This may be the recipe I’m most proud of developing. Because oatmeal cream pies are such a part of many of our childhoods, it was important to get it right. To make a real copycat Little Debbie, and not just a tasty oatmeal sandwich cookie.
Soft, bendable, and gently spiced oatmeal cookies just like the originals, with the perfect creme filling. And no artificial ingredients.
If you love a good, fine-tuned copycat recipe, take a look at my lemon cooler cookie recipe, too. They are super tasty! For ease of browsing, you can find all my cookie and bar recipes in one place. Enjoy!
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Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies, At a Glance
✅Skill Level: Intermediate
✅Skills: Using a Food Processor, Making Swiss Meringue, Mixing, Portioning, Baking
✅Type: Sandwich Cookies
✅Number of Ingredients: 17 in the Cookie Dough, 4 in the Cream Filling
✅Prep Time: 30 minutes
✅Cook Time: 8 minutes, but will vary with ovens
✅Yield: 18 sandwich cookies
Jump Straight to the Recipe
OUTSTANDING recipe! Great flavor and texture, the cookie and the creme. Wouldn’t change a thing, I may have to scale the recipe up to double it!
Reader Jackie
Little Debbies Changed Over the Years
While I often bemoaned the fact we weren’t allowed sugared cereals or the yearned after PopTarts, I could console myself with Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. I suppose my mother reasoned that since they were made of oatmeal, they were healthy.
When I was a kid, they tasted different than they do now.
The cookies were a bit firmer, the creme a bit grainier, and I loved them.
My young self absolutely noticed when the texture changed, although I probably wasn’t as concerned with the actual flavor back then.
They’re still beloved cookies that have stood the test of time, even if they have changed just a bit over the years.
Sadly the changes most likely were to add new food dyes, stabilizers, emulsifiers and cheaper sugars to their recipe.
But I remember them before they got their makeover, and I wanted to bring back that particular glory.
Testing to Get Them Just Right
And so, my quest to create the best homemade Oatmeal Creme Pies recipe began. I tested this recipe several times, second only to my Crunchy Butterfinger Candy Bars post which I tested a whopping 9 times. Because when you try to recreate a classic, you want to get it just right.
First up: research. To that end, I purchased a “Big Pack” of Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies.
- I tasted them whole.
- I dissected them to taste just the cookie by itself and then just the creme.
- I looked over the impressive ingredient list (and by impressive, I mean disturbingly long) and wrote down all the ingredients I could pronounce, translating industrial food names–dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup solids, emulsifiers–into ingredients that I kept in my kitchen: sugar, corn syrup, egg yolks.
- I left out ingredients there was no way I could find and ended up with a list 27 ingredients long. Too long.
I got rid of some of the extraneous starches: corn starch, rice flour and concentrated on the ingredients that appeared before the list stated “Less than 2% of the following…”
That left me with, in this order:
- corn syrup
- enriched bleached flour
- partially hydrogenated oils
- sugar (dextrose)
- whole grain oats
- water
- actual sugar
- molasses
- raisins
To that I added some of the other singular ingredients contained in Little Debbies one doesn’t normally expect to find in an oatmeal cookie recipe and started testing.
Research, Research, Research
When I shared on Facebook that I was attempting to make the best Oatmeal Creme Pies in all the land, my friend Anna told me that Stella from Brave Tart (and now at SeriousEats) had posted an oatmeal creme pie recipe a couple of years ago.
Stella is one of my most trusted sources, so I immediately wandered over to her place to see what she had done. Turns out, our recipes for the cookie part are pretty similar. But our creme filling recipes are very different.
Stella’s filling is a traditional marshmallow made with gelatin, and mine is based on a Swiss meringue made with egg whites.
UPDATE: Stella’s recipe is now in her BraveTart Iconic American Desserts cookbook which you should absolutely own.
Other research included standard Googling of other “Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie Copycat Recipes” and “Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie Copycat Recipes.”
Most of these types of recipes really aren’t copycat recipes at all.
They are all perfectly lovely oatmeal cookies sandwiched together with some perfectly lovely creamy filling, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Generally speaking, making something perfectly lovely is more than enough for me, but in this case I really wanted to capture the particular essence of the Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie–the flavor and the texture, the subtle notes that you might not even notice until you taste a “copycat” recipe and realize it somehow misses the mark.
