Old Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies from your childhood, except homemade and so much better! Crispy edges, a chewy center, cinnamon-y, and topped with a sweet vanilla glaze. Grab a glass of cold milk and have a couple!
We love nostalgic recipes that bring back memories of being a kid or baking with our mom all afternoon, like Popcorn Balls, Rice Pudding, a classic Shirley Temple Drink, and this iced oatmeal cookie recipe!
Old Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Today our favorite Iced Oatmeal Cookies are joining their cousins, Oatmeal Craisin Cookies and Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies. No offense to the others, but these old fashioned ones are our favorite!
I can vividly remember as a kid my mom coming home from the grocery store and pulling out that pink and purple package of Mother’s® Iced Oatmeal Cookies. My sister and I would beg for several, but were only allowed two. That was a serving size and she wasn’t budging. So, we relished every single bite.
These homemade oatmeal cookies are like Mother’s® but dare I say, even better. Packed with chewy oats, cinnamon and brown sugar throughout, then finished with a vanilla glaze. Now as an adult, I always have more than two!
Icing for Oatmeal Cookies
The icing is one of the elements that sets these oatmeal cookies apart from others. It’s a simple glaze made up of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. You just whisk them together, adding more powdered sugar or milk, until the desired thickness is reached. (The icing should be very thick and stick to the cookies.)
Benefits of adding corn syrup: You can also add in a touch of corn syrup, which will give it a shiny appearance and also help it firm up, but that’s optional.
Dip, don’t spread: Wait until the cookies are completely cool, then lightly dip the tops in the glaze, allowing it to get in all the nooks and crannies. This is how that signature craggy top is achieved.
How to Make Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies
This is an easy iced oatmeal cookies recipe that calls for all brown sugar and no granulated, producing a softer, chewier cookie. And unlike most oatmeal cookies that use old fashioned oats, which require pulverizing in a food processor, we incorporated quick-cooking oats instead, eliminating an extra step. Here’s a summary:
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Cream together the wet ingredients.
- Combine the dry ingredients with the wet, then add in the oats.
- Scoop tablespoon-sized dollops of the dough onto a cookie sheet, 2-inches apart.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes until lightly golden brown along the edges.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
- Ice, allow to set, and enjoy!
Iced Oatmeal Cookies Recipe Notes
- Oats: We use quick-cooking oats in these cookies, eliminating the need to grind them down. Old fashioned oats can be used instead, if preferred, but they will need to be pulsed in a food processor, first. Pulse quickly (about 10 times), but do not make oat flour.
- Can you use oat flour? The powdery texture of pure oat flour won’t work in these cookies. The proper texture is created by having chunkier oats.
- Perfect Icing: There is very little liquid in this icing because it should be thick. At first it will be near impossible to combine. Only add in the smallest amount of extra milk at a time to get a pourable, but very thick consistency.
- Don’t apply icing too soon. These cookies need to be completely cool before dipping the tops in the icing. It will take several hours to set, then you can stack them.
Proper Storage
- To Store: Cookies will keep covered at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. I like to separate the layers with parchment paper, but the icing should be set enough to stack without it.
- Make Ahead: You can make the cookie dough up to 2 days ahead of time and keep it chilled it in the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature then continue per recipe instructions.
- To Freeze: Baked cookies (with or without icing) freeze well for up to 3 months. You can also freeze the raw cookie dough balls for up to 2 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw.
Other Easy Cookie Recipes We Love
- Sugar Cookies (Only 3 ingredients!)
- Peanut Butter Cookies (Only 5 ingredients!)
- No Bake Cookies (Also made with quick-cooking oats. Best cookies ever!)
- DoubleTree Cookies (The hotel’s famous recipe!)
I hope you love this delicious and simple recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour , spooned and leveled
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- pinch of ground nutmeg
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons light brown sugar , packed
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats
For the Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla until fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined with no dry patches. Add the oats and mix in until evenly distributed.
- Using a cooking scoop, place 1 tablespoon-sized dollops of the dough on the baking sheets 2-inches apart. Bake for 9-10 minutes until lightly golden brown along the edges. Let cool slightly on the trays for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies must be completely cool before icing.
- While the cookies cool make the icing by whisking together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. (There is very little liquid in this icing because it needs to be thick. At first it will be nearly impossible to combine. Only add in the smallest amount of extra milk at a time to get a pourable, but very thick consistency.)
- Once the cookies are completely cool, lightly dip the tops of the cookies into the icing and lay them back on the wire rack icing side up. Let them sit to allow the icing to fully set, about 2-3 hours.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Other Notes
Had a baking weekend with my girls and took a stab at these oatmeal cookies – we loved them! Way better than the storebought kind.
Delicious! Made these for Skills Fair at work and everyone LOVED them. Thank you for recipe.