Oatmeal Cream Pies

OH MY WORD!! This is one of those “make right now” recipes! These were even better than their little debbie counterparts. I wanted to make a dessert for a youth retreat we were having and immediately my mind went to these homemade oatmeal cream pies because what kid doesn’t love little debbies? They turned out way better than expected and the best part is they use ingredients you keep on hand and they don’t have any artificial stuff in them. My first two batches turned out flat as pancakes, so I googled and found that Back to the Cutting Board had the same problem. She added extra flour to the dough, so I followed suit and that did the trick! Perfectly chewy, soft and fluffy cookies. I’ve reflected this in the recipe below. Make these and your friends will rave over them! I certainly had trouble not keeping the whole batch for myself!;)

Oatmeal Cream Pies
Source: Yum., originally Homemade by Holman w/inspiration from The Craving Chronicles

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. honey
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, honey and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

In a separate medium sized bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix just until incorporated. Stir in oats until evenly distributed. Transfer dough to a large mixing bowl (this is so you can use stand mixer bowl for the frosting) and chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Remove dough from refrigerator and drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet (or even a bit smaller for smaller cookies). Bake for 8 to 10 minutes just until the edges start to brown. Cookies will seem moist in the middle but they will set up. Cool on baking sheet until set and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, on the underside of one cookie spread the marshmallow frosting and top with another cookie. Store in an airtight container.

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
In a double boiler, add egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar and heat over simmering water. Whisking frequently, heat until egg whites become very frothy and sugar is dissolved (approx. 160 degrees). Carefully add egg mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for several minutes until egg mixture will hold stiff peaks and is light in texture. Carefully fold in vanilla until incorporated. Add frosting to cookie and then top with another cookie. Enjoy!

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Comments

  1. these have been on my 'to make' list for so long! you've convinced me i MUST make them asap!

  2. Heidi @ Food Doodles says

    Those look amazing! Especially that marshmallowy filling 😀

  3. Good heavens. These look delicious!

  4. Macaroni and Cheesecake says

    Thanks!! They were divine! The frosting was maybe the best part and it would be great with choc. Chip or peanut butter cookies too.

  5. You sold me on these! I'm making them this weekend!

  6. Tres Delicious says

    Your pies turned out great. they look promising, I'll definitely try making it.

  7. megan @ whatmegansmaking says

    These look AMAZING!! Saw them on foodgawker and just had to click over. Can't wit to try them!

  8. Carolyn Jung says

    Nothing beats one great oatmeal cookie than TWO oatmeal cookies smeared with gooey marshmallow fluff.

  9. Macaroni and Cheesecake says

    Let me know how they turn out!

  10. Oh…I was addicted to these in college but haven't had them since. And your homemade version looks 100x better -yum!

  11. I’ve been wanting to make these since my husband likes the Little Debbie kind. But I hadn’t seen a recipe I liked until I saw this one. They turned out awesome!! After trying them, my 3 year old told me he’s cookie monster and that he needed to eat all of the cookies!! Thank you for posting!

  12. Brenda Richardson says

    These are great. Easy to make and really easy to eat!!

  13. Just made these this afternoon, and might I say they were amazing! So much better than any packaged oatmeal cream pie! Thank you for sharing this recipe!

  14. I made these over the weekend and they turned out pretty well! I was a bit disappointed with the filling though. It just wasn’t quite the Little Debbie’s oatmeal cream pie taste I was hoping for. Kind of reminded me too much of meringue filling. I thought they were much better on day 2, but I noticed then that the filling had been completely absorbed by the cookies. Kind of weird, but the cookies were still super tasty. And they all turned out really cute 🙂

  15. I made these tonight and they’re quite good! Although they’re not quite a copy of the boxed version they’re certainly reminiscent of the original and better on several counts as they’re more flavorful and certainly fresher tasting and without all those nasty non-food chemicals and ingredients!