Like Stella, I want to make sure that when you taste these little guys, you will be transported to the best part of your childhood.
I want you to say “These are the best Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies I have ever had,” not “Wow, this is delicious but I really wish it tasted like a Little Debbie.”
If you’re looking for a great chewy oatmeal raisin cookies and don’t need a LD copycat, try my recipe. It’s super good, and also tested a bunch of times.
Equipment You Will Need
Before we get on with the recipe, let’s make sure you have all the major equipment you need to make them–or really anything you want to make.
A medium-sized food processor will make short work of the oatmeal in this recipe as well as being perfect for making dips and dressings.
If you’re going to be baking with any frequency, invest in a stand mixer. If you only bake occasionally, you’ll be fine with a hand mixer.
Having a Silpat or two will ensure that nothing sticks–I don’t always use Silpat because I like that parchment paper sheets can absorb a bit of oil, but for these cookies, Silpat works perfectly.
Last, but not least, I implore you to buy a kitchen scale. My Escali Primo has never let me down in the 15 years I’ve owned it.
As Close As You Can Get to the Boxed Kind, With No Artificial Ingredients
It takes a lot of ingredients to make this copycat Little Debbie recipe. But if you’re an aficionado of the Oatmeal Creme Pie and you especially love the filling, you will go to the extra effort. I promise it will be worth your time.
These cookies are every bit as soft and bendable as the originals.
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The flavor and texture are exactly right, unless you really love the chemical-ly aftertaste. Because these don’t have that.
If you’re not a raisin fan, remember that if you’re a Little Debbie fan, you’re eating them anyway. So you may as well just go for it.
My oatmeal creme pies make cookies the right color all on their own. And to smell them?
The Little Debbie smells sweet and of nothing in particular. My copycats smell sweet and oatmeal-y and like real food.
Whether you call them oatmeal cream pies or oatmeal creme pies, you’re going to want to make these Little Debbie copycats!
What You’ll Need
Here are the ingredients for making the oatmeal cookie part of this recipe.
As you’ll see, there are a lot of ingredients. That’s what happens when you’re trying to nail a flavor profile.
Cookie Ingredients
- all-purpose flour: provides bulk and contributes gluten so the cookies hold together
- rolled oats: provides bulk without contributing gluten so the cookies stay softer
- raisins: provides moisture, a little sweetness, improves shelf-life, adds some flavor
- apple chips: adds flavor and a little extra sweetness
- baking soda: leavener. balances out the acid in the brown sugar and molasses
- baking powder: leavener
- salt: brings all the flavors into focus
- cinnamon: provides just a hint of cinnamon flavor. Even with only 1/4 teaspoon, some people decided they’d rather leave it out according to their taste, so it’s entirely up to you
- malted milk powder: adds some protein and flavor
- cocoa powder: provides color and to a much lesser extent, a deeper flavor
- dark brown sugar: provides sweetness, moisture, a little flavor, and allows the cookies to brown in the oven
- butter: the main fat component. Carries all the other flavors and allows for browning
- vegetable oil: additional liquid fat just for texture
- molasses: brings sweetness, moisture, dark color, and flavor
- dark corn syrup: same as the molasses. If you are not a fan of molasses, you can use all dark corn syrup. Conversely, if you don’t like dark corn syrup, you can use all molasses, but the flavor will definitely be more molasses-forward if you do
- egg yolks: adds richness and emulsifiers, helps to keep the cookies soft
- whole milk: allows the cookies to spread and still remain a bit on the cakey side. Leave out the milk to have a more chewy cookie
Creme Filling Ingredients
This list is much more straightforward.
Note that the original filling does not contain butter, so if you really want to nail the filling flavor, you should substitute shortening or use a combination of butter and shortening.
This filling is basically a Swiss meringue buttercream. I subbed powdered sugar for granulated as well as add a bit extra powdered sugar at the end of mixing to more closely approximate the texture of the original filling
Also note there is no vanilla in the filling because there is no vanilla in the ingredient list for the boxed oatmeal creme pies.
A teaspoon or so of vanilla would be a nice addition, but then it wouldn’t be a true Little Debbie copycat.
