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These vegan oatmeal cream pies are the most delicious cookie sandwiches! A sweet vanilla cream frosting is sandwiched between two soft and chewy oatmeal cookies. Oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, and molasses come together to form this totally irresistible dessert. It’s a healthier twist on the childhood classic Little Debbie treat, made with dairy-free and gluten-free ingredients!
A healthier little debbie oatmeal creme pies recipe
Move aside, Little Debbie! These homemade oatmeal cream pies are coming for your classic sandwich cookies. 😉
If you’re anything like me, you probably grew up eating one too many Little Debbie desserts. (Do Cosmic Brownies, Nutty Buddy, Swiss Rolls, or Zebra Cakes ring a bell?) Oatmeal Creme Pies were the original treat that started it all. They are incredibly popular, and that’s to no one’s surprise. It’s an irresistible dessert containing two oatmeal cookies filled with sweet cream frosting. And today we are recreating them!
These homemade oatmeal cream pies are:
- Vegan, dairy-free, and egg-free (with a gluten-free option)
- Deliciously soft, chewy, and sweet
- Packed with warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and molasses
- Surprisingly easy to make // made with basic ingredients
- Perfect for the fall season!
- Great for gifting, parties, and potlucks
- Absolutely worth every single calorie. Seriously, they are so. dang. good!
How to make vegan oatmeal cream pies
For the full ingredients list and step-by-step instructions, scroll down to view the recipe card at the end of this post.
Prepare the vegan oatmeal cookies
In a large bowl, combine the vegan butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using a handheld electric mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Add the flax egg, molasses, and vanilla extract. Cream together to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Mix together. Next, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix together until just combined.
After, scoop and roll the oatmeal cookie dough into round balls. Transfer the cookie dough to a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 15 minutes.
How to make vegan vanilla frosting
Once the cookies are finished baking, allow them to cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the vanilla cream frosting.
First, add the vegan butter to a large bowl. Use a handheld electric mixer or stand mixer to beat the butter until whipped and fluffy. Then, add sifted powdered sugar. Beat together until the sugar is fully dissolved into the butter. After, add plant-based milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat together once more until evenly combined.
Use a piping bag or knife to spread the vegan vanilla frosting on half of the oatmeal cookies. Then, top with an additional cookie to create sandwiches. Enjoy!
Tips for perfecting these vegan oatmeal cookie sandwiches
Use quick oats. It’s important to use quick oats for this recipe. Do not use rolled oats or steel-cut oats. Quick cooking oats are essential.
Choose the vegan butter wisely. Surprisingly, certain varieties of vegan butter can make a big difference when baking cookies. I highly suggest using vegan butter from a tub (also known as margarine) for the cookies. On the other hand, I recommend vegan butter sticks for the frosting. This tip will not make or break your cookies, but it will definitely help you achieve the best results!
Bake the cookies on the middle rack. For the best results, I recommend baking the cookies one tray at a time on the middle rack of your oven.
Don’t over-bake the cookies. For deliciously soft and chewy cookies, remove them from the oven while they still appear slightly underdone. This is around the 15 minute mark for my oven. Keep in mind the cookies will continue cooking, firm up, and de-puff while cooling on the baking sheet. Removing them from the oven while they still appear undercooked will result in perfect, soft, chewy cookies.
Choose the gluten-free flour wisely. If you need to make these cookies gluten-free, I recommend using Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour. It is the best replacement for traditional all-purpose flour.
Sift the powdered sugar. While preparing the vanilla cream filling, it’s helpful to sift the powdered sugar over the butter. This removes any clumps and allows it to smoothy dissolve into the butter.
Cool the cookies before adding the frosting. Before adding the frosting, make sure your cookies have cooled to room temperature. Otherwise, the frosting may melt due to the warmth.
Store cookies in the refrigerator. Keep these vegan oatmeal cream pies stored in a sealed container inside the refrigerator. The cookies must be chilled in order to prevent the frosting from melting. However, they will be fine at room temperature for 1 to 1.5 hours. If you want to warm up the chilled cookies, microwave them for just 8-10 seconds.
More vegan cookie recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Monster Cookies
- Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan S’mores Cookies
- Vegan Birthday Cake Cookies
- Chocolate Chunk Hawaiian Cookies
- Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies
- No Bake Almond Butter Cookies
- Vegan Hot Chocolate Cookies
- Superfood Breakfast Cookies
If you try these Vegan Oatmeal Cream Pies, please let me know your thoughts by leaving a rating and comment below! Ready for more? Subscribe to my newsletter or follow along on Instagram and YouTube!
PrintVegan Oatmeal Cream Pies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookie sandwiches 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan oatmeal cream pies are the best cookie sandwiches ever! Enjoy a sweet vanilla cream frosting sandwiched between soft and chewy oatmeal cookies. It’s a healthier twist on the Little Debbie dessert, made with dairy-free and gluten-free ingredients.
