Oatmeal Scotchies

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These homemade oatmeal scotchies are a perfect break from all the chocolate flavored cookies we lean towards. Sweet and chewy with the terrific flavor pairing of oats and butterscotch, you’ll make these time and time again.

I have friends who don’t like oatmeal cookies. I do not understand where they are coming from. To me, an oatmeal cookie is such a treat – textured and flavorful oats sweetened by sugar and raisins, chocolate chips or butterscotch chips. They’re soft and chewy and delicious.

I love oatmeal cookies right out of the oven. They are so soft they almost fall apart. I’ve made oatmeal raisin cookies and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. And I’ve made butterscotch cookies and butterscotch toffee cookies (which are really incredible by the way).

Every time I am at a bakery or coffee shop and they have an oatmeal butterscotch cookie for sale, I buy one. Every time. I find the texture and flavor of the hearty oats combined with the sweet rich butterscotch chips to be simply irresistible.

Some people like crunchy and crispy oatmeal cookies. Those can be good, but when baked that way, the oatmeal cookies remind me a little more of a crunchy granola bar. I like my oatmeal cookies soft and chewy.

These cookies fit the bill!

Sweet and flavorful, with heartiness from the oats, richness from the butterscotch and oh so chewy… you won’t be able to resist them.

The secret to making these cookies so soft and chewy is a combination of things.

For starters, the recipe calls for brown sugar. Brown sugar, as you can tell when you measure it out, has a higher moisture content than white granulated sugar. It makes everything just a little bit softer when used as an ingredient.

There is a bit of shortening in this recipe too. It’s not an ingredient I bake with often as in my opinion, butter usually does the trick. But when it works, it works.

Snickerdoodle cookies are often made with shortening. They are a cookie known for their soft and chewy texture – and shortening makes all the difference. Same thing here.

These oatmeal scotchies are that much softer and chewier because of the shortening.

There is one extra little secret trick in this recipe. Believe it or not, I read about it in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine while waiting at my dentist’s office. There was a tips and tricks section which suggested adding a bit of corn syrup, just a teaspoon or so, to the dough to not only make them soft, but keep them that way.

I hadn’t heard of that before, so I gave it a try, and wow did it work great! The scotchies were super soft and chewy and stayed that way for a few days. Though I will admit, it is hard to have the willpower to keep them around that long!

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Recipe Snapshot

• TASTE: Sweet oatmeal and butterscotch
• TEXTURE: Soft and chewy
• EASE: Easy!
• TIME: Just under a half an hour

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What You’ll Need

Ingredients

• Butter – Unsalted, softened to room temperature
• Vegetable shortening – Good old Crisco. Make sure this is softened to room temperature. It keeps the cookies incredibly soft.
• Sugar – Light brown sugar to keep the cookies soft and white sugar for extra sweetness.
• Eggs – These should be at room temperature
• Light corn syrup – Just a tiny bit keeps the cookies incredibly soft.
• Vanilla extract – Make homemade vanilla or use the best natural extract you can find.
• Flour – All-purpose flour.
• Baking soda – The leavening in this recipe.
• Salt – Kosher salt, for flavor and to activate the baking
• Oats – Quick-cooking oats, not instant.
• Butterscotch-flavored chips

Recommended Tools

• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Cookie scoop

How to Make Oatmeal Scotchies

This is a pretty standard cookie recipe – mix the wet ingredients, mix the dry ingredients, bring them together, add the chips or other add-ins. Here the add-ins are oats and butterscotch chips. So delicious!

Preheat your oven to 375°F and line the baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugars.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and shortening with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer until well blended. Then add the sugars. Once the mixture is nice and fluffy, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Finally, add in the corn syrup and vanilla.

Mix the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a whisk.

Mix.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and beat on low speed just until combined. With a silicone spatula, gently stir in the old-fashioned oats and butterscotch-flavored chips.

Bake.

Roll the dough out into 1 tablespoon-sized balls. Place the dough balls 2 inches apart on the prepared pan.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 2 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tips For Success

Shortening: I have found that it does wonders for the texture of a cookie. Shortening will make the cookies impeccably soft.

Add-ins: These are terrific just as they are, but they are also a great base for other flavors. If you want to experiment a bit, add in other ingredients like shredded coconut, crunched-up pretzels, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, or even, believe it or not, roughly crushed potato chips. Throw all of them in together and you’ll end up with Kitchen Sink cookies. But pick one or two of these add-ins and give them a whirl.

Storage & Freezing

1. Keep the cooled cookies in an airtight container with a slice of bread or tortilla which will absorb any moisture, keeping the cookies fresh and soft. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
2. Freeze the cookies for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
3. Shape the dough into balls and freeze individually on a baking sheet until firm, then transfer to an airtight freezer-safe container. Frozen cookie dough balls are ready to bake straight from the freezer, with no need to thaw. Add a minute or two to the baking time.