- egg whites: whips up into meringue
- powdered sugar: powdered sugar is for divided use. Use twice the weight of the egg whites in powdered sugar to make the meringue and then add an additional amount of powdered sugar after you incorporate the butter
- butter: should be at cool room temperature. This is is what turns your meringue into buttercream
- salt: brings the butter flavor into focus and tempers the sweetness a bit
Should I Store These Cookies in the Refrigerator?
A reader recently asked this question in the comments, so I thought I’d address it here since it’s a good question.
I stored mine in the fridge.
I honestly think because of the amount of sugar that the filling would be fine at room temp for 2-3 days, but erring on the side of caution is always a good thing.
Just bring them up to room temp again before serving.
Alternatively, you can also cook the whites to a higher temperature–say 165F rather than 150F. In effect, that will Pasteurize the eggs and the filling will then be that much safer if you do decide to leave them at room temperature.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
Other Nostalgic Recipes
Since it’s my blog and I share what I like to make (and also take requests), I have made quite a few recipes that remind me or readers of childhood. Here are a few you might enjoy.
- Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Fudge Recipe (recreated from a reader recipe)
- Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (this version has rocky road frosting, too)
- Butterscotch Pudding which is one of the most comforting pudding flavors in all the land.
- Bread, Butter, & Sugar Sandwich (do you remember those?!)
And now, without further ado, I give you my five-times-tested Oatmeal Creme Pies. Amen.
A Note About Measurements
My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.
For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.
I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.
This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
Love This Recipe? Please Rate, Review, and Share!
It will help me and other readers so much if you take a moment to rate and leave a review for this recipe.
You can use the stars to rate 1-5 (5 is best), and leave a review in the comments. It helps me make adjustments if any are needed, and comments help others decide whether the recipe is worth making.
Other ways to share include pinning, and/or sharing on your favorite social media platform.
Thank you so much for taking the time!
Homemade Oatmeal Creme Pie Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 5 oz all purpose flour
- 4 oz rolled oats (the regular kind, not quick cooking)
- 16 g roughly 1/2 ounce raisins
- 8 g roughly 1/3 oz dried apple chips (I used the crunchy kind. I’m sure the chewy ones will work fine as well)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 8 grams 4 teaspoons malted milk powder
- 4 grams 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, sifted to remove lumps
- 3 oz unsalted butter , softened
- 4.5 oz dark brown sugar , sifted to remove lumps
- 2 oz neutral vegetable oil
- 2 oz dark corn syrup
- 1.2 oz molasses (not blackstrap. I used Grandma’s brand)
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 oz whole milk (optional, leave out for a slightly chewier cookie)
For the Creme Filling (Read Instructions for more information on the weights and amounts)
- 2 egg whites (weigh them into the bowl)
- 4 oz sifted powdered sugar** , twice as much by weight as the egg whites
- pinch of salt
- 6 oz unsalted butter** , softened (add the weights of the whites and sugar together to get this measurement)
- 6 oz sifted powdered sugar** (the same weight as the butter)
Instructions
For the Cookies
- Place your oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven. Preheat oven to 350F.
- Line 2 cookie sheets with Silpat or parchment. Set aside.
- Combine flour, oats, raisins, apple chips, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, malted milk powder and cocoa powder in the bowl of your food processor or high-speed blender. Process/blend until you can’t see bits of raisins, oats or apple. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and dark brown sugar together until smooth. Cream an additional minute on medium speed.
- Add the oil, corn syrup and molasses and cream another minute, scraping bowl as necessary.
- Add both yolks and mix until well combined. Scrape the bowl.
- Dump in all the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and mix for a minute more.
- Mix in the milk, if using. Whether or not you use the milk, the dough will be sticky.
- Portion out the dough in level tablespoons to end up with 2″ cookies. Use 1 1/2 level Tablespoons (4 1/2 teaspoons) for 3″ cookies.
- Leave a good 3″ between cookies since they will spread. I was able to portion 8 smaller cookies or 6 larger ones on each sheet.
- For the Tablespoon-sized cookies, bake for 4 minutes. Rotate pans top to bottom and front to back. Bake for an additional 3 minutes. For 1 1/2 Tablespoon-sized cookies, bake for 4 minutes, rotate the pans and bake for 4 more minutes.
