Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Scotchies — 😍❤️🎉 Soft, chewy, and hearty without being too dense! They’re thick enough, but not overly thick, and are just enough to sink your teeth into. Best of all, they’re loaded with sweet butterscotch chips!
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Oatmeal Scotchies Recipe
These butterscotch chip cookies are a tasty trip down memory lane. My grandma used to make them, and I hadn’t had them in ages. So, I changed that.
They turned out to be my favorite oatmeal cookie to date. They’re soft, chewy, and hearty without feeling like I need to strap a backpack on and take them mountain hiking. Sometimes oatmeal cookies get a little too oaty and hearty. I want a cookie, not a granola bar.
They’re also thick enough, but not too thick. Sometimes really thick oatmeal cookies turn dry or cakey, a total deal-breaker. Plus, really thick cookies take longer to bake, and you run the risk of the bottoms getting too dark before the tops are set.
And they’re not too thin. There’s nothing worse than biting into a paper-thin cookie that just sort of disappears. I don’t like thin cookies in general, but thin oatmeal cookies are particularly unsatisfying.
Best of all, they use butterscotch chips. I just love butterscotch and I find it’s very under-represented in recipes in general. After making my favorite peanut butter to date, I vowed to use more butterscotch in my baking.
For anyone who dislikes raisins in your oatmeal cookies, your wishes have been granted. No raisins, nor chocolate chips. Just loads of butterscotch.
Oatmeal cookies, when done right, are some of my favorite cookies. I found myself going back for one more, one more. The chewiness, the hearty texture, the nuttiness of the oats, and nostalgic memories of gobbling vast quantities of my Grandma’s oatmeal cookies make these my new favorite oatmeal cookies. And the abundance of sweet butterscotch chips doesn’t hurt, either.
What’s in Oatmeal Scotchies?
To make these oatmeal butterscotch cookies, you’ll need:
- Egg
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar and granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Old-fashioned oats
- All-purpose flour
- Cinnamon and nutmeg – I prefer my oatmeal scotchies to be well-spiced, so I wasn’t shy about adding the cinnamon or nutmeg. Adjust to your preferences, as needed
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Butterscotch chips – When measuring the butterscotch chips, I measured 1 heaping cup. Don’t be skimpy on the butterscotch
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Oatmeal Scotchies
These oat scotchies require a bit of planning, but they’re simple to make. Here’s an overview of the process:
- Cream the egg, butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the dry ingredients, and beat again. Incorporate the butterscotch chips.
- Use a 2-inch medium cookie scoop to portion the dough into about 20 mounts, place them on a plate, and flatten them slightly. Cover the plate with plastic wrap, and chill.
- Arrange the cookie dough on two baking sheets lined with Silpat mats or parchment paper greased with cooking spray, leaving space between each cookie.
- Bake just until the edges are soft and the tops are barely set. Cool on the trays for about 5 minutes, and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Before baking, you must chill the dough. It’s too soft coming out of the mixing bowl for immediate baking, and if you don’t chill it first, I guarantee the cookies will spread out into thin puddles.
Chill it for at least 3 hours or up to 5 days. Bake as many mounds as you want at one time, and keep the remaining dough in the fridge.
No, quick oats are more finely ground than old-fashioned oats and will make your oatmeal scotchies dry.
You can store leftover cookies in an airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week. Or, freeze them for up to 3 months.
Yes! Unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. So, consider baking only as many cookies as desired, and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
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Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Scotchies Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer Fitted with a Paddle Attachment
- 1 (2 inch) Medium Cookie Scoop
- 2 Baking Sheets
- 1 Wire Rack
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 stick
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned whole rolled oats, not instant or quick cook
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 heaping cup butterscotch chips
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large mixing bowl and hand mixer), add the egg, butter, sugars, vanilla, and beat on medium-high to cream ingredients until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Stop, scape down the sides of the bowl and add the oats, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, optional salt, and beat to just incorporate, about 1 minute.
- Add the butterscotch chips and beat momentarily to incorporate.
- Using a 2-inch medium cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons), form dough mounds (I made 20). Place dough mounds on a large plate. Flatten mounds slightly. Cover plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough; cookies will spread and bake thin and flat.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line 2 baking sheets with Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mats, parchment, or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. I bake 8 to a tray.
- Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, or until edges are set and tops are barely set, even if slightly underbaked in the center and glossy. Cookies may not appear to be done, but they firm up dramatically as they cool. Baking longer results in cookies with dark or burnt bottoms and that set up too crisp and hard and don’t stay soft over time.
- Allow cookies to cool on trays for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Oatmeal Cookie Recipes:
ALL OF MY OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPES!
Thick and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies – The cookies are very texture-filled and are loaded with oats and an abundance of raisins in every bite. You won’t stop at just one!
Easy Oatmeal Cookies — An incredibly FAST and EASY recipe that produces perfectly thick cookies with chewy edges and soft centers! One bowl to wash, no mixer to drag out, and no waiting around!
Chocolate Chip Banana Oatmeal Cookies — These cookies are soft, moist, and oh-so chewy. They taste like banana bread and chocolate chip cookies rolled into one dessert!
The Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal M&M’s Cookies — Soft, chewy, and LOADED with M&Ms and chocolate chips in every bite! Make them today! The cookies are SO GOOD they got me a marriage proposal!
Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies — 3 favorite cookies combined into 1 so you don’t have to choose! Easy, no-mixer recipe, and always a hit!
Cowboy Cookies— These cowboy cookies are packed with oats, chocolate chips, Cornflakes, and shredded coconut. This is a flexible recipe that you can make with different mix-ins to suit whatever is in your pantry!
One-Bowl, No-Mixer, Extra-Large Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie — A FAST and EASY recipe for ONE XL soft and chewy very THICK cookie loaded with chocolate! No mixer needed and so DELISH!
