Lemon Oatmeal Cream Pies

Oatmeal Cream Pies are a snack cake made by Little Debbie that have a sweet cream filling sandwiched between two soft oatmeal cookies. The treat is essentially a whoopie pie that uses oatmeal cookies as a base, but whatever you call them, the pies are pretty tasty. These Lemon Oatmeal Cream Pies are a springtime variation on those popular pies.

The cookies are a fairly straightforward oatmeal cookie that bakes up to be thin and fairly crisp. They’re flavored with fresh lemon zest and a little bit of lemon juice, which gives them a bright but subtle lemon flavor. The crisp cookies are also very easy to handle and work with because they’re not as fragile as thin, chewy cookies can be. When you add the lemon filling to sandwich them together, the cookies soften up and the whole thing takes on the perfect, slightly chewy texture that you want to find in any oatmeal pie.

I added my lemon zest to my butter and sugar while creaming them together to start the cookie dough. Beating your zest with the sugar helps to release even more lemon oil from that lemon zest, and you’ll get a bit more flavor adding it in at this point than you would if you stirred the zest in later in the recipe. If you don’t have fresh lemon to flavor these pies, you can substitute a little bit of lemon extract into the cookie dough and the filling to give them a nice lemon flavor, but you will get the best flavor when using fresh lemon zest and juice.

The cookie store very well and actually get better after a day or so has gone by, since the lemon flavor becomes more pronounced and the cookies only improve in texture with time. Keep them stored in an airtight container and these cookies will be an excellent choice for a bake-ahead dessert for a springtime brunch – or just to enjoy as an everyday treat.

Lemon Oatmeal Cream Pies
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups oatmeal, rolled or quick cooking

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with the lemon zest until light and fluffy. Add in lemon juice egg and vanilla and beat well to combine. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then stir in the oatmeal until no streaks of dry ingredients remain in the dough.
Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place onto prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 2-inches between the cookies to allow for them to spread.
Bake for 11-14 minutes, until cookies are golden brown and set.
Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
When cookies are completely cooled, fill will Lemon Cream Filling (recipe below). When filled, allow cookies to sit in an airtight container for several hours so that the cookies can soften and meld with the filling

Makes about 30 cookie, or 15 cream pies

Lemon Cream Filling
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
2-2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl, beat together butter, lemon juice and lemon zest. Gradually blend in the confectioners’ sugar until the filling is fluffy, thick and spreadable. If your filling isn’t thick enough, beat in a little additional confectioners’ sugar. If your filling is too dry, blend in an extra teaspoon or two of lemon juice.