Homemade Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies!

Hope everyone is having a great day!  The sun is shining here and I am hoping to make it over to the Maplewood Farmer's Market tonight to get a few mid-week goodies.  Then, Greg and I have plans to go to the movies tonight.  We haven't been to the movies in months but one of our friends gave us an awesome Groupon for two tickets and a bucket of popcorn.  I can't even remember the last time I had movie theater popcorn - it is the best, mmmm liquid butter!

Anyway, today I bring you a delicious recipe that is sure to stir up childhood memories.  I was an Oatmeal Cream Pie addict while my brother could have lived off of Zebra Cakes.  My mom rarely bought us Little Debbies but I played softball for about 5 years simply for the treats and little blue juice jugs at the end of the game (anyone else remember those?).  I was visiting What the Dog Ate blog a couple days ago when I saw the recipe for these.  After a quick mental scan of my pantry, I knew I already had all the ingredients I would need to make them, yes!

What's not to like about sweet, sugary buttercream sandwiched between two melt-in-your-mouth oat packed cookies?  And they must be healthy because of the oats, right?  They would be perfect wrapped in some wax paper and packed up for a picnic or piled high for an after school snack.  Try these today!

 

Homemade Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies

from What the Dog Ate

Ingredients

Cookies
1 1/4 cups butter, unsalted, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups quick oats (the only change I made here was to pulse the oats several times in a food processor so that there were some bigger oats pieces and some finely ground, but I'm sure it would be great either way)

Filling (I am leaving the measurements as listed but I only used about half the recipe so you could easily halve the ingredients and have plenty for filling.  A little bit goes a long way!)
1/2 cup butter, unsalted, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 375.  Line a baking sheet with a Silpat mat or parchment paper.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the 1 1/4 cup butter with the granulated and brown sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. 

With the mixer on low, add in the flour mixture and then the oats.

 I ground up my oats to have some bigger and some smaller.

Use a small cookie scoop to make uniform sized balls for the cookie sheet.  Do not worry about pressing flat as they will spread when they bake.  Refrigerate the scooped cookie dough for about 10 minutes. 

Bake at 375 for 11 minutes.  Remove from oven and leave on cookie sheet for 2 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 48 individual cookies.

Make the filling by beating the 1/2 cup butter with powdered sugar and up to 2 tablespoons of milk.  Transfer to a zip lock type baggie with a corner snipped off.

Assemble the cookies by piping about a teaspoon of filling onto the bottom side of one cookie.  I used about a quarter sized dollop and it was the perfect amount of sweetness.  Top with another cookie.

Enjoy with a tall, cold glass of milk!

Thanks for stopping by!  What is your favorite childhood treat?  In addition to the Oatmeal Cream Pies, I also loved eating the Nutty Bars one layer at a time!