Sourdough Oatmeal Cream Pies

Sourdough oatmeal cream pies are easy to make and an absolute dream to eat and share. Reminiscent of the oatmeal cream pie cookie sandwiches you remember from your childhood, these ones are made using whole ingredients alongside your sourdough starter. 

You might also enjoy these other sourdough cookie recipes. If you love classic sandwich cookies, then make sure you check out these sourdough chocolate cookie sandwiches.

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

• Uses Whole Ingredients - this recipe uses whole ingredients like butter, rolled oats, cream and of course your sourdough starter to create this from scratch sourdough version of oatmeal cream pies.
  
• Fermented Cookies - by leaving the oatmeal cookie dough in the fridge, you will allow your sourdough starter to ferment the flour in this recipe making them easier on your gut.
  
• Super Easy - this recipe is really easy! There's no need for brown butter, cream cheese or anything fancy, just simple pantry ingredients you've probably already got at home!

These sourdough oatmeal cream pies are similar to Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. The difference is this sourdough version uses common pantry ingredients like whole oats and brown sugar. The filling of this recipe actually contains cream, unlike the Little Debbie version (check the list of ingredients next time you see a pack).

The homemade cookies are crispy on the edges and just a little soft and chewy in the centre. 

Ingredients

One of the best things about these sourdough oatmeal cream pies is that they use very basic ingredients.

• Butter - I've used salted butter in this recipe, but you can use unsalted if you prefer. It's just my preference to use salted. Allow your butter to soften to room temperature before making this recipe for the best results. There's no need to brown your butter for these sourdough oatmeal cookie sandwiches. They taste amazing using plain, softened butter!
  
• Sugar - this recipe uses brown sugar and granulated sugar in the cookies and powdered sugar in the vanilla cream filling. There is a lot of sugar overall, but given these cookies are a treat you don't eat everyday, I don't mind. You can use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar if you prefer. This actually gives them a richer, more caramelised flavor.
  
• Egg - just one egg is all you need, I've used a large free range egg.
  
• Vanilla - I've used vanilla extract for both the sourdough oatmeal cookies and the vanilla filling.
  
• Molasses - you want liquid molasses, not blackstrap molasses. I love the molasses that comes in the squeezey bottle as it makes it mess free to use!
  
• Sourdough Starter - ​you can use either sourdough discard or active sourdough starter to make the chewy oatmeal cookies for this recipe. In developing this recipe, I used active sourdough starter (because I generally always have some on my counter). I have also tested the recipe with discard and it tastes just as good! The cookies actually don't use the starter or discard for leavening so it doesn't make too much difference. You can read about the difference between sourdough starter and sourdough discard here.
  
• All Purpose Flour
  
• Rolled Oats - I've developed this recipe using old-fashioned oats. Many recipes for oatmeal cream pies use quick oats but I prefer to use traditional rolled oats because I always have them on hand (unlike the quick oats which we don't eat). If you prefer to use quick oats, that's ok, just reduce the cooking time by a few minutes or your sourdough oatmeal cookies will burn.
  
• Baking Soda - you might know this as bicarbonate of soda depending on where you live. You'll need just a little, don't be tempted to add more or it can give your cookies a weird metallic taste.
  
• Salt - just a little bit added to both the cookie dough and the vanilla cream filling.
  
• Spices - I've used ground cinnamon and ground cloves to create the warm, homey flavor in these cookies. Go easy on the cloves though, you don't want to overpower the flavor of these sourdough oatmeal cream pie cookie sandwiches.
  
• Heavy Cream - if you don't have any heavy cream on hand, just use whole milk. I've tested both and it doesn't have a huge effect on the final outcome.

How To Make Sourdough Oatmeal Cream Pies

This recipe is relatively easy to make. I find that leaving the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours makes it much easier to handle.

Making the Cookies

To a medium bowl, add all of the dry ingredients (all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and rolled oats). Stir together until everything is well combined and set aside.

Now in a separate bowl, cream the soft butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until they're light and creamy. I've used my stand mixer with a paddle attachment. You can beat them by hand with a whisk if you prefer.

Now add the eggs, vanilla, molasses and sourdough starter (or discard). Beat until everything is well combined. You might notice it looks slightly stringy - this is the sourdough starter!

Now take your dry ingredients and pour it into the bowl of wet ingredients. Stir together using a spatula until they are well combined. You can use your stand mixer with a paddle attachment for this, but I found it easier to just do this step by hand.

Once the sourdough oatmeal cookie dough is well combined, cover with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, but up to 24 hours.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 180C (375F).

Take 2 extra large cookie sheets and line with parchment paper.

Scoop out balls of cookie dough approx. 2 tbsp in size (I use a cookie scoop but I weigh them out at 40g each on a digital scale for consistency). Place the balls of cookie dough onto the cookie sheets with plenty of room around them as they will spread quite a bit.

Bake the cookies at 180C (375F) for around 12 minutes or until the edges are starting to crisp up but the middle is still soft. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the trays for around 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Making the Filling

While the cookies are cooling, whip your filling together. Place the powdered sugar, vanilla, heavy cream, butter and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until light and fluffy (around 5 minutes to really get the air in there and create a gorgeously light vanilla cream frosting).

Once the cookies have cooled completely, sandwich them together using the filling. I find piping the filling will give you the best consistency to your sourdough oatmeal cream pies. You can store the filling in a piping bag in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

If you prefer a tangier filling, you might like to try the vanilla cream cheese filling from these sourdough cinnamon rolls.

Tips for Success

Ingredients at Room Temperature - make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you begin this recipe, particularly the butter, eggs and sourdough starter or discard. This helps all of the ingredients combine more easily.

Allow Plenty of Room - the sourdough oatmeal creme pie cookies will spread quite a bit in the oven so make sure you allow plenty of room on the baking sheet for them to expand.

How To Mix - I've used my stand mixer with a paddle attachment to cream the butter, sugar, eggs and sourdough starter together. You can use an electric hand mixer or just a whisk if you prefer. This recipe is also suitable to make in a food processor. The food processor will chop up the rolled oats reducing the cooking time (so make sure you keep an eye on that).

How To Store + Freeze

These sourdough oatmeal cream pies will stay fresh for 2 days in an airtight container at room temperature once they are filled with the vanilla cream filling. If you want to store them longer than this, I recommend storing them in the fridge because the filling will soften the cookies.

If you want to store them longer and keep the cookies crisp, I recommend storing unfilled cookies in a glass or metal container and storing the vanilla cream filling in the fridge. Fill the cookies before you want to serve them.

You can freeze the unbaked cookie dough. I recommend freezing in balls and then allowing the balls to thaw slightly before you bake them. If you bake them from frozen, the cookie dough will not spread out and crisp up on the edges.