Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
I had to save the best for last this week. Oatmeal Cream Pies were my all time favorite. There’s just something about that soft chewy oatmeal cookies with the cream filling smooshed between.
I have a confession to make about the store bought version of this cookie. When I was in High School, I was the yearbook editor senior year with a good friend of mine K. He and I had a class period each day to do yearbook work as an independent study class. We had the yearbook room to ourselves for one hour a day. It was a lot of fun. We kept Oatmeal Cream Pies in the yearbook drawer and would house these things on a regular basis. We’d go through a disgusting amount of these cookies in one hour. Thank goodness for my high-school metabolism (which has since vanished), as well as my stomach of steel. Oh man, parts of high school were a good time.
Back to reality. In the past 10+ years since then, my stomach has become more sensative to dairy and other foods, and I have to work to not gain weight. I’ve learned a lot about how to eat healthy and gained quite the love of cooking and baking. I’ve also learned that most store bought foods can be made a hundred times better at home.
These cookies are no exception. The brown sugar in the cookies keeps them perfectly soft and the filling is so much better than what’s in the store bought version. It’s like a homemade marshmallow fluff, and it’s amazing. I packaged them in celophane bags so they were easy to throw into lunches for me and Hubby this week.
One Year Ago: Best Dang Thing Ever Bars
Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
Yield: 24
Ingredients:
For the Cookies
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp boiling water
For the Filling
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp unflavored gelatin (about 1 1/2 packets)
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup water (divided)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces vegetable shortening
Directions:
Make the cookies
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside (or use parchment).
Cream the butter, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, sift together the salt, flour, and baking powder. Add to the creamed mixture. Add the cinnamon and oats. Mix well.
In a small dish, add the baking soda to the boiling water, and then stir the mixture into the rest of the batter. Mix well.
Drop by the tablespoon onto the baking sheets about 2 inches apart and bake until the cookies are firm and just starting to turn golden around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on a wire rack or a plate.
Make the filling
In a small measuring cup, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water. Let stand, stirring once or twice until the gelatin softens, about 5 minutes.
In a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together the granulated sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup hot water until well blended. Continuing to stir, raise the heat to high and bring to a full boil. Continue boiling for 30 seconds. Immediately remove from the heat. Stir in the gelatin mixture until it dissolves completely.
Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the vanilla.
With a mixer on medium speed, beat for 20 seconds. Gradually raise the speed to high and beat until the mixture is stiffened, white, very fluffy, and cooled to barely warm, about 5 minutes.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar.
Add the shortening and beat until completely smooth.
The filling will set up as it sits, so wait until it is thick enough to spread or pipe before filling the cookies.
Recipe from How to Eat a Cupcake
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
What a gorgeous chocolate!! I adore deep chocolate ice creams.
beantownbaker — May 31st, 2013 @ 10:07 am
You would definitely love this then. It’s so rich and chocolatey!
I just got an ice cream maker and cannot wait to start trying it out… this looks a bit above my skill level, but a good thing to work towards!
beantownbaker — May 31st, 2013 @ 10:08 am
I completely understand wanting to start out with an easier recipe. Sorbets are really easy. No cooking necessary for most sorbet recipes. But def keep this one in the back of your mind for when you feel more confident!
I made this dark chocolate ice cream last year, and it is definitely the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had. The 5-day wait time is pure torture, but it’s completely worth it. So glad you enjoyed this as much as I did!
beantownbaker — May 31st, 2013 @ 10:07 am
I agree, it was complete torture, especially after taking a taste after it had processed in the machine…
A rich, deep chocolate ice cream is worth the wait! It’s so hard to find a recipe for the decadent chocolate ice I desire, this recipe has moved to the top of my to-do list!
You can tell just by looking at this how rich and awesome it is!!
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 8:52 am
It’s seriously difficult to scoop it’s so thick!
wowza, this certainly tell how rich and decadent it is!! i’m appreciating more and more those things that I only need a spoonful of to satisfy 😉
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 8:53 am
This is definitely one of those things. I love chocolate but could only handle one small scoop at a time.
Who isn’t a fan of chocolate?! This looks amazing 🙂
I would love to try this recipe. I am wondering why you used coconut milk, and I’m assuming full fat coconut milk?
beantownbaker — June 16th, 2013 @ 7:47 pm
i use coconut milk because I’m lactose intolerant so I can’t use cow’s milk or heavy cream. If you want to use those dairy products, follow the instructions in the original recipe. And yes, I use full fat coconut milk.