These classic iced oatmeal cookies are old-fashioned style with soft centers, crisp chewy edges, and are topped with vanilla icing that sets after a couple hours. Pulsing the oats before adding to the cookie dough will give you a compact and uniform textured cookie.
These iced oatmeal cookies are old-fashioned style with buttery soft centers, crisp chewy edges, and plenty of cozy spice flavor. They’re topped with a light coating of vanilla icing that sets overtime, making cookies perfect for stacking and gift-giving. You know the packaged iced oatmeal cookies you can buy at the store? That’s what these are but, you know, fresh from your oven!
Video Tutorial
How to Make Iced Oatmeal Cookies
This recipe is adapted from my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies: soft & chewy oatmeal cookies from which you can make oatmeal raisin cookies, white chocolate chip cherry oatmeal cookies, and oatmeal scotchies. Since I love it so much, I used this recipe as my starting point today. I played around with the ingredients so that I could replicate the texture of store-bought iced oatmeal cookies with the taste of homemade.
Texture: We want a compact oatmeal cookie with soft centers and crisp edges. I switched up the oats to flour ratio in my original recipe. Less oats and more flour proved successful. I went even further and pulsed the oats a few times to gently break them down into a coarse powdery consistency. Ding ding ding! This was the winning answer.
Taste: Now that the texture is spot-on, what about the flavor? To instill that delicious old-fashioned oatmeal cookie flavor, make sure you reach for:
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- and a spoonful of molasses
Consider these 4 ingredients as flavor powerhouses. The brown sugar actually plays two roles: flavor and softness. Its soft and moist texture translates directly into the baked cookie.
The Trick is Pulsing the Oats
This is an extra step, but—as mentioned above—taking an extra minute to pulse the oats will completely transform your iced oatmeal cookies. No matter if you’re using whole oats or quick oats, you must pulse them a few times in your food processor to obtain the correct consistency. This is the same trick we use for gingerbread oatmeal cookies. I used my ninja. Here’s the texture you want:
THIS COOKIE DOUGH SMELLS INCREDIBLE.
This is a soft cookie dough and will over-spread in the oven unless you chill it. Chill the cookie dough for about 45 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.
Use a cookie scoop. Can I admit something? I never use a cookie scoop when making chocolate chip cookies, but I swear by this tool for oatmeal cookies. Oatmeal cookie dough is sticky, textured, and soft. A cookie scoop not only prevents a mess, it helps ensure all cookies are the same size and shape. I recommend the medium cookie scoop which holds 1.5 Tablespoons of cookie dough. The cookies spread nicely, so I recommend only 8-9 cookies per baking sheet.
How to Ice Oatmeal Cookies
There are two tricks to icing oatmeal cookies.
- Thick icing. The thicker the icing, the more likely it will set. This vanilla icing is super thick. Start with sifted confectioners’ sugar and a splash of vanilla extract, then only add enough milk until you have a perfectly thick and creamy texture. Literally only 2 Tablespoons. Very little liquid.
- Light dip. Want to replicate the crackled icing appearance? The trick is to *lightly* dip the tops of the cookies into the icing. Don’t submerge the cookies; just a quick dip!
With every cookie recipe I test, I always set 6 or 7 cookies aside to see how they’ll taste a few days later. Results are often mixed—sometimes cookies lose their softness or just taste old… you get the idea. These iced oatmeal cookies? Still tasted fresh 1 week later. 1 WEEK.
As the days past, the spice flavor intensified. The centers were softer, the icing settled into the tops. By no means will your batch of iced oatmeal cookies last an entire week, but use my test as proof that these are damn good cookies!
One batch of these iced oatmeal cookies will launch you into cookie stardom. They evoke emotion. They’re the kind of nostalgic cookie that grandma used to make, which is why they’re so popular on store shelves. I’m confident that this recipe will result in marriage proposals, 1st place medals, and sold out signs at bake sales!!
Exaggerating? I would never.
Print
Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 28 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These classic iced oatmeal cookies are old-fashioned style with soft centers, crisp chewy edges, cozy spice flavor, and are topped with vanilla icing that sets after a couple hours. Pulsing the oats before adding to the cookie dough will give you a compact and uniform textured cookie.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (170g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Icing
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) sifted confectioners’ sugar*
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1.5 – 2 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Make the cookies: Pulse the oats in a food processor 10-12 times until you have a variety of texture—chopped oats with some oat flour. See photo above for a visual.
- Whisk the pulsed oats, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, molasses, and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Dough will be thick and sticky. Cover and chill the dough for at least 45 minutes in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before scooping and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop cookie dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
- Make the icing: Place sifted confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla extract and 1 Tablespoon of milk. Use a fork to whisk until combined. It will be impossible to fully combine because this isn’t enough liquid. Add only enough extra milk to make a very very thick icing. I only add about 1 more Tablespoon of milk. Lightly dip the tops of the cookies into the icing. Icing will set after a few hours, so you can stack and gift the cookies.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 5. Baked cookies with or without icing freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Oats: Pulsing the oats in step 1 is the trick to this recipe. If you don’t have a food processor, use a blender. Even if you’re using quick oats, pulsing the oats is necessary—you just won’t have to pulse them as much as whole oats.