    The oatmeal cookie part is wonderful! I love the soft, chewy texture and, as I said, they’re very flavorful! The filling was easy to put together and isn’t bad, but honestly it’s not quite what I was looking for in a filling. And I always dislike the flavor of cream of tarter in things, but that’s a personal preference I would suppose. On the plus side though, it doesn’t contain any shortening as some of the other recipes call for so there’s certainly something to be said for using it even if it’s not quite what I was expecting. Overall, we definitely enjoyed these! They’re a nice treat, better tasting than the boxed variety, and not much harder to put together than any other cookie. I’m definitely glad I made them! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

  16. i found these a while back on pinterest and have been meaning to try them out. they were soooo good! perfect oatmeal cookie recipe. thanks so much for sharing. i am writing about them tomorrow on my blog if you want to check it out (and definitely referencing your wonderful blog!). thanks again!

  17. I made Oatmeal Cookies this weekend! They turned out great, but I thought it tasted 2x better the next day. I cheated and just bought the marshmellow puffs, but still wonderful!

  18. I don’t know what I did wrong, but the filling was very runny. I followed the directions, but I guessed with the cream of tarter. Is that what happened? My filling never peaked or got fluffy. However, it still tasted good!

    • I would think that would be what happened. Make sure and measure the cream of tarter and then also, just continue to whisk it in the stand mixer until peaks form, this can sometimes take several minutes. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out for you, hope that helps!

      • About how long do you think you mixed it? I did it for like 5 minutes, did I maybe not do it long enough. next time I will measure exact for the tarter. but still a keeper for me! It’s the best recipe I have found yet!!

  19. I just saw this recipe on pinterest and made it right away! I actually did have all of the ingredients in my kitchen, and, despite being a “mediocre at best” baker, your instructions and recipe led to a fabulous end product! For those with the icing not turning out, I used a faux double boiler with a glass bowl over simmering water and waited until the color of the mixture became more opaque white; when I transferred into the mixer, I beat it on high until, when I tilted the stand mixer back, the mixture on the wire attachment and in the bowl did not disconnect. May e overkill, but it is standing up well and holds its form between the two cookies.

    Thanks Macaroni and Cheesecake for the post! Now, to get rid of the rest of the batch to not tempt me…hm..

  20. Tracy Phelps says

    How many will this recipe make?

  21. I really want to try these but I only have old fashioned oats on hand. Do you think it would still work? I don’t want to buy more when I still have a bunch to use up.

    • I would think those would work. Hope you enjoy them!

    • You will get a MUCH different texture in your cookie -more hearty. I only know this because I accidentally bought Quick Cook Oats once for my standard oatmeal cookie recipe and they turned out thin and crispy -not at all what I was going for in that particular recipe.

  22. Can you make these without a mixer? :/

  23. OMG!!!!!!!! These are fantastic!!! Love them. They have been added to my cookie rotation

  24. Heather Nelson says

    Eat your heart out, Little Debbie! These are amazing! They don’t taste like Little Debbie…they are much better! My co-workers are very picky eaters and they raved about them!! I used to buy the boxed version, but stopped years ago after reading the ingredients. Thank you so much for this delicious, all natural recipe without the icky corn syrup, hydrogentated oils and dyes!

  25. Just made these. Thanks for a great recipe! Awesome!

  26. Absolutely loved them! The cream was much easier to make than I expected and they were an absolute hit. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

  27. Just made a batch and they are awesome. We are having another family over for dinner and these will be a hit with everyone for dessert! The marshmallow frosting is wonderful, my 4 year old kept wanting me to test the peaks, so he could lick the spoon, which is probably why I didn’t have quite enough for all cookies. Luckily the cookies are good by themselves.

  28. Natalie Ratliff says

    I just made these and they were AMAZING! They tasted so yummy and WAY better than the store bought version. This recipe made about 24 medium sized sandwiches. The frosting was very tasty too. The cookies were so good that they could disappear from the cookie sheet without the frosting. I am so glad I found this recipe! This is now a family favorite. Thanks for posting this recipe!

