Homemade Little Debbies Oatmeal Cream Pies

Today I was on the phone with a missionary serving in our ward. He was telling me how he had received a care package from his family and that it had his favorite treat from home. Little Debbies Oatmeal Cream Pies. Just the words took me back to my childhood when my mom would get home from the store and we would see the little white box with the blue writting. Of course not forgetting the picture of the little girl, obviously Little Debbie, in her 50's get up sporting one of those pretend cowgirl hats. I remember how the pie, only by name because it was really more like a cookie, would fall apart in my hands and I would have to eat it just a little bit at a time savoring each bite until finally it was gone. And being one of 7 children I had to wait until the next time mom went shopping to have another because there were never enough in the box for each of us to have two, so we only got one. Thinking about it I wonder where the other 5 went each week. Probably the same place all my children treats go now, in mommy and daddy's tummys.

Straight away I decided I needed to indulge my children and my husband in this great American treat so I turned to the internet for advice. A couple button pushes later and thanks to google I had loads of recipes for these little gems. I read through a bunch of these recipes and am now going to share with you the one which seemed to suit me and my brain tastebuds (you know the things which make you salivate when reading a recipe because it sounds so good) I found this recipe on a little blog called The Sweet Touch. So thank you to Lucy over there for posting such a great recipe. If you try these let me know what you think. Im going to have a go tomorrow and take them to the missionaries on sunday and see what they think. Happy Baking!

Homemade Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies

Ingredients

Cookies
1 1/4 cups butter, unsalted, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups quick oats (the only change I made here was to pulse the oats several times in a food processor so that there were some bigger oats pieces and some finely ground, but I'm sure it would be great either way)

Filling (I am leaving the measurements as listed but I only used about half the recipe so you could easily halve the ingredients and have plenty for filling. A little bit goes a long way!)
1/2 cup butter, unsalted, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat mat or parchment paper.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the 1 1/4 cup butter with the granulated and brown sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

With the mixer on low, add in the flour mixture and then the oats..
Use a small cookie scoop to make uniform sized balls for the cookie sheet. Do not worry about pressing flat as they will spread when they bake. Refrigerate the scooped cookie dough for about 10 minutes.

Bake at 375 for 11 minutes. Remove from oven and leave on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 48 individual cookies.

Make the filling by beating the 1/2 cup butter with powdered sugar and up to 2 tablespoons of milk. Transfer to a zip lock type baggie with a corner snipped off.

Assemble the cookies by piping about a teaspoon of filling onto the bottom side of one cookie. I used about a quarter sized dollop and it was the perfect amount of sweetness. Top with another cookie.

*** What was your FAVORITE Treat growing up? ***