- Molasses: 1 Tablespoon of molasses helps give these cookies incredible flavor. Be sure to use unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand). If you don’t have any, use pure maple syrup instead.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Sift confectioners’ sugar before measuring.
My bunny’s favorite cookie. Going to surprise him with these after a difficult week. Are they stackable after setting? Can they be sent in mail?
Hi Nan, yes, the icing will set enough so that these can be stacked and shipped.
I love Sally’s recipes but this one has to be my favorite. I made these cookies and got so many compliments!! These cookies taste like fall!!
Is there a way to “pumpkinize” these?
Hi Nan, here is our recipe for brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies instead!
These look good for part of a baby shower. Can I freeze the iced cookies? I usually freeze bags of cookies…..but will the icing on these ‘sweat’ when defrosting? My plan is to make several types of cookies, freeze ahead and just remove and bring them.
Hi Sharon, Baked cookies with or without icing freeze well for up to 3 months.
I made these and they were incredible! Followed the recipe exactly and had multiple requests for the recipe!
Is there a trick to getting the icing to stick better? Some worked great and others would have a big circle of dry cookie in the middle. I just tried to spread it on a bit but I liked the lace effect of the icing when it worked.
Hi Kimberly, we’re so glad these were a hit! That can sometimes happen if the icing is too thin. You’ll want a very very thick icing here. For next time, you can try adding a bit more confectioner’s sugar until the icing comes to the desired consistency. Hope this helps!
This is very easy to follow.
This recipe didn’t work very well for me 🙁 They taste great, but they baked so thin and soft that when I moved them to the cooling rack, they were breaking. When I dipped them in the frosting, it was so thick, my cookies broke trying to take them out. I would love to try again, but I don’t know what I did wrong.
Hi AB, it may help to add another 2-3 Tbsp of flour to the dough, to help it firm up. Additionally, bake the cookies for another minute or 2. That will help as well.
These cookies are so tasty! But for some reason, mine never flatten out. They stay chunky domes and I’ve made them a few times now… any ideas?? TIA!
Hi Rhiannon, it sounds like the flour may be over measured, causing to absorb too much of the wet ingredients and preventing spread. Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure just the right amount of flour. This post on 5 tips to improve your next batch of cookies will also be a helpful resource to review! Thanks so much for giving these cookies a try.
Tried it and it was really good, especially with some extra nutmeg. I used almond milk instead of milk for the icing and it turned out fine. I would likely reduce the sugar next time because granulated, brown and powdered sugar along with molasses makes for a super sweet cookie and you can’t eat more than 1 or 2 at a time.
Can you use coconut oil instead of butter? Thank you
Hi Brenda, we haven’t tried it, but if you want to give it a try, be sure the coconut oil is in solid form before using, so that it can be properly creamed with the sugars. We’d love to know how it goes!
Super yummy! I made these hoping they were a close dupe for a particular brand of iced cookies I grew up on and they were very close!
SO, I used to buy store bought iced oatmeal for my ” Grandma Cookies” I think I can make my own now since they are DELICIOUS and much easier than they appear. Try them, I love it. Wish I could post a pic.
These cookies are so flavorful, I cannot believe how good they are. The dough was soft and sticky, I was concerned they would spread too much so I ended up chilling for about 3-4 hours and they turned out just like the photo. Definitely worth more than 5 stars .
Have you made these with gf flour? Any recommendations to achieve similar texture and taste with gf flour? Thanks!
Hi Kara, we haven’t tested these cookies with gluten free flour, but let us know if you do any experimenting.
The best oatmeal cookie ever!!!
Hi – question, if they spread a lot in the over, why might that be? I refrigerated for 90 minutes – should I have done longer? Thanks!
Hi Alexa, there are a few different factors that can cause cookies to spread. Our 10 tips to prevent cookies from spreading will be helpful to review for next time!
These turned out so yummy!! Even better the next morning!! Lol, kids said the “frosting” was the best!! Little did they know it was just powdered sugar and milk!!
Sensational!
Fantastic! Always have to make extra for home if taking to a potluck. I never have any leftover!
These were so awesome. Loved how soft and chewy they were.
What can I use in place of molasses? Thanks!
Hi Linda, You could try maple syrup or honey!
Hi Sally, the cookies are awesome with or without the frosting! My kids started eating them out of the oven. I did not even have time to frost them. I made 2 batches of cookie dough and the second batch I did a bit of an adjustment. I only added 1/4tsp of cinnamon and 1/8 tsp of nutmeg and a cup of chocolate chips. They turned out so good! You have the best recipes!! Thanks so much!!
These are so much better homemade. I put them in the freezer and eat them cold! Instead of
Dipping them I use a pastry brush and brush on the frosting. Works really well if you thin down the frosting, gets in all the nooks and crannies.
Omg!!! I Love this recipe soooo much!!!! I didn’t change a thing, they are exactly what I was hoping for! My family devoured them! Thank you!
I love this recipe so much! i was wondering if i could make the icing ahead of time? i am making a batch of cookies that im going to bake on Friday. Would the icing say good in the fridge or freezer? thanks!
Hi Kaylee, you can certainly make the icing a day or so ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. You’ll need to remix it quickly before using (and may need to add a splash of liquid to it).
Delicious! Only thing that didn’t work well was the frosting was so thick that the cookie stuck in it and broke. So I just spread it on instead.
Could I use almond milk instead of regular milk?
Sure can!