Gluten Free Oatmeal Creme Pies Copycat Recipe
One of my all-time favorite pre-packaged desserts are Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. I bought a package for my kids the other day and had a craving, so I set out to create my own gluten free version. These gluten free oatmeal creme pies may even taste better than the originals! You’ll love these chewy oatmeal cookies with delicious buttercream icing in the middle. They’re one of my favorite gluten free cookies!
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I used to love these Little Debbie cookies when I was a kid. In fact, my grandma made her own version of these classic snacks just for me — she called them Little Emmies! These gluten free oatmeal cream pies not only taste delicious, they’re also pretty easy to make!
Are Oatmeal Cream Pies Gluten Free?
Sadly, original Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies are not gluten free. But don’t worry! This easy gluten free oatmeal cream pie recipe is a delicious replacement for the Little Debbie cookies. In fact, I think they taste even better than store-bought oatmeal creme pies! And they make great gluten free Christmas cookies, too!
Gluten Free Oatmeal Cream Pie Recipe
Start by combining your wet ingredients, including softened butter, shortening, molasses, and eggs, with your white and brown sugars. Simply beat all of the ingredients together until they’re combined.
In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients — gluten free baking flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. They key to making these gluten free oatmeal creme pies taste just like the real thing is choosing the right gluten free flour. I suggest Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 baking flour. It’s the best flour for gluten free baking, in my opinion!
After you have whisked all of your dry ingredients together, add them to the wet ingredients and mix until everything is combined. I just used my hand mixer to combine all the ingredients, but a stand mixer would work well too!
The final step to making the cookies for your gluten free oatmeal cream pie is to add the oats. Your dough will probably be pretty thick at this point, so I found it was best to fold in the oats using a spoon instead of my hand mixer. Your stand mixer will probably be able to handle the thick dough, though. You would probably be fine adding in the oats and mixing everything in your mixer.
Using a cookie scoop or spoon, place tablespoon size balls of dough on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. While your cookies are baking, make your filling. I made basic vanilla buttercream for my filling. To make it, beat butter and vanilla until fluffy, then alternate adding powdered sugar and milk until you reach the desired consistency.
What is in the Middle of Oatmeal Creme Pies?
To make my Little Debby copycat, I used buttercream icing inside my oatmeal cream pies. Make sure your cookies are completely cooled, then add the icing to the middle. If the cookies aren’t cool, the icing will melt and your sandwiches will fall apart! We definitely don’t want that to happen!
And that’s it! Just a few simple steps to making your own gluten free oatmeal creme pies. These delicious cookies are perfect for so many occasions! Whether you simply enjoy them as an everyday snack or make them for a gluten free Christmas treat, you can eat these yummy gluten free oatmeal creme pies any time of year.
Questions About Gluten Free Oatmeal Creme Pies
While this recipe is very simple, I have had a few questions pop up from my readers. If you’re having issues making these gluten free oatmeal creme pies, I’m here to help! Here are a few common questions about this recipe:
Can I use rolled oats?
If you can’t find gluten free quick cooking oats, you can make your own! If you have gluten free rolled oats at home, simply put the oats in your blender and pulse them a few times. Don’t blend them to a fine powder, just a similar consistency to quick cooking oats to ensure your cookies are the correct consistency.
My cookies are spreading into one big sheet, what can I do to fix it?
What makes these cookies so delicious is how thin and chewy they are. But with that thinness also comes the problem of spreading. These cookies spread a lot as they cook, so the first way to prevent them from spreading into each other is to make sure they have plenty of room on the baking sheet — around two inches between each cookie.
If your cookies are still spreading too much when baking, it may be an issue with your cookie dough. The first way to make sure your cookies don’t spread when you’re baking is to be sure your butter is fully softened. If the butter isn’t room temperature, it will be more difficult to fully mix the butter into the dough. And if you have large pieces of butter in the dough, it will melt as you bake making the cookies too wet, which will cause them to spread.
You should also be sure the dry ingredients are fully incorporated into the wet ingredients. Gluten free flour takes a little bit of coaxing to make delicious baked goods. As you’re stirring in your oats, use the back of the spoon to push the oats down into the batter to give the oats and the flour time to soak in the moisture from the wet ingredients.
If you’ve taken all these steps and you’re still having issues with spreading, you may need to chill your dough before baking. Scoop the dough into balls as usual, then place the baking sheet in the refrigerator to chill for around 30 minutes. Chilling your dough will help keep the cookies from spreading, but it will also keep the cookies from getting thin. If you chill your dough, you’ll probably end up with thicker cookies when they’re finished baking.
