As I may have mentioned once or twice before, I spent last summer singing in a musical revue of TV theme songs at the Minnesota Fringe Fest. Every evening leading up to the festival, the company gathered to learn the intricate harmonies of our favorite old television theme songs – Laverne and Shirley, The Great Space Coaster, Charles in Charge, Joanie Loves Chachi, and dozens more.
I left rehearsal each night awash in sweet nostalgia, remembering all the lost treasures of my youth. Sweet Valley High books, Love’s Baby Soft, Donkey Kong, feather earrings. And in honor of our opening night performance, my own personal retro-fest extended to the kitchen, where I prepared one of my favorite childhood meals: an open-face Spaghetti-O’s sandwich on spongy, white Wonder bread, liberally buttered, and for dessert a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie.
I sat down to dine on happy memories in the sparkly glow of unicorn stickers, and I was sorely disappointed. The Spaghetti-O’s were nothing but pasta mush and mysterious gristle-balls in metallic-tasting goo. Uh-oh, Spaghetti-O’s, indeed. And the Oatmeal Cream Pie was oddly textured, and so sugary sweet, a single bite made my teeth ache.
Sadly, my beloved childhood meal held up over time about as well as Elizabeth Wakefield’s tuxedo shirt.
I suppose it wasn’t all that difficult to let go of my fondness for Spaghetti-O’s sandwiches – the things I loved about them are easily duplicated in a big-girl plate of pasta and a sliced baguette. But how could I expect fresh-faced Little Debbie to mature along with my palette? It soon became clear that the only solution was to make oatmeal cream pies from scratch.
The recipe is adapted (just barely) from Natalie’s Killer Cuisine, where Little Debbie grew up and graduated with a master’s degree in tasty treats for the kid inside. The cookie-cakes are quietly spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, then filled with creamy marshmallow frosting. The soft, puffy cookies combined with a fairly stiff filling made for a relatively tidy dessert with few squissues.
Continue reading for the Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies recipe
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1½ cups quick oats
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 (7 oz.) jar Marshmallow Fluff
- ½ cup shortening
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream together the butter, sugars, lemon juice, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until fully combined. Add the oats and mix again.
- Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies begin to brown around the edges. Transfer to a cooling rack.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the salt in hot water.
- In a separate, larger bowl, combine the fluff, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Mix on high speed until fluffy. Add the salt water and continue to mix until the mixture is creamy and glossy.
- Once cookies have cooled, add a heaping tablespoon of marshmallow filling to the backside of half the cookie, and sandwich with another cookie.
Linked to: Mrs. Happy Homemaker, Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, Flour Me with Love, My Favorite Finds, A Southern Fairytale, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Crazy for Crust, Chef in Training, 33 Shades of Green, the Southern Product Queen, Naptime Creations, King’s Court IV, Lil’ Luna, My Sweet and Savory, Lady Behind the Curtain, Newlyweds, Made Famous By, This Chick Cooks, Gooseberry Patch, Creations by Kara, Junk in Their Trunk, Mrs. Fox’s Sweets, Cajun Sugar Pie, Something Swanky, A Little Nosh, Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, Feeding Four, Hear the Bells, It’s a Keeper, Food Trip Friday, Alli n’ Son, Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Tidy Mom, Jennifer Cooks, Ekat’s Kitchen, Sweet as Sugar Cookies, Be Different, Act Normal, Crumbs and Chaos
They sound wonderful & I know will taste better than Little Debbie’s!
Mmmm, gristle balls! (Insert Homer drooling)
Oh, good! Now I know what to make for our Valentine’s Day dinner.
So delicious! I love those cream pies. Thank you so much for sharing on Crazy Sweet Tuesday!
Oh yeah….another Sweet Valley High kindred spirit! LOL to the tuxedo shirt! These look divine. And I have no doubt they are 10x the cream pie that Little Debbie has to offer! Thanks bunches for linking up to Mop it Up Mondays at ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com. It was so kind of you to stop by!
{HUGS},
kristi
I’ll meet you (and Bruce Patman!) later at the Dairy Burger.
Thank you so very much for linking to Must Try Mondays. My kids will LOVE me {you} for sharing these because they always ask me to buy Oatmeal Cream Pies, but I don’t. I will be pinning and trying these. Thanks again!
Aw! Well, your kids’ Aunt Suzy loves them right back!
The filling looks amazing!
It is. It’s magical.
This looks amazing!
Mrs. Delightful recently posted: My Memories Giveaway @ ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
Yummy ies you have there. I should go back to baking… hmmm.
Sweet Valley High… yes! God… love those books!
I love anything with a cream filling. Yum!
Oatmeal Cream Pies were always my favorite Little Debbie snack. One of my cousins worked there and told me that the pie part is actually a lot of the scraps from the other treats that they make. They still tasted delicious! Visiting from Fusion Fridays
Frankencookies! I can live with that.
Hmm I never got to have these as a kid, so now seems like the perfect time to try it, and I am totally calling them healthy they have oatmeal in the name.
I fully support this. Go Team Fiber!
I think my husband would probably love these – thanks for sharing.
They look delicious.
Oh my goodness, this has to be the ultimate cream pie, it looks fabulous! Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Wow these look sooo good, I remember buying these as a kid! I definitely will put this recipe on my “to-make” list
Thanks!