- Remove pans and let cookies cool for 4 minutes before transferring them to racks to cool completely. Sandwich together with about 1-1 1/2 Tablespoons of frosting (recipe below)
- Once cookies are cooled and filled, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate them overnight. This will ensure the cookies soften and the filling firms up. When you take a bite the next day? Oatmeal Cream Pie Nirvana! I'm not saying don't try them once you make them, but just know that, texturally, they need that rest in the fridge to achieve OCP perfection.
For the Creme Filling
- As to the measurements, if your whites weigh 2 ounces, you’ll need 4 ounces of powdered sugar. Then you’ll need 6 ounces of butter and an additional 6 ounces of powdered sugar. If your whites weight 1.5 ounces, you’ll need 3 ounces of powdered sugar, 4.5 ounces of butter and an additional 4.5 ounces of powdered sugar. Okay, here’s what you do.
- Combine the whites, first amount of powdered sugar and a healthy pinch of salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Set this over a pan of water sized so that the bottom of the mixer bowl doesn’t dip down into the water.
- Whisk constantly over medium heat (or high heat if you’re feeling frisky), until water comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue whisking until the mixture is 150F–too hot to touch, hot enough to gelatinize the starch in the powdered sugar but not hot enough to cook the whites.
- Immediately put your bowl on your mixer fitted with the whip attachment and whip on medium-high speed until glossy, billowy and beautiful. Whip until the meringue reaches room temperature.
- Add in the butter, a bit at a time, until you have a gorgeous Swiss buttercream. Scrape bowl as necessary. You can use the buttercream as is, but to taste like real Little Debbie creme, you’ll need to add more sugar.
- Beat in the second amount of powdered sugar, scraping bowl as necessary.
- You can add in a splash of vanilla, but I don’t get that from the Little Debbie creme. Add it in if you want, because it will be delicious.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, y’all! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and hopefully also learned a thing or two.
If you like my style, I invite you to sign up for my occasional newsletter, The Inbox Pastry Chef.
Expect updates on new and tasty recipes as well as a bit of behind-the-scenes action. I hope to see you there!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read. I know that if you’re a die hard Little Debbie fan, you’ll love these! Enjoy.
Take care, y’all.
Join in Today!
Made these tonight but haven’t assembled them yet. Do they need to be stored in the fridge because of the eggwhites? Or is on the counter fine? Thank you!
Hey, Kate! Good question. I will add this piece to the post, so thank you for bringing it up. I stored mine in the fridge. I honestly think because of the amount of sugar that the filling would be fine at room temp for 2-3 days, but erring on the side of caution is always a good thing. Just bring them up to room temp again before serving. Alternatively, you can also cook the whites to a higher temperature–say 165F rather than 150F. In effect, that will Pasteurize them and the filling will then be that much safer if left at room temperature for a few days. I hope that helps, and I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of the cookies. I wanted them to be as close to perfect as I could make them! 🙂
Well, I am a true oatmeal cookie lover and I use to love Little Debbies back in the day too! Your new recipe sounds and looks even better. I cannot wait to get a chance to make them at home!!
I would be thrilled if you make these, Denise! Hope you and Lenny are doing well. I think about you guys often! ❤️
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I made these tonight and was so pleased with how they turned out. The cookies took longer than 8 minutes to bake for me, but I find that ovens vary and therefore baking times vary, as well.
I’ll be adding this recipe to my stash, for sure! We’ve put the leftovers in the freezer and are looking forward to trying them out in the days to come. 🙂
Again, thanks for sharing. I know a lot of hard work goes into fine-tuning a recipe like this.
Annie, hi! Thanks so much for commenting–I am thrilled you love the cookies! Enjoy your leftovers, and do let me know how well the freeze. Seems like they’d be just fine, but you never know. I’m so happy another oatmeal cream pie lover found this post! 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I had to (had to) tweak a few ingredients, and am pleasantly surprised the cookies still turned out delicious! I used everything exactly what was called for for the filling, though! Which turned out equally delicious.
~ My tweaks for those who don’t have certain ingredients, or the store down the street doesn’t sell them:
– no malt powder (sadly couldn’t find any, and I HAD to make these today)
– no corn syrup : honey as substitute
– used .5oz blackstrap molasses and the rest maple syrup to total the 1.2oz
– no apple chips : coconut flakes as substitute
Thank you Jenni for the delicious recipe! I can’t wait to try it with all the right ingredients!!