Is there a way to fix spreading cookies as they bake?
Yes! If you notice your cookies are spreading a little too much while they’re baking, pull them from the oven and use a spatula to push the edges of the cookies back in. Then, place them back in the oven to finish baking.
Can I make these egg free?
Many readers have said they successfully used powdered egg replacer when baking these cookies, but I haven’t personally tried this substitution.
Can I make these dairy free?
I haven’t experimented with dairy free substitutions for this recipe, so I can’t say whether you can make them with dairy free alternatives. If you’ve tried this recipe with dairy free replacements, please leave a comment letting me know what worked for you!
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Gluten Free Oatmeal Creme Pies
This gluten free oatmeal creme pie recipe is a delicious alternative to the classic Little Debbie snack. You won't believe how good these gluten free oatmeal creme pies are -- they taste even better than the original!
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter, one stick, softened
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free baking flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free quick oats
For the Filling
- 1/2 cup butter, one stick, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cream butter, shortening, sugars, molasses, and eggs until fluffy and well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine four, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- Add to butter mixture and beat until combined.
- Stir in oats.
- Place tablespoon size balls of dough on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are brown but middles are still soft.
- To make the filling, cream butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and milk alternating one cup sugar and one tablespoon milk until icing reaches desired consistency.
- Pipe icing onto middle of cooled cookie and top with another cookie.
- Store in an airtight container or freeze for future use.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 15 Serving Size: 15 cookiesAmount Per Serving: Calories: 475Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 287mgCarbohydrates: 72gFiber: 1gSugar: 60gProtein: 3g
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Emily is a midwestern mom of two boys. She loves all things DIY — from home renovations to kids birthday party planning. Whether she’s making a new farmhouse craft for her home or helping her kids with a cool activity, you can bet she’s in the middle of some kind of DIY project (or three) right now!
These look absolutely yummy! We grew up on the Little Debbie’s when we were kids, too. I’m excit6to they this recipe.
These are excellent! The nice thing is that on day 2 the oatmeal cookie is chewy just like the Little Debbie cakes. Often gluten free baked goods are dry and crispy from the start, unless you have years of experience baking GF. Thank you for sharing this recipe. A keeper for sure!
I’m so glad you liked them, Patty! They’re definitely my favorite gluten free cookie recipe!!
These look amazing!! Will definitely have to try it!
Yum! These so so yummy! I love finding gluten free alternatives to snacks I used to like in my childhood. Can’t wait to try them!
Oh my goodness!!! Thank you for making these and sharing with us the GF version. I can’t wait to make these now!
Yum! I have never had the Little Debbie version. But, Oatmeal cookies are my favorite, so I will have to give these a try!
These look and sound great! You’ve got me craving them right now – so glad they’re gluten-free!
These look super! And GF is always a plus, because my body can enjoy them too! Yum!
I also made these dairy free and they are delicious! The first batch was kind of burnt even though I only cooked them for 11 minutes, so I dropped the cooking temp to 350 degrees for the same time and they were perfect.
I’m so glad they worked out for you! I think these are my favorite gluten free cookies I’ve made.
What did you use as a butter substitute? My granddaughter must eat dairy free. I’m trying to find recipes can be adapted to her dairy allergy.
I just use smart balance butter for baking. Sometimes it will alter the texture a bit but for the most part no one will ever know you didn’t use dairy butter 😊
That’s a great idea! Thanks for sharing Kristi!
I’m thinking about making these for Thanksgiving. I used to love the Little Debi ones! Do you think it would be OK using gluten free oats that aren’t quick oats?
I think regular gluten free oats would work. You might want to put them in the blender to chop them up a little bit so they’ll cook faster and won’t be chewy.
Thanks for your reply! I made them for Thanksgiving with quick oats and everyone LOVED them! They didn’t taste gluten free at all. Thanks for the recipe! I’m going to make them again as Christmas cookies adding chopped Andes mints to the batter and mint extract to the frosting. Definitely a keeper!
That sounds delicious!
These look incredible! My husband is going to love them! 🙂
I made these for my husband and brothers-in-law today and they were over the moon! My husband went as far as to say it’s the best thing I’ve ever made him. I’m the only one who is gluten free in the family, so it’s always a nice treat when I can show them that I can still bake, even without the gluten 😉. Thank you for this recipe!
