Soft and Chewy High Altitude Oatmeal Cream Pies

If you’ve always had a thing for those packaged oatmeal cream pies, you’ll love this homemade version of these delicious high altitude oatmeal sandwich cookies! This recipe starts with soft and chewy oatmeal cookies, made with browned butter and a blend of warm spices and vanilla. Then I filled them with fluffy vanilla buttercream for the most addictive sandwich cookie you’ve ever tasted!

You might also love these cranberry almond oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars, and rhubarb oatmeal bars.

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Why You’ll Love These Cookies

Brown Butter. If you’ve never baked with brown butter, you’re in for a treat. Browning butter is a quick and simple process of cooking butter on the stove, until the milk solids turn a nutty, golden brown and the butter is incredibly fragrant. It adds a rich nuttiness that’s just wonderful in cookies, cakes and frostings. It’s great in savory dishes, too, like a simple pasta with brown butter and Parmesan cheese.

Two Cookies + Frosting. With a sandwich cookie, you get two cookies for the price of one, plus frosting! What could be better?

Soft, Chewy and Creamy. There are so many great textures and flavors in these cookies, with the soft and chewy oatmeal cookies, brown butter, molasses and spices, and the sweet, creamy vanilla buttercream.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Cookies

• Butter. I use unsalted butter, but if you use salted, you can reduce some of the salt in the recipe. By browning the butter first, you’ll be bringing out the most incredible, nutty rich flavor in the butter, that’s just wonderful in these oatmeal cream pies.
• Sugar. A combination of white granulated sugar and dark brown sugar adds sweetness, moisture and depth of flavor.
• Molasses. Just a couple teaspoons of molasses adds a deeper flavor that complements the heartiness of the oats and the warm spices.
• Eggs. Add structure and bind the cookie dough together.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Flour. All-purpose flour gives the cookies structure and strength so they don’t spread out too much.
• Oats. The oats add a wholesome, hearty texture. I use old-fashioned (rolled) oats, but you can also use quick oats.
• Salt. Coarse Kosher salt balances the sweetness and enhances the flavor of the browned butter.
• Baking Soda. Gives the cookies a little lift so they aren’t thin and flat.
• Spices. A combination of cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg adds a spicy warmth that’s wonderful in these cookies.

Filling

• Butter. Unsalted butter gives the filling richness, flavor, and a creamy texture.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
• Meringue Powder. If you don’t have meringue powder, you can leave it out, but I always add it to buttercream. It improves the texture and gives buttercream more stability.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.

Instructions

Brown the butter.

• In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally. When the butter starts to foam, and nutty golden brown solids have formed at the bottom of the pan, the butter is done.
• Scrape the browned butter, including all the browned bits, into a mixing bowl. Let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Make the cookie dough.

• Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar and molasses to the butter, and mix until well combined. You can use either a stand mixer, hand-held mixer or mix the dough by hand.
• Beat in the eggs and vanilla until the mixture is smooth and ribbony.
• Separately, combine the flour, oats, salt, baking soda and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until all the dry bits are incorporated.

Shape and chill the dough balls.

• Divide the dough into 20 portions (use a scant ice cream scoop/cupcake scoop to measure the portions). Shape each portion into a ball.
• Chill the dough balls in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Bake the cookies.

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Place the chilled dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet, and bake for exactly 8 minutes. The cookies will be just set around the edges, with a light golden color, and a gooey center. They will continue to cook and set up after you take them out of the oven, so DO NOT OVER-BAKE, or you’ll end up with dry, crumbly cookies.
• As soon as you take the cookies out of the oven, use a round cookie cutter (one that’s larger than the circumference of the cookies), and “scoot” it around the hot cookie to pull in the edges – this will give you a perfectly round cookie.
• Cool the cookies for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Cool completely before filling with the buttercream.

Fill with buttercream.

• Use an electric mixer to beat all the filling ingredients together until light and fluffy.
• Match up the cookies into pairs, and turn half the cookies over.
• Fit a piping bag with a large tip, such as 6B, and pipe a thick layer of frosting onto the bottom of half the cookies. Top with another cookie and press down lightly.
• Place the cookies in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for 3 days, or freeze for 3-6 months.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of oats should I use?

I use old-fashioned (rolled) oats, but quick oats work fine in this recipe, too.

Are these as soft as the packaged oatmeal cream pies?

Packaged oatmeal cream pies are very soft, almost cake-like. These homemade cookies are not at all cakey, and I wouldn’t call this a “copycat recipe”, either. My oatmeal cookies have slightly crisp edges with a soft, chewy center, but with a heartier texture than the packaged version, and in my opinion, so much tastier! Be sure not to bake the cookies any longer than the recipe notes, to keep them as soft as possible.

Can I make the dough in advance and bake the cookies later?

The dough doesn’t take long to make, and needs to chill for 20 minutes before baking. If you make the dough in advance, keep it refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or frozen for 3-6 months. With the longer chill time, though, the dough balls may be too cold to spread enough during baking, so you might need to either flatten them, or let them warm up at room temperature for a few minutes before baking. I suggest trying this with one or two cookies before baking the whole batch.

How many assembled sandwich cookies does this recipe make?

This recipe makes 20 thick oatmeal cookies, and 10 filled sandwich cookies.

If I make smaller cookies, how long should I bake them?

Depending on how small you make them, you may only need to bake smaller cookies for 6-7 minutes. It’s very important not to over-bake oatmeal cookies, or they will end up dry and crumbly after they cool.

What piping tip did you use to pipe the filling?

I used tip 6B. This is a large tip for piping a thick layer of filling. You can certainly just spread the filling on with a small offset spatula, too. And if you like less filling, you can cut the buttercream recipe in half.

Will this recipe work with gluten free flour?

I’m not sure. In my experience, measure-for-measure gluten free flour makes more crumbly baked goods, but it may work just fine in this recipe.

Do these cookies need to be refrigerated?

Yes, you should store the assembled cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator, to keep the buttercream and the cookies fresh. You can store them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or wrap each sandwich cookie individually in plastic wrap and freeze for 3-6 months. They’re best eaten at room temperature, though, so thaw frozen cookies for several hours before eating, and let refrigerated cookies soften and come to room temperature for 30-60 minutes before eating.

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