Soft and chewy oatmeal scotchies are cinnamon-spiced, sweetened with brown sugar, packed with oats, and loaded with butterscotch chips. With crisp edges and chewy centers, every bite is buttery, delicious, and packed with texture.
Butterscotch chips or butterscotch morsels, whatever you call them, are an oatmeal cookie’s best friend. Dare I say these two are even better friends than oatmeal cookies and raisins? And you know how I feel about oatmeal raisin cookies!
These Are the Best Oatmeal Scotchies And Here’s Why
Butterscotch brings you right back to childhood eating butterscotch candies at grandma’s kitchen table. Pair that with cinnamon and these cookies scream nostalgia. Not only are they nostalgic, they’re:
- Soft and chewy in the center
- Slightly crisp on the edges
- Loaded with oats for mega texture
- Studded with butterscotch morsels
- Cinnamon spiced
- Just like grandma’s
- No crazy ingredients or mixing techniques
I plead my case. Oatmeal scotchies rule.
Best Ingredients to Use in Oatmeal Scotchies
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the structure of the cookies.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the cookies rise.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon and butterscotch are a winning flavor combination. You’ll love the sweet cinnamon spice in each bite.
- Salt: Salt adds flavor.
- Butter: We use 1 cup of room temperature butter in this cookie recipe. Make sure your butter is at proper room temperature—if it’s too warm, your cookies will overspread. Here are my tips and tricks for how to prevent cookies from spreading. See the picture below for properly softened butter. It’s actually cool to touch, not warm. When you press it, your finger will make an indent. For even more information, here’s an in-depth post about room temperature butter. Worth the read!
- Sugar: Sugar is not only used for sweetness, but also for providing structure and tenderness. We use both brown sugar and white granulated sugar in this recipe. I like to use more brown sugar than white sugar because (1) brown sugar has incredible flavor and (2) brown sugar contains more moisture than white, which produces a softer cookie. I use the higher brown sugar to white sugar ratio in my chocolate chip cookies, too.
- Eggs: 2 eggs help bind everything together.
- Molasses: Molasses is my secret ingredient! Just 1 scant Tablespoon of molasses in oatmeal cookies enhances all the wonderful flavors of buttery sweet oatmeal butterscotch cookies.
- Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds flavor.
- Oats: There are a ton of oats in this recipe. Whole old-fashioned oats provide a fabulously chewy texture.
- Butterscotch Morsels: Butterscotch morsels are a little smaller than chocolate chips, so you can really pack them into each cookie. I actually counted 20 of them in 1 single cookie. And that’s not an exaggeration!
Room temperature butter is about 65°F (18°C), which is likely cooler than your kitchen. So if your cookies are spreading too much, you’re probably softening your butter too much. Good rule of thumb: set your butter out on the counter 1 hour before you begin. If it gets too soft (use your finger to test), place back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Don’t sabotage your efforts; make sure your butter is the correct consistency before you begin.
By the way, here’s my trick to soften butter quickly.
Overview: How to Make Oatmeal Scotchies
These soft and chewy oatmeal scotchies start from my base oatmeal cookie recipe. We use the same base recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, magic 5 cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and many more. It’s an oatmeal cookie recipe I’ve been playing around with for years and I love creating new variations! What’s even better? They come together quickly and easily.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together, beat the wet ingredients together, then combine both. Mix in the oats and butterscotch morsels. This is a super sticky and thick cookie dough. Cover the dough and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes, an important step for this cookie dough. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, scoop about 3 Tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie and form into balls. Here is the large cookie scoop I love and highly recommend for this sticky dough. Bake the cookies until they’re lightly browned on the sides. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more butterscotch morsels into the tops—this is only for looks!
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Soft & Thick Monster Cookies
Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Scotchies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes (includes dough chilling)
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
- Yield: 20-22 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft & chewy oatmeal scotchies cookies are loaded with butterscotch chips in every bite. The centers are chewy and soft, the edges are crisp, and every bite is buttery delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups (255g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 2 cups (280g) butterscotch morsels
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, molasses, and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, beat in the oats and butterscotch morsels. Dough will be thick and sticky. Cover and chill the dough for at least 45 minutes in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop cookie dough (here’s the large cookie scoop I love), about 3 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and place 4 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more butterscotch morsels into the tops—this is only for looks!
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here are my tips and tricks for how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Large Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Molasses: 1 Tablespoon of molasses helps give these cookies incredible flavor. Be sure to use unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand). If you don’t have any, simply leave it out. Do not replace with anything else.
- Brown Sugar: I prefer using dark brown sugar in oatmeal scotchies.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This recipe was fantastic. I chilled the dough for an hour and the cookies came out perfectly. The large cookie scoop (about 3 TB) is definitely the way to go. They cookies were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Just DELICIOUS. My only change I would make the next time I bake them is to rotate the pans in my oven so that each pan bakes evenly. Might just be a peculiarity with my oven?
Hi Sharon! Most ovens have hot spots. Rotating once during baking is good practice if you notice your oven bakes unevenly!
They came out very flat ( AL, the cookies I make do, it weird ) but I scooped it in to 1/4 cup measuring cups and tapped them out and the harder in place and now they are like cookie muffins! Anyways they are SO good and I WILL make these again
I kept having bad luck with the recipe on the bag – the cookies came out flat and too crisp. But with your recipe they are perfect! I didn’t have any molasses, but I’d like to try it next time. These are my son’s all-time favorite cookie and I’ve been sending him some while he is overseas with the Army helping with the Ukraine crisis. Thank you!