Ingredients
Oatmeal Cookies
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water)
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups quick oats*
- 1 + ½ cups all-purpose flour (or Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten-free baking flour)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Vanilla Cream Filling
- ½ cup vegan butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1–2 tablespoon plant-based milk
- 1 + ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Oatmeal Cookies
- Prepare the flax egg by combining ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl. Mix together and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to a large bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together. Cream for 3-5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the flax egg, molasses, and vanilla extract. Cream together once more until evenly combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the quick oats, all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Scoop and roll the oatmeal cookie dough into round balls. Transfer to the baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown but the center is slightly undercooked. For soft and chewy cookies, I recommend removing them from the oven while they still appear slightly underdone. The cookies will continue cooking, firm up, and de-puff while cooling on the baking sheet.
Vanilla Cream Filling
- While the cookies cool, prepare the vanilla cream filling.
- Add the vegan butter to a large bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer or stand mixer, beat the butter until whipped and fluffy.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until it is evenly dissolved into the butter.
- Add plant-based milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat together once more. Feel free to add more or less plant-based milk to achieve your desired consistency.
- Once the cookies have cooled completely, pipe or spread the frosting across half of the cookies. Top with another cookie to create sandwiches. Enjoy!
Notes
- You can keep the cookies at room temperature for 1 to 1.5 hours. Otherwise, store them in a sealed container inside the refrigerator. This prevents the frosting from melting. The oatmeal cream pies taste delicious directly out of the refrigerator, but if you want to warm them up, microwave for just 8-10 seconds.
- This recipe makes 12 large cookie sandwiches. If you want a lower calorie dessert, just make smaller cookies to reduce the calorie count of each sandwich.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 sandwich (2 cookies)
- Calories: 495
- Sugar: 39g
- Fat: 24g
- Carbohydrates: 65g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 5g
Keywords: vegan oatmeal cream pies, vegan cookie sandwiches, little debbie
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How long are the cookies good for in the fridge?
Hi, Amy! They will be best enjoyed within 3-4 days. You can freeze them for up to 3 months as well!
do you need to sift?
Hi, Maura! I do recommend sifting the flour for the best results. It isn’t 100% necessary, but it will be a bit better if you do 🙂
These are delicious!! Simple to make and they taste incredible! Everyone that had them, loved them!
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Summer! I am so happy to hear you loved these vegan oatmeal cream pies 🙂
Love these! I substituted the brown sugar with coconut sugar and the regular sugar for monk fruit sweetener. They were plenty sweet enough and I also only used 1 cup of powdered sugar for the frosting and did not add any milk because it would make it melt very fast. Only thing is I noticed they kept falling apart. They were very hard to eat. They also weren’t spreading so I had to flatten them. Is there a way to fix these issues?
★★★★
Thanks for sharing, Brittani! I’m so glad you enjoyed these vegan oatmeal cream pies 🙂 The reason your cookies weren’t flattening much & a bit more crumbly than usual is likely because of the substitutions. Baking is a science, so any subs will change the final results. Brown sugar contains more moisture than coconut sugar, so swapping it will make the cookies drier and spread less. Additionally, I recommend weighing dry ingredients so you aren’t accidentally using too many oats or too much flour. You’d be surprised how much of a difference using a food scale vs. measuring cups can make. Happy baking! xoxo
These cookies are delicious! I actually used old-fashioned rolled oats and they worked fine. I also used more powdered sugar in the frosting until the texture was akin to buttercream, so that it didn’t melt when stored on the countertop overnight. I served them at a women’s gathering and everybody who had them loved them. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for sharing, Summer! I’m so glad you loved these oatmeal cream pies 🙂
The cookies are amazing. I made mine smaller than the recipe stated. Everyone I shared them with LOVED them. I gave one to my horse. She was super excited by the extra special treat. Cutest nicker ever.
★★★★★
Lol! That is SO cute. I’m glad all of the humans + horse enjoyed these cookies 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Jill!
Just a small correction. While the oats are mentioned in the full description, they aren’t mentioned in the recipe at the bottom. So if this recipe is printed out, they don’t say when to use them. But, everything came out great. I added a touch of cream of tartar and a little more powdered sugar to the cream to make it a little more stable for warmer temps, but everything else was perfect.
Hey, Shaun! The recipe card states “3 cups quick oats” in the ingredients list. Unfortunately, you are correct that I did not specifically mention them in the written instructions. I am not sure how I overlooked that. Thank you SO much for pointing this out! The recipe has been updated. Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
Wonderful recipe! Just wondering, what’s the calorie count for one serving (which I’m assuming is just one)??
★★★★★
Thank you, Emilia! The calorie count varies depending on the amount of frosting used and number of cookie sandwiches created. If you make 20 cookies, one cookie is 200 calories. For sandwiches, that would be 400 calories. It’s a pretty calorically dense dessert, but believe me when I say this is worth every single calorie 😉 You can always make them fewer calories by creating smaller cookies. Enjoy! xo
These are so good! I made them for a cookie exchange at work. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thank you, Jenna! That sounds like fun! I’m glad you enjoyed them 🙂