Homemade Oatmeal Creme Pie Recipe

These cookies are the real deal. The cookie part is a dead ringer for Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies (without that annoying chemical afterburn). The filling is very close texturally, but I truly couldn't bring myself to use shortening in it, so it's buttery-er than the original. If that's a bad thing, sue me. And if you'd prefer a marshmallow filling, do check out Stella's recipe. I can guarantee you will not be disappointed. Yes, you do have to use a scale to make these cookies. Most of the measurements are in ounces. Some of the smaller measurements are in grams. This is no problem with most scales since most will go back and forth between metric and standard weights with the press of a button. If your scale doesn't have that button, you'll need to do the conversions yourself. An ounce equals 28 grams. You will need an instant read thermometer to make the creme filling.

Course Cookies and Bars

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 8

Total Time 38

Servings sandwich cookies

Calories 300kcal

Author Jennifer Field

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.

Notes

Depending on the size you make your cookies, you'll get anywhere from 12-18 or so sandwich cookies. Use about a tablespoon of filling per 2" cookie and 1 1/2 Tablespoons per 3" cookie. In other words. Use as much filling as you used to make the cookies. That way, your ratio will be a perfect 2:1 cookie to filling.

NOTE: baking time may vary depending upon your oven. Use my baking time only as a guide. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they stay soft. If they do end up getting crisp, all is not lost.

For best texture, once you fill your cookies, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate them overnight. The cookies will absorb some liquid from the filling and will soften up.

**Amounts of frosting recipe added for nutrition calculation. Your measurements will be based on how much your egg whites weigh, so may differ slightly from the amounts in the recipe.

Nutrition information calculated on the smaller sized cookies.

Nutrition