Oatmeal Cream Pies

When you hear oatmeal cream pie childhood memories of Little Debbie probably pops into your head. I always remember loving these, but unfortunately when I retried them as an adult they were sickeningly sugary and lacked overall flavor (sorry, Little Debbie!). Now, as hard as it may be, erase that memory… because these are absolutely nothing like those. These are thin crisp and slightly spicy oatmeal cookies, filled with fresh, smooth buttercream that can be any flavor you want. They are great at room temperature, cold from the fridge and can be kept in an air tight container in the freezer for a couple months! These have been a favorite of my family, but also people in my town that visited the farmers market last year.

This recipe is gluten free and could easily be made dairy free if you make an alternative buttercream. I am excited to share it with everyone and can’t wait for you to try your hand at making them! This recipe makes about 15 cream pies (30 cookies), it doubles beautifully if you have an occasion that you need to make more for. 

Oatmeal Cream Pies (Makes 15 cream pies)    Oatmeal Cream Pies PDF

• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
• 1/2 Cup packed Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 5 Tablespoons Almond flour *
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1 1/2 cups Gluten free rolled oats

Cream together sugars and vegetable shortening. Add in the egg and beat again, just until incorporated.

Add in salt, baking soda, almond flour and spices and stir until fully combined. Then stir in the oats.

Drop by scant teaspoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheet leaving room for them to spread. Bake at 325*F for 8-12 minutes. Keep an eye on them, they get overdone very quickly. When you take them out lift them off the pan ( just lift the entire paper)  and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

*If you do not have Almond flour, I have also ground some of the extra oats into a flour and used them in place.

Buttercream Filling                                                          Buttercream Filling PDF

• 1/4 cup Vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room temperature butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-3 cups powder sugar
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream OR milk

Cream together butter, shortening and vanilla extract. Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time, check consistency after two cups, if not at desired thickness add a little more powdered sugar. Add in 1-2 Tablespoon of cream/milk and cream together, beat for 4-5 minutes for super smooth and fluffy buttercream.

Happy Baking!

-B

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is coming and i am excited. I do not particularly like Christmas time because of the stress of gift-giving and money… But, what i do love is the baking,

OH THE BAKING!!

It is wonderful. I always do cookies (of course have not gotten to them yet) but recently i started a tradition of making homemade mixes in jars and giving those as gifts, it is personalized and special to each person as i do their favorite kind of cookie in the jar. All they have to do is open it up add egg(s), butter and a little vanilla and they are set to bake. I also do home-made hot chocolate mix and this year for the first time am doing home-made instant cappuccino mix for my coffee loving friends and family. I like to decorate the jars with wintery fabric and ribbon, it is really simple but everyone loves them. Here is a picture (or three!) of the miniature versions I did last year. For them i used pint sized jars instead of the usual quart size. They were so cute. I loved making them look pretty in how to layer the ingredients… I made so many different kinds too; chocolate and peanut butter chip, classic oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip and my sweet love’s favorite… M&M cookie.

Birthday Cookie “Cake”

I made my sweet man a birthday cookie cake for his 22nd birthday cake (per his request). It was my first time ever making something like this… took it out of the oven when it was lightly golden brown around the edges… flipped it out of the pan and it wasn’t done in the middle! YIKES!!! So, i gently flipped it into the  pan and returned it to the oven for a few more minutes. Thank goodness that the second time i flipped it out it was done all the way. He loves the M&M cookies that i make… and with my fluffy vanilla butter cream on top of it he lovvved it!

I used a spoon to spread the cookie dough out on the Wilton Giant Cookie Pan it took almost an entire batch of my Aunt Karen’s Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies.  It looked really pretty even without the icing on it! But, I know my man… He would definitely want lots of icing on top!

 

Happy Baking!

-B

Aunt Karen’s Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

As promised I am sharing one of my favorite family recipes. I don’t know how many times or for how many events i have made these for… However, they are always a hit. People LOVE them!!

 

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Heat oven to 375*

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 Cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and shortening. Gradually add sugars and beat until fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to wet ingredients, beat well.

Add in chocolate chips. Drop in 1/4 cup (I drop mine by a heaping teaspoon-–like the one you eat with.)

Bake at 375* for 10-12 minutes, keep a close eye on them! They get dark extremely quickly.  Take them out of the oven when golden brown around the outside.

Time-saving tip: place parchment paper on your pans before cooking. It is easy to remove them from the pan, just pull the paper gently off the pan AND it saves them from sticking to any of your pans.

Happy Baking!

-B

first post in a long time… M&M cookie batter…. yummm

So i haven’t posted since the beginning of the summer. But for a very good reason… not because of work. But because I had a bad car accident. It damaged the tendons in my hand and middle and index fingers and I had to have surgery to repair them and the skin. I was avoiding someone and went off the road, lost traction, rolled my vehicle onto its drivers side, slid about 15 yards and flipped onto the roof before being stopped by two massive trees (and taking out a smaller one) and bouncing back down onto the drivers side of the vehicle. It is truly a miracle that I was not hurt any further and that God has healed me! It has been about 9 weeks since my surgery and I am finally able to use my hand completely again. I am almost done with physical therapy too, which means that I get to bake and post on here more often rather than doing hand exercises! I have a few baking projects coming up that i am excited about. I am going to be making a cookie “cake” for my sweet boyfriends birthday and I am also working on a couple of recipes to add to my personal collection. Of course i will share it with you all though 😉

The only thing that i have baked was some M&M’s cookies that are mine and my boyfriend’s favorite (to thank him for coming car shopping with me on a tight schedule). I only have a picture of the scrumptious batter to show you for now… I will share the recipe for these delicious little babies very soon!

 

MMMMMMmmmmmm

-B