Katie, hi! I am so glad these turned out for you, and I love your subs as well! I completely understand having to make them RIGHTNOW and just going with what you have! Hooray! Thank you so much for stopping by to let me know. You made my day! 🙂
Well I made them last night! The substitutions I made were: 1) Barley malt syrup instead of Corn syrup. 2) Liquid Coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. 3) Coconut flour instead of malted milk powder. (Was going to use a bit of dry milk powder but didn’t feel like buying a $10 bag of it just for a teaspoon!). 4) Palm oil in the filling (with just a little butter that was leftover from what went in the cookies).
Everything went together easily. I used a number 20 scoop to portion the cookies (I compared the volume and if I under filled the scoop that was the 1-1/2 tablespoons called for). Now it could be my elevation here in Minnesota, it could be the substitutions I made in the recipe, etc but my baking time needed to be increased dramatically. I did the 4 minutes, rotate pans, 4 minutes, cool 4 minutes that was in the recipe but my cookies just oozed through the wire rack. I put them back together on the pan and baked longer and they came out fine.
The second round I did something a little different. Instead of leaving the dough in the ball shape (from coming out of the scoop) the sort of flattened them (the way they’d look if I had cut them off of a log of cookie dough). Also paying attention to the previous baking time I baked them for the same amount…which was approximately 12-14 minutes total. The second batch turned out picture perfect!
While making the filling I realized that the thermometer I had on hand must not be calibrated and so I’m thinking the egg whites might not have been quite hot enough (though they seemed to whip up fine?). The filling went together nicely. As mentioned above I had just a little butter left from the stick that was cut up for the cookies so I started there and used (organic, fair trade, responsibly sourced) palm oil for the remainder of the fat. This was my first time using palm oil in..well…anything and it is very interesting! It’s not as thick/heavy/paste-like as the little debbie filling but it works nicely and I think it could be a perfect filling for something like a homemade twinkie! Maybe the cookies will absorb some of the moisture out of the filling and it will firm up a bit more. (Any thoughts on how to modify this filling to make it heavier/thicker?)
So there was the experience making them. I was going to wait until they had sat for a day to taste them but after a couple hours I couldn’t help myself. So here’s my impression of them:
First off they’re delicious! Now have not been born until the early 80s my only frame of reference is the modern chemical-cakes that we all know these days. I have no idea what an “original” oatmeal pie would have tasted like. I think that the next time I make these I’m going to try something a little more daring. First I’m going to use the barley malt syrup (Eden brand) in place of the corn syrup AND the molasses. The second thing I’m going to do is try omitting the cinnamon. It’s crazy that for how little cinnamon is in here I can REALLY taste it. It tastes nice but cinnamon isn’t a flavor I pick up from the little debbie snack.
The barley malt syrup has a mild molasses flavor so using it to replace the molasses would help tone that down just a touch. I think reducing the molasses and ditching the cinnamon will take it further out of “spice cookie” territory and move it firmly into “nondescript soft oatmeal cookie recipe”.
OH and by the way since I haven’t seen apple chips in YEARS I did use dried apples (the slightly squishy ones). No problem!
This was my first time every baking by weights (I just went out and bought a kitchen scale the night before) so I had no idea what to expect and what amounts would be. I bought a ridiculous amount of dried apples and a big bag of raisins. Imagine my surprise when I only needed maybe 10 raisins, and just a few pieces of apple. HA! I really think you nailed it though, those raisins and apples really make for a moist cookie!
The next time I make these with my additional changes I’ll post again what the results are! Regardless the recipe as-is is dynamite and for anyone thinking of trying them out you will dig it!
If you have any thoughts on making the filling more dense/thick please let me know!
Cheers!!!!
This is the best! I love the changes you made, and also “nondescript soft oatmeal cookie” is exactly what we’re going for. Too funny! Stella Parks just released her incredible (and highly recommended) BraveTart cookbook, and she has her own version of Little Debbies. Ours are of course fairly similar since we both started with looking at the ingredient list. Her filling might work better for you. I don’t recall off the top of my head exactly what is in hers, but I can guarantee you hers will be as spot on as possible. I bet that recipe is floating around if you give it a quick Google.
So glad you enjoyed the cookies, and thank you for taking the time to tell me all your subs.
Take care, and have The Best Holiday!
Hey there! Happy 2018!
