Oatmeal Cream Pie Recipe
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Sep 22, 2025 
This Oatmeal Cream Pie Recipe is the most nostalgic homemade version of the beloved Oatmeal Cream Little Debbie Cake with that fluffy filling in the center!
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
What was your favorite childhood treat? Swiss Cake Rolls, Twinkies, Ding Dongs? Well, I was an Oatmeal Cream Pie Cookie kind of girl.
These tender Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies are the perfect treat to satisfy nostalgic cravings no matter the time of day. Plus, they are much better than the store-bought variety.
Why You’ll Love This Oatmeal Cream Pie Recipe
- Heavenly texture – The soft pliable cookies are sandwiched together with fluffy cream filling, just how you remember them, taste and texture both.
- The perfect treat – Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies pack well in lunch boxes to provide a big smile when your little someone discovers their treat. That makes them a double win for both parent and child in my opinion.
So let’s learn how to make oatmeal cream pies right at home! Ready to get started?
Ingredients and Tips
- Rolled oats – You can also use quick oats.
- Dry ingredients – You’ll need all-purpose flour, baking soda and baking powder.
- Sugar – For the cookies, use brown sugar, and for the filling you’ll need powdered sugar.
- Butter – Use melted, unsalted butter.
- Vanilla extract – You will need a high-quality vanilla extract.
- Cocoa powder – Use the unsweetened variety.
- Cinnamon – To get that warm, aromatic flavor, use powdered cinnamon.
- Marshmallow fluff – This creates the filling’s gooey signature quality.
Recipe Variations and Dietary Swaps
- Chocolate – Sprinkle some mini chocolate chips into the cookie batter, or drizzle some chocolate sauce over the prepared cream pies as a garnish.
- Pumpkin – Mix some pumpkin puree into the cookie dough for a fun fall twist.
- Ice cream – Swap the cream pie layer with vanilla ice cream.
- Gluten-free – Use GF oats and flour.
- Jumbo size – To make extra jumbo oatmeal creme pies, make larger cookie dough balls (and increase baking time)!
- Raisins – Mix in some plump raisins for extra sweetness.
How To Make Oatmeal Cream Pies
Tips for Success – For super soft and chewy cookies, make sure you don’t over-mix the dough! That can create tough cookies. Also, don’t over bake the cookies! Cookies will look slightly underdone when they are ready to take out of the oven. Make sure you don’t leave them in the oven too long, or they will be too hard.
Find the full Oatmeal Cream Pie recipe with detailed instructions and storage tips in the printable form at the bottom of the post!
Storage Notes
- Storing Leftovers – Store leftover pies in an airtight container or wrap in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. Otherwise, place in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also freeze these (tightly wrapped). Make sure to thaw before serving.
Serving Suggestions
I love to serve these classic cream pies at potlucks or picnics alongside a glass of milk, hot cocoa or even with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream…for some extra sweetness. Each bite is reminiscent of those childhood favorite little Debbie oatmeal creme pies..
Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pie Recipe
Video
Ingredients
For the Oatmeal Cookies:
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup rolled oats
For the Cream Filling:
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 7.5 ounces marshmallow fluff (1 jar)
Instructions
For the Cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift the dry ingredients into a medium bowl and set aside.
- Use an electric mixer to cream the brown sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla. Once smooth, slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture until well combined. Stir in the oats.
- Use a tablespoon-sized scoop to form equal dough balls. Allow them plenty of space to spread. Bake for 7-9 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely before moving off the parchment paper.
For the Filling:
- Cream the shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Mix in the marshmallow fluff.
To Assemble:
- Match up two cookies that are of equal size and shape. Turn the bottom cookies over. Use a piping bag (or zip-bag with the corner cut off) to pipe the filling onto the bottom cookie. This is much easier than trying to spread it. Add the top cookie of each cream pie and press down.
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can! It will change the flavor a tad, but will definitely work the same. Butter will make a nice soft filling, while coconut oil will make the filling a little stiffer than the traditional “frosting” filling.
If you are in a time pinch, you can simply just use store-bought marshmallow fluff as the filling, but it won’t be as fluffy or as sweet as if you doctor it up like I did!
Made these today and they turned out great. I used butter in the filling and cut the ingredients in half as others had mentioned. Great recipe.
I made these for Fourth of July. They were delicious! Everybody loved them!
These are excellent! I made no changes to the recipe. I did make one batch with Old Fashioned Oats and one with Quick Oats. We preferred the Old Fashioned Oats batch but really either one is amazing and both are rolled oats by definition.
