons molasses, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups quick cooking oats
  • For the filling
  • 7 oz jar marshmallow fluff
  • ½ cup shortening, room temperature
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon hot water
  • Additional equipment
  • Stand or hand mixer
  • 2 half sheet baking pans
  • Parchment paper
  • Gallon-size Ziploc bag or piping bag (alternative: offset spatula)

Instructions

    For the cookies:
  1. Preheat the oven to 375F degree and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and stir to combine. Measure oats into a small bowl and set aside.
  3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and shortening until blended. Add the brown sugar and beat on high until light fluffy, about two minutes.
  4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the molasses and vanilla.
  5. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Add oats and mix just until incorporated (about 20 seconds). You do not want to overmix the dough.
  6. Scoop dough into balls (I used a large cookie scoop, you will want it to be about a 1-inch ball). Place the dough balls 2 inches apart on the prepared pan, leave plenty of space because they will definitely spread. I baked about 8 cookies per sheet.
  7. Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookies, ensuring to cool the baking sheets between batches if necessary.
  8. Make the filling:
  9. Beat shortening and fluff in an electric mixer until combined.
  10. Add powdered sugar and beat until incorporated.
  11. Add vanilla extract and hot water and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes longer. Set aside.
  12. Fill the cookies:
  13. Ensure the cookies are completely cooled before filling them.
  14. Scrape the filling into a piping bag fitted with a large tip, or (in my case) into a gallon-size Ziploc bag with one end snipped off.
  15. Pair cookies with like-sized cookies. Pipe filling onto the bottom of one cookie, leaving about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch uncovered. Cover with second cookie and press gently to push the filling to the outer edge of the cookie.
  16. Continue with remaining cookies.
  17. Alternatively, you can spread the cream filling over the bottom of the cookie using a small offset spatula. Top with the second cookie to make your cookie sandwich.

Notes

* If you don't have quick-cooking oats you can pulse rolled oats in a food processor or blender until they are coarsely chopped. This is what I used because I only have old fashioned/rolled oats.

https://wee-eats.com/2015/04/27/diy-little-debbie-oatmeal-cream-pies/

[ Recipe from Baked by an Introvert ]

4 thoughts on “oatmeal cream pies

  1. These are speaking to me right now!!! I’ve wanted to try oatmeal cream pies at home for so long but just like you, was totally skeptical at buttercream fillings — your description of a cross between marshmallow and buttercream is so exactly what I imagine to be right. I can’t wait to try these!!

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