Friday, March 19, 2010

So THAT'S What Little Debbie Meant it to Taste Like!


Day 78.

It's Cookie Friday! Each Friday in the month of March, I'm duplicating a classic cookie recipe. This week, it's Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cream Pie.

Last week, I created a cookie recipe that was so good that I have held off on posting its recipe, because I just might sell the cookie instead. Sorry, folks. ;) Anyway, that cookie prompted a discussion between my mother and me. She said I could be the next Mrs. Field's. I argued that Mrs. Field's cookies weren't as good as mine, therefore I didn't like the comparison. Well, Mrs. Field's cookies used to be delicious. I bet Mrs. Field got her start in her own kitchen and sold her cookie recipe to be mass produced, and now you can buy them in the cookie aisle and at any convenience store. They no longer taste home baked, though. Mass production makes them lack that home-baked taste.

The same can be said about Famous Amos and other cookie companies. Even Little Debbie. I wonder if Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies were once the brainchild of a fabulous home kitchen cook.

I found a recipe for oatmeal cream pies at honey & jam and I followed the recipe almost exactly. They turned out very well.

Oatmeal Cream Pies (modified from honey & jam)

Ingredients:

for the cookies:
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp molasses
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla (make your own! It's easy and so much better than McCormick's!)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (don't use black or dark here)
  • 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
for the cream filling:
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 7 oz jar marshmallow cream
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbsp milk
How it's Done:
  1. First, make the cookies. Cream together butter and sugars. Add molasses. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then add the vanilla.
  2. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa, cinnamon, and oats.
  3. Add dry ingredients to wet, gradually.
  4. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
  5. Drop dough by heaping tablespoon onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cookies will look undercooked. DO NOT OVERBAKE.
  6. Let cookies cool briefly.
  7. Make  cream filling. Cream together shortening and marshmallow cream. Beat in vanilla extract. Gradullay add in confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Add milk and beat well for one minute.
  8. Place a tablespoon of filling on the flat side of one cookie. Cover with another cookie, flat side facing filling. Continue until all cookies are filled.

10 comments:

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

I wonder if butter would work in the filling in plce of the shortening. Must try soon!! My husband is a HUGE fan of the Little Debbie version - he'd die of joy over these!

And you are SO right Michelle, Mrs Fields USED to be good cookies, they started to get crappy about 15 yrs ago, when they got popular. I'm 1,000% sure your cookies are better than hers :)

Barb said...

These look delicious! I bet they will be better tasting than the boxed kind. Thanks for the recipe I'm going to give it a try!

Michelle said...

Hi Barb, welcome! Let me know how you like them if you get to try them for youself!

Andrea, I LOVE butter and use it regularly. Remember when I made the Oreos last week? I used butter in the filling and it was delicious, but definitely buttery. I wanted to stay truer to the flavor of oatmeal cream pies this time, so I went with shortening. However, I know butter would work marvelously here. :)

Unknown said...

Michelle, these look great! They look just like Little Debbie's version! I bet they taste better though...and I LOVE oatmeal cream pies!!

tunamarie said...

This is beyond exciting!

tunamarie said...

how many cookies does this recipe make?

Out of the Box into the Kitchen said...

this is on my list to try eventually the oreos i made were a success, ill have to go look at your recipe for those now. thanks for sharing!

Michelle said...

Tuna, I ended up with 28 sandwiches. This allowed for generous bowl licking for Bayberry and Little Kitty. So probably it would make about 30 sandwiches as written. ;)

Kathy said...

They look great!

Stephanie said...

These look so good!! My kids love oatmeal pies, but I hate buying them. We are going to give these a try this weekend. Thanks for posting!

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