Oatmeal Cream Pies

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Posted by Emily Print Recipe

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Oatmeal Cream Pies

I don’t usually post recipes I’ve found on other food blogs (and actually the original recipe is from Recipe Zaar, you see my Delicious account for recipes I like from other food bloggers), but I just had to post this one because these are so awesome. Have you ever eaten a Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie? These are just like them…in fact, they are better. I used to love these when I was kid, but haven’t allowed myself to eat one in years. While these are by no means good for you, you at least know what all the ingredients are and you don’t have to worry about all the chemicals and whatever else crap is in the store bought version. I made a batch for my boyfriend to bring to his office and they were a giant hit with his coworkers who all agreed they liked them better than the originals.

I don’t have much else to add about these other than “OMG-these-are-so-good-you-have-to-make-them-right-now”, but these are the first cookies I made with my silpat baking mat so I did want to talk about that a bit because I thought it had a big effect on these cookies.

Since I got into the whole food blogging world last year I started hearing more and more about silpat and how it was the best thing ever. For those not in the know, it’s a silicone mat that you can place in your cookie sheet and nothing will stick to it (it’s also supposed to be a good surface for kneading bread). I’ve been using parchment up until now and have been happy with the results, but the set-up is kind of a pain. (Having to trim it to fit the pan, getting it to lay flat, etc. Once I shoved my cookie sheet in the oven too hard and the parchment slid off and cookie dough splattered all over the hot oven. That sucked. ) So I finally broke down and bought a silpat last week. I will reserve total judgment until I’ve made more than one type of cookie on it, but my first feelings about it are mixed. When I baked these cookies I switched back and forth between a cookie sheet with silpat and one with parchment and I have to say, the ones on the parchment were significantly better. In fact, this showed me exactly why people love silpat so much, but it also showed me that maybe not all types of cookies should be baked on silpat. You can see the difference between the two cookies:

Oatmeal Cream Pies - Comparison

Silpat on the left, parchment on the right. Which one looks more like the original Little Debbie snacks? Definitely the one on the right. The point of those cookies is that they are really soft and chewy and textured. The silpat baked cookies were much thicker and weren’t nearly as soft and it somehow wound up taking out all the texture of the oatmeal (which is kind of magical in and of itself, but not so great if that’s not the effect you’re going for). But let’s say I was making chocolate chip cookies instead of oatmeal, I would absolutely prefer thicker, firmer, smoother cookies. So it’s not that I dislike the silpat, but I think it’s important to think about the texture you want your cookies to be and how that’s going to affect them. I am definitely going to be making my favorite chocolate chip cookies soon because I do think silpat will make those already fantastic cookies even better.

But in this case, I won’t be baking these oatmeal cookies (or any probably) on silpat anymore. To be fair, I felt the ones on the parchment spread out too much and were a bit thin, so I would recommend increasing the flour by about 1/4 cup if you’re not baking on silpat. I did a second batch with the added flour and I thought that helped significantly with the spreading problem without making them less soft or chewy.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Adapted from Recipe Zaar. Via The Craving Chronicles.

View more photos in the gallery.

Ingredients

1 cup butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour (1 1/2 cups for silpat bakers)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (The original recipe said quick oats but I don’t think it matters that much, my research just said that quick oats are mushier. The general consensus was that you shouldn’t ever use quick oats in baking because they are too soft.)

Cream Filling

2 tsp very hot water
1/4 tsp salt
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow cream
1/2 cup shortening (Yuck, I know. I rarely use this stuff. I tried to substitute butter once and it was a giant failure, so you pretty much have to use shortening.)
1/3 cup powdered sugar (I might increase this to 1/2 next time, I didn’t think it was that sweet, but I have a major sweet tooth.)
1/2 tsp vanilla (will probably double this next time)

Process

1. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl.

2. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add in eggs, beating after each. Finally beat in molasses and vanilla.

3. Add to the flour mixture to creamed mixture and beat until just blended; mix in the oats with a wooden spoon.

4. Drop dough by tablespoons (seriously, don’t go bigger than this, they spread out) on parchment lined sheets, with plenty of space in between. (I fit three across on my commercial sized baking sheet, two for a regular sized baking sheet.) Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 10-12 minutes, or until just starting to brown around the edges. They will look moist; don’t overcook (10 minutes was perfect for me). Let sit on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

5. While the cookies bake prepare the filling. In small bowl, dissolve the salt in the hot water. Set aside and allow this to cool.

6. Combine marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl; mix on high until fluffy (it never really rises like an egg-white based frosting, but you can tell it’s fluffier after 3-4 minutes).

7. Add the cooled salt water and mix well (I thought this made the filling a bit too salty, which is why I’ll either be adding a bit more sugar or a bit less salt next time).

8. Spread filling on flat side of one cookie, press 2nd cookie on top.

Makes 1 1/2 – 2 dozen

19 Responses | TrackBack this entry | RSS feed for comments on this post

May 6, 2009 at 6:59 pm

These look amazing! I may have to try these this weekend!

