These Oatmeal Scotchies are crisp on the outside and buttery soft on the inside with the perfect combination of butterscotch and oatmeal. You can’t beat these Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies.
Oatmeal cookies are a favorite in our house, with my Oatmeal Raisin Cookies being my husband’s absolute favorite. These Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies are a perfect easy spin on those that I know you will fall in love with.
I had never had butterscotch cookies before, this was the first recipe to pop up when I searched Pinterest so it’s what I went with. These are seriously my favorite cookies, ever. They were SO GOOD. Super easy to whip together. Such a yummy treat!
How to Make Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
This is a brief overview of this amazing cookie recipe. For the full recipe with all of the instructions, please see the recipe at the bottom of the post.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until completely mixed. I like that you can easily tell how well it is mixed by how well the cinnamon is distributed.
- Cream the butter and sugar. Beat the sugars into the butter until the butter is light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Add in the dry ingredients. All at once add the dry ingredients. Start the mixer on low and as soon as you know that the flour will not fly out of the bowl turn the mixer to the highest speed until just combined. This process should take about 30 seconds.
- Add in the oats and butterscotch chips. The oats can be added using the mixer. To prevent breaking, stir the butterscotch chips in by hand.
- Roll into cookies. Using a cookie scoop, roll the dough into balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool for two minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cookie Making Tips
- Use a good baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The baking surface changes how they bake. I love these sheets for Nordic Ware.
- Measure the flour by scooping it into the measuring cup and then leveling it off. Do not scoop directly from the container with the measuring cup. This avoids packing the flour and using too much.
- Use fresh baking soda. Test it by dropping a little in vinegar; it should bubble immediately.
- Room temperature butter helps the cookies spread the right amount. You should be able to push a finger in to dent the butter but not all the way through. And the butter will actually feel cold still.
- Make sure you cream your butter and sugar together enough. The sugar adds air to the butter and is essential for a good cookie.
- Pour in all the flour at once. Mix on low just enough to get most of it into the batter, and then turn to high for a few seconds to incorporate the rest. This prevents over beating the dough.
- Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop to get uniform sized cookies that will bake evenly.
Measuring Flour
It is vital to cookie recipes (and most baking recipes) that you measure the flour correctly. To do this, scoop the flour with a spoon from the container you store it in, into a dry measuring cup (the plastic kind, not the glass kind), and then level it off with the flat edge of a spatula.
If you scoop the flour from the container with the measuring cup the flour can pack. Doing this can add up to 25% more flour into your cookie recipe. That’s a ton! It can lead to crumbly cookies that don’t spread.
Old Fashioned Oats vs. Quick Cooking Oats
Old Fashioned Oats and Quick Cooking Oats are different in terms of how much the are broken down. Old Fashioned Oats are actually the whole oat still, while Quick Cooking Oats are whole oats that have been chopped. We love the taste and texture of the Old Fashioned in this recipe, but actually both will work.
Storing Oatmeal Scotchies
These cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week. This is a very sturdy cookie and would be great for shipping around the holidays.
Freezing Oatmeal Scotchies
This is a great recipe to freeze as dough!
- Roll the cookies into dough balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Put in the freezer for four hours.
- Transfer the dough balls to an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When ready to bake, they can be baked from frozen in a preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes.
We also love storing the already baked cookies in the freezer. In fact, my husband loves them most cold from the freezer.
Other Great Cookie Recipes
- Sugar Cookies: This recipe is our other very favorite cookie recipe.
- Peanut Butter Blossoms: These are a favorite around the holidays.
- Cut Out Sugar Cookies: We can never get enough of this classic recipe.
If you make these Oatmeal Scotchies or any of my other cookie recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour see note
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Preheat to oven to 350 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, until compltely mixed.
- In a large bowl, with a hand held mixer or using a stand mixer, beat together the butter brown sugar, and granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. This will take between 3 and 6 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time. Then add in the vanilla. Be sure to scrape down the edges of the bowl with a spatula before each addition.
- Add in the flour mixture. With the mixer on it's lowest setting, beat the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until it just begins to combine. Then turn the mixture up and finish combinging it until it is just combined. Be careful not to continue mixing after the flour is combined in.
- Mix in the oats and then the butterscotch chips.
- Using a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookies and roll them into balls. Place 2 1/2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. For best results, rotate the pan half way through. Remove fro the oven, let cool on the baking sheet for two minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Terry says
These sound delicious! I tried making the oatmeal cookies from my childhood. Oh my gosh, they were horrible! They are made with a lot of vegetable oil, mixing your ingredients together, and my mom always stuck her bowl in the fridge until she had time to bake them up. Everyone was always sneaking into the fridge to grab a ball of dough out of the bowl! I don’t know what the heck she did differently, but man, mine weren’t anything like hers. Gross, describes them best…lol My mom passed away, so I couldn’t ask her what the heck, mom?? I think I’m going to try yours! My only issue is I weigh everything. I wish you’d include grams along with cups.
I hope you enjoy these! We don’t have everything in grams yet, our apologies.
Sarah W says
I made these yesterday. They are easy and delicious!!
I’m so glad you liked them!
stephen says
are quick oats the same as old fashinon oats?
They aren’t. Quick Oats are broken down Old Fashioned Oats which is what makes them cook faster.
Lynn says
Do you think gluten free oats (Quaker oats) would work in this recipe?
Yup! But, to be clear, I haven’t tested these with gluten free flour.
Brianna says
I had never had butterscotch cookies before, this was the first recipe to pop up when I searched Pinterest so it’s what I went with. These are seriously my favorite cookies, ever. They were SO GOOD. Super easy to whip together. Such a yummy treat!
I’m so happy to her that they were a hit for you!
Barbara Withers says
Just tried for the first time. Liked them and also plan to put them in my favorite cookie file. 🥰
I’m so glad to hear that, Barbara!
Robyn Wendt says
Terry, I work in grams too (New Zealand) so I just Google ‘how many grams is a cup of flour’, etc.
I’ve just returned from the States and I bought a bag of butterscotch chips back with me as I haven’t found them in our stores in NZ. Im making these cookies today. My husband’s favorite is an oatmeal cookie so these should kick it up a notch 😋
I hope you both love them!
Ronda says
First time to use this recipe. I tweaked it a bit, but they were so good! I grind my own wheat, so I used 3 cups of soft white wheat and I used a whole bag of butterscotch chips, instead of just 1 cup. I will definitely be making these again!
Melody Stevens says
Can you freeze these cookies?
Yup! There is a whole section in the post on freezing these.