Copycat Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies

Little Debbie fans, take note! These copycat Oatmeal Creme Pies are coming to steal the OG’s thunder. Soft oatmeal cookies are filled with that gleaming white “cream” filling for a cookie sandwich that’s giving so much nostalgia, you’ll never believe it didn’t come out of a plastic wrapper.

The food processor:
While many copycat Oatmeal Creme Pie recipes use a stand or hand mixer, I opted for a food processor. Why? Two reasons. First, if you look closely at the OG Oatmeal Creme Pie, you’ll notice there’s barely any noticeable oats there; they’ve been ground so fine you can barely see them. When I was developing this recipe, I quickly realized that the only way to achieve the proper texture was to blitz the oats in the food processor. Second, a key ingredient in the OG Oatmeal Creme Pies is raisin paste. You can’t see the raisins, but they’re integral to the overall flavor of the oatmeal cookie—without them, the cookies just don’t taste right! I needed a way to blend the raisins seamlessly into the dough, and the food processor was the best way to do just that.

If you don’t have a food processor, you can, in a pinch, make these cookies in a stand mixer or using a hand mixer. In that case, I recommend chopping the soaked and drained raisins as finely as possible and just adding the quick-cooking oats as they are. The cookies will still be delicious, but they definitely won’t look nearly as much like the OG.

The ingredients:
If you look at the ingredient list on a box of oatmeal cream pies, you'll see a list of 46 ingredients—most of which you probably won’t be able to pronounce. This recipe doesn’t have nearly that many, but it does contain a few that might surprise you.

• Raisins: See above! This shocked a lot of people when I was developing this recipe, but their flavor is absolutely essential to the finished cookie.
• Dark brown sugar: Using dark brown sugar instead of light helps to achieve a softer cookie, as well as a darker color.
• Shortening: This is essential for achieving the bright white color and relatively neutral flavor of the filling. If you don’t have it or prefer not to bake with shortening, you can substitute 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter; just know that the filling will be slightly yellow and will taste slightly buttery—the complete antithesis of the OG’s processed flavors!
• Marshmallow Fluff: Essential for giving the filling a slight chewy texture and bringing that certain marshmallowy something-something to the flavor.

Make ahead & storage:
The filling for these cookies can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. I recommend returning it to room temperature before using it to fill the cookies. The cookies can also be made and kept in the refrigerator, filled or unfilled, for up to 3 days, or frozen, filled or unfilled, for up to 1 month. I recommend storing between sheets of parchment, since the cookies will tend to stick together.

Made this recipe? Let us know how it went in the comments below!