  29. I saw these on pinterest and got to work on them immediately. When I put the cookies in the oven I had to put them in for more then 10 minutes. They were still pretty gooey even after that. The only thing I didn’t do right was using regular brown sugar. Could that be what I did wrong? They look/smell delicious and can’t wait to eat them all up!

  30. I am making these this weekend, but wondering how important the unsalted butter is. Is this just for health reasons or does it change the taste drastically to have salted butter?

  31. Randi McMahon says

    Any ideas to make this egg free?

  32. I’m allergic to honey…how important is it in the recipe?

  33. I just made these this evening. I live in Beijing and they were a nice taste of home. Better yet, they were all easy to get ingredients. My sons loved them and even set out to make their friends jealous by skyping about them. I think they’re going to want to take extras for lunch tomorrow to share. I don’t think they’ve ever had an oatmeal cream pie before, so their expectations have been set high.

  34. The filling didn’t turn out for me at all, it remained gritty, and when I placed it back on the double boiler, it just condensed, and left me with close to no filling. Cookies turned out fine, but I think I’ll use my own whoopie pie filling in its place.

  35. Litasha B. says

    These are calling my name! I am really thinking of whipping up a batch. Right… about… NOW! 🙂

  36. I am planning to make these for a bbq tonight but had a question about the flour. The additional flour you put into these, is this refected in the measurement you gave or did you add even more? I am in Colorado and have the high altitude to battle, so i want to make sure i get it right! thanks so much, can’t wait to try them?

    • It’s a total of 1 3/4 cups flour, so no additional flour. You just add the same flour mixture (where you mixed the flour with the baking soda, cinnamon & salt) to the butter mixture.

  37. thanks, these look amazing! i’m going to add green food coloring to the frosting for a St. Patty’s Day treat! (=

  38. momintally says

    Just curious if anyone has frozen these after making a batch? I like to have “goodies” to pull out every once in a while and these look so good!

  39. My family LOVES these! Thanks!

  40. Wicked excited that I just came across this recipe on your blog – I can’t wait to try it!!!!!
    Loved oatmeal cream pies when I was little and I still do so this is great!

  41. I’ve been tasked with making gluten free oatmeal cookies for a Cub Scout event. I’m new to the idea of baking gluten free goodies. Do you know how I could make this recipe gluten free? Thanks!

  42. Might seem odd to some, but I don’t have cream of tartar. I only ever used it for sugar cookies and never make them anymore. What purpose might it serve in this recipe? Critical that I use it?

    • Not odd at all, I don’t always have it on hand either. It’s used in the filling to stabilize and help the egg whites fluff up. I’ve never tried it, but when researching online it said that you can sub equal parts of either white vinegar or lemon juice instead or omit entirely. Hope that helps!

  43. Saw these on Pinterest and thought it would be a great way to kick little Debbie to the curb and still give my kids a sweet treat at lunch. They turned out AWESOME! It may not be the healthiest thing to give my kids, but at least it’s not full of chemicals and preservatives. Thanks for the recipe!!

  44. I haven’t had the packed version in ages and didn’t really grow up on them. From what I remember, it wasn’t obvious that they were oatmeal cookies. I’m considering blending the oats into a powder so that they are less chunky and have similar texture to processed cookies. Would that ruin the recipe or keep them from holding together?
    I’d love to have an opinion before I try. Wasting ingredients on bad cookies on a grad school budget is a real downer.

    • I would think you could definitely blend the oats for a better texture. I don’t think it would ruin it, but I haven’t tried doing that so I can’t say for sure. The quick cooking oats do help with it not being as pronounced instead of using rolled oats. I understand not wanting to waste ingredients, I know how frustrating that can be!:) Let me know if you do try it with blending them and how they turn out.