I just wanted to pop back in to say that my comment about the filling was entirely premature. Even before I made them that first time I knew in my head that upon sitting for a day that the cookies would suck a bit of moisture out of the filling which would make the cookies super soft and thicken the filling a bit. When I made them last month I wasn’t even going to taste one the right away as I knew that letting them sit a day would change things. Well I didn’t wait, I tasted right away, and of course my reaction was stupid! hahaha. The very next day the cookies had absorbed some moisture as planned and the filling was spot on.
I’m going to make another batch tonight that incorporates a few more changes in an effort to get rid of some of the molasses flavors. I’ll let you know how they come out! After I get this one dialed in I think I might have to try recreating Little debbie zebra cakes or Hostess ding dongs. 🙂
You could do a whole series of LD copy cats! Glad the filling shaped up for you. I am often, okay almost always, impatient, so I taste immediately, the next day, and then try to save one to taste after 2-3 days. That’s a hard one! lol
Late to the party on this one but I’ll definitely be trying your recipe! I’m curious to know if palm oil (instead of butter) might bring the creme filling closer to the original? I might have to try both ways! Thanks for doing the heavy lifting on this one!
Hey, Bobby! I’m going with yes, it most likely will get you closer. I am a fan of the butteriness, but if you want to get even closer than I did, I think that’s a great place to start. You’ll have to let me know how they turn out. Enjoy!
Hi again!
I’m getting ready to give these a whirl and just for kicks I went and looked at the little debbie ingredient list. I noticed Coconut is listed in the current ingredients! Just curious if you tried coconut when doing your testing? I’ve never noticed a coconut element to the taste but then again I never would have considered apples or raisins!
I’m by no means a professional baker but while going over and over your wonderful looking recipe I got to thinking that with the Dark brown sugar, molasses, and dark corn syrup there are 3 sources of molasses. The malted milk powder is most likely there for the malt flavor (possibly also the milk solids for browning?).
I am thinking of ditching the malted milk powder, replacing the corn syrup for Barley malt syrup (which, if I’m understanding the process correctly, is also an invert sugar) which will provide some sweetness and the malt flavor and then maybe just adding some milk powder?
It’s probably asking for trouble to change the recipe before I make them the first time but for whatever reason this project has me thoroughly excited to play around with it!
I’ll certainly let you know how it all shakes out!!!
Thanks again for the inspiration!
Hooray for inspiration–that’s what it’s all about! And you know, I don’t remember seeing coconut. That print is tiny! lol I say go for it though–maybe just a touch of desiccated coconut (unsweetened). And yes, I think you can absolutely use malt syrup and plain powdered milk. Looking forward to your notes on your experimentation, Bobby. Enjoy!
I absolutely will let you know how they turn out! Also I think I figured out how to work some coconut into them. Since my proposed use of malt syrup would eliminate the malted milk powder I’d like to replace those 4 tsp of dry ingredient. Malted milk powder is flour, malt, and milk powder (essentially). SO I think I’ll replace that bit of flour with coconut flour, and then use milk powder.
I’ll be back soon to let you know if it worked or was a disaster! 🙂
I support your plan!! Can’t wait for the report!
I can’t wait to make these! My boyfriend just requested I bake homemade oatmeal creme pies cause he bought the Little Debbie ones recently and remembered how much he loved them. He definitely does NOT like the chemical afterburn they cause though! Will report back once I’ve tried out the recipe 🙂
Oh, wonderful! I can guarantee you both Little Debbie goodness AND no chemical afterburn! I look forward to hearing your review, Soraya. Thanks so much for stopping in!
I am going to try making these, but I won’t have time today. I gradually began to fall out of love with the Little Debbie oatmeal crème pies, for the same reasons mentioned. I even went so far, a few years ago, as to contact the manufacturer to ask them why they had changed the filling…..telling them that it no longer had the same taste or texture, and “would they please go back to the original recipe”, but they denied it, and in typical large-company fashion, offered me some discount coupons, which I told them wasn’t the point.
I finally realized that it was pointless, and that they probably thought I was just some kook.
The original crème pies were amazing, and I hope to be able to have the experience of once-again tasting and feeling (yes, the texture is also gone) those original treats.
Thank you for taking the time to do this…..amazing dedication!!!
