#FoodieExtravaganza ~ Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies

  

Welcome to the Foodie Extravaganza!  

We are a group of bloggers who love to blog about food!  Each month we will decide on an all-famous National Monthly Food Holiday in which we will base our recipes around. This month's the ingredient is oatmeal.  Yes, January is National Oatmeal Month along with a whole array of other delightful things!! Get excited!! We hope you all enjoy our delicious oatmeal treats this month and come back to see what we bring for you next month.  If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza.  We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE. 

This Month's OAT SPECTACULAR assembly includes:

• Apple Pie Overnight Oats / Wallflour Girl
• Bacon Whole Grain Granola Bars / Pantry Friendly Cooking
• Berry Oatmeal Super Smoothie / Keep Moving Forward With Me
• Brown Sugar Barbecue Meatballs / Fearlessly Creative Mammas
• Chickpea Veggie Soup / Food Lust People Love
• Homemade Cranberry Almond Granola / Rhubarb and Honey
• Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies / Making Miracles
• Mango Poppyseed Oat Muffins / The Sweet {Tooth} Life
• Mini Meatball Subs / The Freshman Cook
• Monster Cookie Granola / From Gate to Plate
• Mushroom Ginger Oat Congee / Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Oat Cinnamon Rolls / Passion Kneaded
• Oatmeal Pancakes / Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Peanut Butter Oat Snack Balls / Mrs. Penguin
• Vanilla Salted Oatmeal Cookies / Baking in Pyjamas
• Southwestern Oatmeal Cakes / A Day in the Life on the Farm

The oat-guru Kathy Hester has been so generous in donating one of her books to one of our lucky Foodie Extravaganza readers. With her book OATrageous Oatmeals: Delicious and Surprising Plant-Based Dishes From This Humble, Heart-Healthy Grain (affiliate link), you will learn how to use heart-healthy oatmeal in new and exciting ways! You can find recipes such as Steel-cut Oat Sausage Crumbles, Chickpea Veggie Soup, and Blackberry Mojito Overnight Oats. Now go enter this awesome giveaway! If you don't win, feel free to grab the link from above to purchase your own! 

 

So back to these Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie CopyCat cookies... yumm. My husband (who is a L.D. Oatmeal Creme Pie aficionado) did not give these a "copy cat approved" seal, but he sure did think they were DELICIOUS!! My cookies had issues... I can't figure out if I'm just not adjusting to my new oven, or what the deal is but this is the third or fourth cookie recipe I've made at our new house (we moved in a little over 2 months ago) that have had issues with baking up flat and irregularly (some flat, some fine on the same cookie tray, at the same time). These cookies should have had a little bit thicker, softer texture to them (I think), but they came out pretty thin instead (though were still nice and chewy and not too crisp except for the super thin ones). Thankfully enough cookies at least somewhat held their shape so that I was able to make about 10 cookie sandwiches from what I had - the rest of the cookies were too flat and spread out, so those went in a separate bag (they are still really tasty and chewy, even if they are super thin!) These cookies are SUPPOSED to spread some - so you don't have a super thick cookie sandwich - but most of mine were spreading too much. I even tried chilling the dough and then went back and added some additional flour to the dough at the end, but even that didn't resolve the issue completely... cookie trial and error shall continue!

  

Definitely give this recipe a try, you can decide for yourself if you think they come close to a Little Debbie - personally I don't care if they taste like the original they intend to replicate - they are amazing and I would pick these over store bought any day! The creme filling is SO yummy. It complements the chewy, molassesy cookies beautifully. My son ate one and then said the rest might be gone before the next morning... however he is smart enough to know his daddy would probably make him regret that decision, so there were still cookies in the tupperware the next morning. :)

Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies Copy Cats from Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients

Cookies
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter (2.5 sticks), softened to room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBS dark molasses
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats (NOT whole-rolled oats)

Creme Filling
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons heavy cream (I used whole milk, but reduced the quantity to help keep a creamier / thicker consistency)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt, as needed

Directions

For the cookies:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line your cookie sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together at medium speed just until light and fluffy in the bowl of a stand mixer and then add in the egg, vanilla and molasses. Scrape down the sides as needed.
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Combine and then stir in the oats.
4. Turn your mixer on low and slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet. The dough should be fairly thick, finish mixing by hand if needed.
5. Form dough into large (2 TBS sized) balls and place on baking sheet with about 2 inches between (no more than 12 per sheet, because mine spread so much I was only baking about 9 at a time).
6. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool and firm on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

For the Creme Filling: 

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer whip the softened butter and powdered sugar together until light and creamy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add in the vanilla extract and heavy cream (you can start with a smaller amount of liquid and whip, and add then more cream if you want a thinner consistency). Blend another couple minutes until the desired consistency is reached.

 Assembling the Cookies:

1. Flip a cooled cookie over and place about a TBS of the creme mixture (more or less to your personal preference) on the bottom of a cookie. Top with the bottom side of another cookie and you have a delicious, chewy, yummy cookie sandwich ready to enjoy!
2. Filled cookie sandwiches will stay fresh in a tupperware on the counter for about 2 days, if they have not been eaten by then they should be placed in the refrigerator for storage.

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