  45. If i make this do i HAVE to have the cream of tartar? or can i subsitute it with something else? Thanks

    • Kerianne, It’s used in the filling to stabilize and help the egg whites fluff up. I’ve never tried it, but when researching online it said that you can sub equal parts of either white vinegar or lemon juice instead or omit entirely. Hope that helps and hope you enjoy them!

  46. These were wonderful! I didn’t have the tartar to make the filling, but I made the cookies and we all loved them. Remarkably similar to the prepackaged, but fresh and homemade!

  47. In the process of trying this now… so far so good!

  48. I’m MakinG them now and so far so good. I’m wondering if They should be refrigerated until they are eaten the next day. WIll the crEam be ok? Also a taste of home since we can’t get litTle Debbie’s in Germany. Thanks!

  49. I was wondering APPROXIMATELY how many this yeilds? Also, (i’m a novice so please forgive me for not knowing) what is a double boiler? this looks delicious and i plan on feeding them to my film crew for our YouTube channel tomorrow! Thanks SO much! 😀

    • So sorry if I’m too late in responding for you making these. My email hasn’t been working properly and I didn’t see this comment come through. A double boiler is where you simmer a small amount of water in one pot and place another heat safe glass bowl or pot over top of it with your ingredients in it. It heats the items slowly so they melt together. If I remember correctly this makes approximately 1 1/2 dozen.

  50. Taste great but my cookies turned out fluffy and huge. What did i do wrong?

    • I’m so sorry your cookies turned out too big! I’m wondering if maybe your baking soda has gone bad? When my cookies spread or are flat that is usually the culprit, sometimes even if it’s prior to the expiration date. Hope that helps and hope these turn out better next time!

  51. After making several dozen oatmeal raIsin cookies i was looking for a filling to soothe the screaming kid in me. This was perfect!! I was a little nervous approaching this since my base cookie wasn’t the same, however it turns out our cookie recipes are pRetty much the same. Easy to make, yummy to eat, and perfect for my next dessert party. Thank you for sharing.

  52. Jacqueline says

    I made these once so far and they were amazing, though slightly more labor intensive then my normal chocolate chips, they were well worth it. I was going to send some to a friend but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what the best way would be to ship them. Should I make the sandwiches first or send the filling SEPARATE? I kind of hate to do that because it feels like I am sending a chore instead of cookies but I’m concerned they might not travel well…thoughts??

  53. Jacqueline says

    I made these once and they were amazing, though slightly more labor intensive then my normal chocolate chips, they were well worth it. I was going to send some to a friend but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what the best way would be to ship them. Should I make the sandwiches first or send the filling SEPARATE? I kind of hate to do that because it feels like I am sending a chore instead of cookies but I’m concerned they might not travel well…thoughts??

    • So glad that you enjoyed them! I’m not 100% sure since I’ve not ever shipped home baked goods. I would think to send them already sandwiched, but ship them overnight. Hope that helps!

  54. I made these today and they were so delicious! They taste like WHAT the boxed version is supposed to taste like. And to think I almost didn’t try this recipe because the filling looked intimidating! But you can’t get better at something unless you challenge yourself. I made my own double boiler, followed the recipe, used a thermometer and it still came out a little runny. I’m not sure why. I’ll be adding less vanilla next time as it was a little too strong for me. Otherwise, they were perfect! Bake at your own risk! You have been warned. 🙂

  55. Stephanie, These look SO YUMMY! Oatmeal cream pies are one of my favorite treats growing up. I can’t wait to make a batch (or several lol) for my husband and I. Have you tried adding nuts? I think I’ll try to add some finely chopped pecans, that might be a nice addition.

    Either way, thanks for such an awesome recipe!

    -Ria
    Whippdup.com

  56. Can you sub old fashioned oats for the quick cooking kind?

  57. Made these today and it was awesome! We all wanted more!!
    Thank you for the recipe! this will always be in my recipe list!