Patric, I will say that these are not the same as the oatmeal cream pies I used to have as a kid. Those seemed to be a bit…sturdier…or something? The cookies had more texture. But since I don’t have those (boo) to compare, I based this new recipe on the newer formulation. I think you’ll really like the flavor and the texture both, and I promise you won’t get that weird burning sensation in your mouth when you eat them. When you do have time to make them, I hope you let me know what you think!
Take care, and thanks for visiting!
how do these hold up? can you make a day in advance? i am a caterer looking for a little debbie copycat recipe for a 1965 themed party. i need to make bulk amount and a day ahead. will this recipe do?
They should work just fine, Allison. Mine held up quite well for 3-4 days just at room temp. Would love to see photos of the spread from the party–sounds like fun!
Chica, the biggest difference between yours and theirs is they add red #40!! Whenever a company can’t or won’t get a good chocolate color from their recipe (instant chocolate pudding–I’m looking at you, Jell-o) they resort to chemical colorants. Yay for petrochemicals! But if I ever decide to yank out the old scale for more than pinewood derby cars, I’ll try this one.
There is all manner of weird ingredients in Little Debbies, and the food dye definitely is one of the most unwelcome, in my opinion. I do hope you give these a try. I promise they taste just like the originals, minus the weird chemical-burn aftertaste. I also encourage you to get a scale just for baking in general–makes it so much easier and faster as well as much more precise. Thanks so much for stopping in, Melissa!
You definitely should name these Little Jenni’s!!! I am so glad that you got rid of the chemical-ly aftertaste because that’s the part I can’t stand!! 🙂
It’s so apparent, especially if you’re mostly used to homemade goodies. Next up: Swiss Cake Rolls, because those guys were The Best along with the oatmeal cream pies!
Can’t wait to see your version of Swiss Rolls. When you do it, could you give us an alternate chocolate filling for them? I used to be able to find the Debbies with chocolate fill, but haven’t seen them in years. They were sooo good frozen solid and eaten straight from the freezer.
I will see what I can do, because Swiss Rolls are definitely on my list!!
I think making these this weekend will make me feel like I’ve had a visit back home. I get nostalgic on holidays. These look better than Little Debbie!
I humbly submit that they are indeed better than Little Debbies, Maureen! I managed to make them without any chemical aftertaste. Imagine that! lol =) They truly will make you feel like a kid again!
I recently copied out Stella’s recipe, planning to make them for a client of mine who devours OCPs by the truckload. I may have to try both your filling and hers to see which gets the thumbs-up. I’ll check back in and let you know which one receives the trophy. So grateful to have you around to do the heavy recipe testing!
I am sure Stella’s are fabulous–I love her work! Yes, I’d like to hear your review. I decided to go with a Swiss buttercream base since the filling in store-bought OCPs is not sticky like marshmallow. Still, I like the addition of some molasses in the filling.
Jenni, I made these this week, a double batch, and made one batch of your filling recipe and one batch of Bravetart’s filling. I expected Stella’s filling to get better reviews since my audience was full of marshmallow fanatics, but I had a big technical problem with hers — when I added the butter & vanilla, my big bowl of fluffy marshmallow reduced to a liquid. It regained about 2/3 its original volume after ten minutes of fast whipping. I let it sit in piping bag for ~30 minutes and it did finally work, but caused me severe panic for a while. The flavor of it was good and definitely marshmallow-y.
Surprisingly, more people preferred your filling — it was definitely more true to the original OCPs. And as big plus for the baker, it caused me no technical problems and didn’t require a piping bag to fill the cookies.
As for your cookies, they were letter-perfect. The only thing I might change is reduce the amount of molasses, because I could definitely taste molasses, which I can’t in the Debbie OCPs, but if you like the flavor of molasses that’s not a problem
Job VERY well done, Jenni. You really nailed this one.
I am *thrilled* that you made these!! I am so proud of them, and it’s nice to get objective feedback that they were good! I agree with you on the molasses, but I’m a fan of it and wasn’t too sad to be able to taste it. Still, for dead-on, you could certainly tweak the amount and replace it with the corn syrup. Hooray for OCP!!
You are awesome! I’m sharing this post on SyrupAndBiscuit’s FB page.
Thank you, Jackie! I hope you love these as much as I do! I better not make them too often!
Oh fantastic! Pinned to be sure to save for later.
Yay! You’re going to love them, Renee! xo