Hi–I’m sort of a new visitor to your site but I recently made your Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Crumble Bars (that’s a mouthful) and they were delicious. So today I tried this recipe–planned to chill the dough overnight but ended up baking them after 3 hours. Oops.
It was initially a disaster because I followed your directions to a T and saw that the dough was still undercooked. I used a 2-inch ice cream scoop and baked in an electric oven. I’m also in Malaysia, so perhaps ingredients and humidity/heat (it’s always hot here) may have played a part. So I put the cookies back in–back and forth–all in all I must have baked for about 20 minutes before the edges finally set! It’s pretty chewy, but also quite large and I’m wondering if I got the size right. (I got about 18 mounds of dough to your 20.) The taste is amazing, the combo of oatmeal+butterscotch is perfect, but I have a bunch more chilling in the fridge to bake and was wondering what you’d recommend–maintaining the temp at 350 and baking for longer for the edges to set, or to raise the temperature?
I love to bake but do so very rarely, so nailing the science bit probably comes with experience. Just wondering what you would recommend for someone who wants chewy cookies but who’s getting dramatically undercooked (practically doughy) cookies using the recipe’s recommended temp and baking time?
It sounds like your oven may need to be calibrated. If you’re baking for almost double the time, i.e. 20 minutes to my 10 (max), that would indicate an issue with your oven. Yes, humidity plays a role, too. You may also want to slightly flatten the mounds. And if you think it would help, bake smaller sized cookies; however, I don’t think that will necessarily help. I think you need to look into the oven issue.
And, with anything, ingredients and conditions vary; and you should bake until done. However long that is. I always say, watch your cookies/bread/muffins, not the clock. Bake until done. Good luck!
Yeah, that’s why I thought. Will look into calibrating the oven. Many thanks!
I made these tonight and they are divine!!!! My husband loved them, and my very picky eater son. :) I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose and they are still chewy! I also forgot to chill the dough before and it still worked. I did put the leftover dough in the fridge. If I made all 20, I would eat all 20. OMG!
mmmmm
Those are some really nice looking oatmeal cookies!
I’ll trade you for one of your grilled cheeses!
Sounds good to me!
Hi Averie! I made the coconut oatmeal toffee cookies yesterday and they were a home run with my daughter, who threatened me NOT to give a single one to the neighbors. I’m not much of a cookie monster, but when I do have one I want one like this- plenty of good stuff, lots of texture. Thanks so much for the recipe! I posted it on my website too :)
Super yum! I’ve only had the crunchier version of Oatmeal Scotchies, but soft and chewy is always my cookie texture preference. So pinned!
These are so soft you’ll love them. Thanks for the pin!
These are baking now. I’m very excited about it but I am using choc chips instead because its what I have in my pantry and couldn’t run to the store since my son is napping. But I love oatmeal cookies and love the addition of nutmeg in them. I usually only put cinnamon in them.
I still make, and like better, the original Oatmeal Scotchies recipe with the orange extract. I have it cut off the plastic pack and taped into the back of my 1978 or so copy of Betty Crocker Cookbook. I like vanilla, that the recipe switched too, but the orange is such a great combination with the butterscotch chips.
I’ve never heard of orange extract in oatmeal scotchies! The 1978 cookbook was before my time and have never even seen it being added online anywhere in any of the searches I’ve done. Interesting addition!
The recipe for the Oatmeal Scotchies I use is from the Nestle chip bag. I just keep it in my BC cookbook so I know it is pretty old. I know when I first started making them by where is was living and that was 1979-1980. Now I want to go home and make them. I have to keep butterscotch chips on hand as youngest likes them on ice cream, as opposed to butterscotch or caramel sauce. We also use them in Magic Cookie Bars.
I love Magic Bars. I have two versions! https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2011/06/magic-eight-bars.html and https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/03/coconut-peanut-butter-magic-cake-bars.html Both are super good!
And I too can place things by remembering where I was living at the time as we’ve moved around quite a bit. I love stories like this. Thanks for sharing!
Oat cookies are something that I eat without a guilt, so each new recipe is welcome :)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen butterscotch chips at the grocery store–or maybe I just haven’t looked for them! I agree, butterscotch is not used nearly enough in baking. Adding it to oatmeal cookies sounds so good!
You haven’t look enough I don’t think. It’s a 100% always in-stock item at every groc store. Probably even at 7-11 :) They are the best in oatmeal cookies!
Oatmeal cookies are my hubby’s most favorite cookie… I’m so making these! I should just call my weekends, my Averie Weekends! I love to take a break on the weekends from all my creations and I love to try other recipes…and they’ve been all yours! (I love being in the kitchen!) You rock!
You are so sweet, Gloria! I love that you bake so much on the weekends and am flattered that it’s so much of my stuff! :)
I love oatmeal scotchies! In fact, aside from the Christmas-y snowball (Russian tea cake) cookie, I think they’re my favorite. They remind me of my grandma who, ironically enough, should NOT remind me of good food because the woman uses her microwave for everything (like to make grilled cheese sandwiches) and has been known to save McDonald’s hamburgers and apple pies in her fridge to eat a week later. Noooot exactly the idea of a cooking grandma, but despite her questionable choices in food, she did make some delicious oatmeal scotchies! These look SO perfect, Averie. You totally hit the nail on the head for the perfect oats to butterscotch chips to cookie ratio!
microwaved grilled cheese sandwiches …LOL and the apple pie bars…classic!
And when done right, I agree, an oatmeal scotchie is one of the best cookies out there (and of course snickerdoodles and that whole brown sugar family of soft cookies for me, too!)
Really excited to make these cookies! My kids (my son especially) love oatmeal cookies and I think they will love these. Thanks for sharing!