I made two batches since everyone was commenting the filling was enough for two. I even had some left over. This is a keeper!
I was going through depression and my grandma maid me a patch of these. I’m not exaggerating when i say i cried tears of joy.
I pray your depression is gone. I’m making these this weekend I’m pumped!
I had a ton of extra filling this time. Has anyone tried freezing the filling before?
I froze the leftover filling, thawed it in the fridge & used it weeks later for another batch. Worked perfectly!
I like these better when I replace half the Crisco with butter in the filling. But that’s just my personal taste. These go like mad when I make them for parties or gatherings. Really delicious! And sooooooo easy!
DELICIOUS and so impressive! A fairly foolproof recipe and a great stand mixer cookie!
The cookies themselves stayed soft and chewy with the perfect oat to spice to brown sugar / molasses flavour balance. The cookies on their own are FOR SURE becoming my go to oat spice cookies for cookie trays around the holidays! The dough is wet, not exactly like a chocolate chip cookie, so do not be alarmed if it looks a little too wet. Cookie scoop recommended.
I do recommend removing them from the oven at the earliest time (even if they look a little underdone) and letting them continue to cook/cool most (if not all) of the way on the sheet. This is the trick to preventing tough cookies. And even if your first batch is a little tougher, fill them anyways! They will soften and regain some of their chewiness in the airtight container overnight / over the first 24 hours.
The filling is also spot on for Little Debbie! We don’t eat any shortening in our day to day lives so I went whole hog and did it properly and the flavour was fine, very mild just like Little Debbie’s (so it succeeded in the copycat, for sure!). However, I think next time I’ll double the vanilla and do half and half shortening and butter (as is more to our tastes), and after experiencing the process I think it will be completely fine texture-wise.
The other modification was subbing out the 7.5 oz bin of marshmallow cream for 8 oz of mini marshmallows, melted with half of the shortening in the microwave (as if making the marshmallow component of rice krispie treats). This worked great! It did take a little bit of beating in the mixer with the other ingredients, but it did eventually smooth out to a perfect marshmallow filling. No need for the specialized ingredients if you don’t keep marshmallow cream in your baking cupboard! However, you do need to used a ziploc / pastry bag to administer the filling to the bottom cookie, I attempted to do the first few with an offset spatula and it was a pain. Ziploc all the way, it’s soooo much faster!
For recipe sizing, I followed a commenter’s recommendation of doing a double batch of the cookie recipe and using one batch of cream filling and it was the PERFECT amount, with a little bit of cream left over to put on a few unseemly scrap cookies (for the baker! ;) ). I couldn’t IMAGINE the amount of goo per cookie with a double batch of cream, it would probably be super sweet and very messy to eat.
In conclusion, this recipe was amazing the very first try (even with my modifications), and has totally inspired to make more whoopie pie type desserts (as this was my first time ever attempting any form of them!). Thank you so much for sharing it! :)
Thank you so much for the diy marshmallow fluff idea! I really didn’t feel like going to the store just for a jar of it, and all the recipes online look like too much work LOLL!!
A great homage to one of my childhood favorites!
So yummy! Little Debbie who?? This recipe puts that pre packaged childhood treat to shame! Easy recipe, doubled the recipe and still had leftover filling; will likely make a single batch recipe tomorrow to use the remainder of it. Thanks for sharing your recipe, its a new fave!
Can I use coconut oil instead of shortening for the filling?
Hi! Can I use butter instead of shortening for the filling?
I know it will change flavor a bit but will it ruin the cream?
Thanks!
Alex
Hi Alex,
Yes, you can! It will change the flavor a tad, but will definitely work the same. :)
Made these for the first time last year for my peanut/tree nut allergic little guy who has never been able to try a “real” one. But these are SOOOO much better that he is definitely NOT missing out on the packaged variety! These have become a favorite of his and the whole family loves them! Pre-covid we took them to a get together with friends and everyone raved about them! I have started to add a dash of salt to the filling to cut some sweetness, as well as using part butter and part shortening. Got my 9 year old daughter to make them today. She loves baking and we joke about opening a nut-free bakery when she grows up. If we do, these will definitely make the menu! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
Was really excited to make these, amazing
Amazing! These turned out beautifully. I made them gluten free – subbed in 1 c of King Arthur all purpose gf flour for the flour, and it worked perfectly. The recipe made 13 individual cream pies with 1 tbsp per cookie. I also cut the filling recipe in half and it was more than enough for all 13! Will definitely make these again.