I’m so happy everyone liked them Jill! My husband was the same way. He doesn’t eat gluten either and said they’re some of the best cookies I’ve made!
I made these today and they are AMAZING! Such a big hit! Thank you for the GF recipe! I also made these dairy free!
Aren’t they SO good?!? I’m happy you liked them Hannah!!
Yummmmm, although I would need to do some modifications because we are dairy free as well. Any suggestions? Think I could just sub our butter? And I would probably use coconut cream for the frosting.
Hey…I was wondering if there was vanilla for the cookie ingredients…
There is no vanilla in the cookies, just the filling!
I substituted eggs with a powered egg replacer and they turned out fantastic!
These are great- as previous poster says the directions say add vanilla in step 2 of the cookies. I was a little confused by it.
I am also confused! It says to add vanilla in step 2, which is combined with the dry ingredients in the cookie mixture. Could you please clarify? Thanks!
Sorry Sarah! I have updated the recipe. There is no vanilla in the cookies, only in the filling.
Hi, I followed the recipe exactly and my cookies all went into one big sheet when I baked them! What do you think I did wrong?
Hi Sue! These cookies spread a ton, so you need to be sure to give them plenty of space on the baking sheet. Another reason they could be spreading more than normal is if the butter isn’t softened completely. If there are large pieces of butter in the cookies, the butter will melt as it bakes, making the dough too wet. But if the butter is room temperature or warmer, it’s easier to mix completely.
Another way to keep your cookies from spreading so much is to chill the dough on the baking sheet before baking it in the oven. This will help keep the cookies from spreading, but they won’t be as thin as the traditional Little Debbie cookies.
These are delicious! Thank you! I adjusted the filling a little bit the cookies alone are delicious and chewy! So so good!
These look so delicious! Do you use this dough base in any other recipes?
I adapted the cookie recipe to make a pumpkin version, but I haven’t tried using it for other cookies yet. They’re just so good this way, I don’t want to mess with it!! 🙂
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
As long as you store them in an air-tight container, they’re good for about a week.
I love the cookie part but the filling was too sweet. I guess I should of known that 6 cups of powdered will definitely do that. I will definitely make again with some minor adjustments. Thanks!
Hey! I love to make these cookies because they look BOMB! I was just wondering if all 15 cream pie is 475 calories or if one cream pie is 475 calories? Either way, I am going to make these!
Hey! I am going to make these cookies because they look BOMB! But I was wondering if one cream pie is 475 calories or 15 cream pie is 475 calories? Either way I’m going to make these!
I’m not sure how accurate my calorie counter is, but I’m sure these cookies aren’t low in calories! 😉 I think 475 is high for one cookie, but if I had to guess I would say they are at least 300 calories in one cookie. Hope you liked them!
Thank you so much for this recipe!! When I give someone a cookie, I see them stop, pause, and get so excited!! Everyone keeps telling me they are some of the best cookies they’ve had!! My daughter is totally gluten free, and she begs for me to make more!!
I’m so glad everyone loved them! These cookies are defintely a hit with everyone in my family, too! If you’re looking for some more cookies for the holidays, I have tons of gluten free recipes: https://www.hunnyimhomediy.com/gluten-free-christmas-cookies!
I have never had these before. Thinking I should try them.
This looks so good! What a great way to enjoy a childhood treat with just the good stuff!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
If you store them in an airtight container, they’ll stay good for up to four days. After that, they start to get soft and fall apart easily.
I absolutely be the one to leave a negative comment but these cookies did not turn out well. The cookie in itself was fine, but the temp was way too high and they got really dark. Nothing like the pic. I had to turn the oven down and cook them for 8 min only to get them like the pic.
On top of that, the filling isn’t a creamy filling. It tasted like pure butter and sugar slapped onto a cookie.
I never leave comments, but wanted to with this one because I bought all ingredients and made them for Easter today and they flopped. I’m so bummed. I tried them because of the positive comments but I’m now realizing that MOST of the comments are more like “can’t wait to try these!”
I’m so sorry your cookies didn’t turn out! I’ve made these several times and never had an issue. I’m curious if you made any alterations to the recipe to the cookies or filling? The filling shouldn’t taste overly buttery if all the sugar and vanilla extract is added. And what kind of gluten free flour you used? The brand of flour can make big difference in the texture and even bake time of the cookies.