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

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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.

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11 Responses to “White Chocolate Cranberry Mousse”

  1. #
    1
    theblogisthenewblack — October 27, 2010 at 11:44 am

    Love any type of mousse- esp if it’s pink!

  2. #
    2
    Debbi Does Dinner Healthy — October 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    Love the pink! So cute and it looks and sounds delicous! Thanks!

  3. #
    3
    Boston Food Diary — October 27, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    This looks so wonderful! I never would have thought of cranberries and white chocolate together- you are so right-what a great option for Thanksgiving!

  4. #
    4
    Cupcake Activist — October 27, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    Great idea! I am always in charge of dessert for Thanksgiving and this would be perfect to add to the line-up.

  5. #
    5
    Megan — October 27, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    I know you said lighter dessert idea, but I’m picturing a cranberry mousse tart with dark chocolate drizzled on top!

  6. #
    6
    Rachel @ The Avid Appetite — October 27, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    This looks delicious! Also, can I ask…what kind of backdrop do you shoot your photos on? It is so clean and really highlights the food at hand!

  7. #
    7
    Jen — October 27, 2010 at 8:42 pm

    Rachel – For the majority of my photographs, I use 12″x12″ scrapbooking pages. I have a bg folder with all my pages in them. I have been using a lot of solid colors recently. I have to admit I love how the blue background really makes the pink mousse pop in these pics!

  8. #
    8
    The Small Boston Kitchen — October 27, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Lovin’ the cranberryness here!

  9. #
    9
    Nutmeg Nanny — October 28, 2010 at 3:17 am

    Love the pinkness and love the recipe!

  10. #
    10
    oneordinaryday — October 31, 2010 at 11:51 am

    This sounds delicious, and I love how that beautiful pink color just pops. Definitely going on my menu!!

  11. #
    11
    Eliana — November 1, 2010 at 3:45 pm

    This mousse looks divine! I could not be trusted around it.

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