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Jamie

(Reply)
May 6, 2009 at 9:00 pm

I could use one of those right now!! Look amazing!!

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Melissa @ For the Love of Health

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May 6, 2009 at 9:36 pm

I have been waiting FOREVER for someone to post a homemade Little Debbie Oatmeal Pie recipe on Tastespotting– i get too guilty to buy them at the store but I will definitely make these at home– great job!
: )

Lisa in Houston

(Reply)
May 7, 2009 at 10:23 am

Oatmeal cream pies were my favorite when I was a kid! I would love to try these out…they look perfect!

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Carrie

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May 7, 2009 at 10:36 am

I’m glad you made and enjoyed these! They were so good. That post has turned out to be the most popular thing I’ve blogged about yet! LOL

It’s funny that you and I had totally opposite experiences with the silpat and these cookies. The ones I made that weren’t on the silpat spread out way too thin and they ended up crunchy, while the ones on my silpat came out perfect. And I didn’t lose the texture in my silpat cookies like you did. Isn’t that weird? Either way, I hope you’ll give your silpat another chance

Theresa’s last blog post..Peanut Butter & Nutella Brownies

Theresa

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May 7, 2009 at 2:59 pm

Your photo is good enough to eat. But we’ll totally take a dozen! It’s basically a whoopie pie, and we like that!

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The Duo Dishes

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May 7, 2009 at 9:16 pm

Little Debbie’s Oatmeal Pies are my son’s favorite “junk” food and he will be thrilled to try these out-can’t wait to make them!

Jane

(Reply)
May 11, 2009 at 1:26 pm

We like Silpats because nothing sticks to them. But they don’t transfer heat as well as regular old parchment on aluminum, so that’s why you get different results. For most of our baking, we usually use parchment.

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Nate

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May 13, 2009 at 2:51 pm

Hi, First of all…I love your blog. I stumbled upon it looking for an oatmeal cream pie recipe and there it was! I do have one question about the recipe…in the ingredients it says butter, but in the process it says margarine. I just wanted to clarify that it was butter and not maragarine that I should be using.

Thanks! I’m going to add you to my blog list so I don’t miss a post!

Lisa@ The Cutting Edge of Ordinary’s last blog post..Strawberry Vanilla Ice Cream Pops

Lisa@ The Cutting Edge of Ordinary

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May 13, 2009 at 3:10 pm

Thanks, Lisa! I think the original recipe said margarine, but I’ve become one of those annoying butter snobs and I don’t user margarine for baking anymore. LOL! It’s a personal preference as far as using butter or margarine.

I had changed it to butter in the ingredients list since that’s what I used and completely overlooked it in the instructions. I just changed it now. Sorry for the confusion!

Emily

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May 15, 2009 at 6:31 pm

Sending a little blog adoration your way. You’ll see what I mean if you head over to my blog.

Michelle

(Reply)
June 1, 2009 at 10:00 pm

just came across your blog and love it! just wanted to give a shout out about spectrum palm shortening. none of the hydrogenated crap. http://www.spectrumorganics.com/?id=87

shannon

(Reply)

June 5, 2009 at 4:49 pm

Thanks! I’m definitely going to check out that shortening. I’ve been coming across more and more recipes that call for shortening lately and I just hate using it, so this looks like a good alternative.

Emily

(Reply)

June 2, 2009 at 7:23 pm

Would blackstrap molasses taste okay in this recipe? I don’t have the regular kind.

Thanks!

Memoria

(Reply)

June 5, 2009 at 4:47 pm

I honestly don’t know as I don’t think I’ve ever tried that kind of molasses, but since the recipe only calls for a tablespoon, I’d say it would probably be fine. It might affect the taste a little bit if that molasses tastes really different from normal molasses, but I doubt it would be detrimental since it’s such a small amount.

Emily

(Reply)

June 5, 2009 at 5:54 pm

Thanks for the reply. Blackstrap has a strong flavor, so I’ll combine it with more brown sugar, just in case. Thanks! I may make these today.

Memoria

(Reply)

June 6, 2009 at 6:17 pm

These were fantastic! I’m eating leftovers right now, and there just as good as they were yesterday. Thanks!

Memoria

(Reply)

October 6, 2009 at 2:19 pm

I made these for a family gathering they were AWESOME!! I added the extra flour for the cookies so I don’t know what they were like prior to the extra flour. I did not add extra powdered sugar and could taste to salt. The salt taste wasn’t bad I thought it evened out the sweetness of the cookies but on my sweeter days extra sugar would be good. I will make these again. Usually when I make bake goods they are gone as the hit the door. Everyone wasn’t sure especially those who don’t like oatmeal things. Once everyone tried them they were gone and couldn’t get over how delicious they were.

Samantha

(Reply)
January 21, 2010 at 3:10 pm

Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to try these…
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{leah}

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