Oatmeal scotchies are my husband’s favorite cookie but I found the traditional recipe to be too crisp for my taste. I found this one and they turned out wonderful! My husband loves them and I do too. 🙂
SO good & I could eat the whole batch haha! I deleted the molasses & also used a 1.5 tablespoons scoop and cooked for about 10 to 11 minutes. Thank you for such an amazing recipe
I just skip the brown sugar entirely and add more molasses as Refined brown sugar is simply white sugar that has had molasses added back into it… Brown sugar always ends up a brick usually since I use it far and few between.
Too flat!!! I followed your recipe, did all the tips, and I am a veteran baker!!! But they still flattened. Very disappointed. Taste great but wanted them somewhat puffy Sally .
Hi Kathleen, they shouldn’t be flat, how is the flavor and texture? Please check out this blog post to help you troubleshoot!
Family favorite! My nephews beg for these.
I find I can keep the dough in the fridge for a couple days and still roll them right away.
I believe probably softened butter (just soft enough to put a dent in it with your finger) and the chill time between 45-90 minutes helps ensure the cookies don’t flatten too much.
sooo good! man they are addicting
Good recipe.
Per something I learned from cooking shows, I lightly toasted and cooled the oatmeal before adding. I also added plumped raisins.
Tasty cookies! I mistakenly purchased quick oats instead of old fashioned. As noted, texture is different but still delicious. Made 4 1/2 dozen using smaller scoop. Baked for 9 1/2 min. Not for sure what the molasses added but, again, delicious. Next time, I will use old fashioned oats.
This recipe is sooo good. First time I made it. Everybody happy. I used only 3/4 of the recipe and made 26 cookies using a small ice cream scooper. When baked, each cookie is about 2.5 inches in diameter.
Delicious! Mine came out a leeettle flat, but I’m okay with it—the flavor was bomb!
I might have used old baking soda too, whoops. Will try this recipe again sometime 🙂
Instead of the UNSULPHURED or DARK MOLASSES, would SORGHUM syrup work? I know I have some sorghum at home but if you think molasses would be better i can get some at the market.
Hi Justin, we highly recommend using molasses, or just leaving it out if you don’t have it. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Amazing!
Hi, this sounds like a really good recipe, but the size of the cookie is giving me pause. Three whole tablespoons? If I make the cookies half the size, will they still turn out the right texture? I want to make a lot for an event, and there will be other kinds of cookies there too, so I think people would prefer smaller ones so they can mix and match different kinds.
Hi Michelle, you can certainly make these smaller if you’d like. Bake time will be a little less — keep a close eye on them. Enjoy!
Yum!! Yum!! Yum!! Made these cookies exactly as the recipe was written and they really are the best oatmeal butterscotch cookies I’ve ever had. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe and step by step instructions. I use alot of your recipes and always look for yours first Sally. Thank you, thank you thank you. ❤️❤️
Thank you so much, Beth!
I’ve made these cookies twice my family would like me to make them weekly! My college grandson is absolutely crazy about them and loves when I make a big batch for his fraternity house. His dad, my son, thinks they are the best cookies he’s had in his entire life. Thanks for the recipe.
These were a huge hit with my family ! My dad just had a stroke and loves cookies as a snack that he can eat without a lot of assistance. He so enjoyed them today. Thanks for another great recipe !
You’ve become one of my main go tos for baking recipes. These were great, absolutely amazing cookies. This last time I made them I added a little nutmeg and clove, just because it’s fall and gross outside, and it was a good addition.
This batch of cookies disappeared so fast! The molasses made them so yummy. I haven’t had a cookie this good in a long time. I’m going to make a batch with semi sweet chips and just omit the cinnamon. I did fridge the dough overnight and then set it out about an hour before baking. I had nice thick cookies.
Wow great recipe, turned out really delicious! The only thing is I found the cinnamon to be quite a lot for my taste, it was starting to overwhelm the other flavours so next time I’d only do 1/4 tsp or less. I used quick oats and omitted the molasses, refrigerated for 45 minutes and in between batches in the oven – texture was great! Make sure you follow the spoon and level method, it makes a big difference.
I love your recipes!!! Every Friday I bake a different one and gift a plate full to my adult children. It has been a wonderfully fun thing to do during Covid…as we have an outside visit when I drop off the treats. I was hoping that when you post a new recipe you would add the gram size of the raw portion, it would help for more accurate baking times. I weigh all of my raw cookie and muffin portions. Thanks
Hi Cindy! We don’t weigh each portion, but thank you so much for making and sharing our recipes. That’s such a sweet tradition for you to share with your children. Happy baking!
I made these this weekend to bring to a Fourth of July party where everyone contributes something. I was pulled aside as I was leaving and told “You WILL make these every year from now on, right??” My husband loved them too and he is not normally a butterscotch guy. Thanks for a great recipe. The addition of mollases is definitely the key!
Wait, what happened to the wonderful Honey Peanut Butter Oatmeal Scotchies that used to be at this link? I’ve made them so many times, and now they’re just gone! They had photos on a turquoise plate. It was a completely different recipe, with flaxseed and whole wheat flour. They were wonderful. Please say they’re coming back??
Hi Bethany! We were no longer satisfied with the outcome of that older recipe, so we unpublished it. We still have it, so send us an email and we can forward it to you. sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com Thank you!
I only had crisco, but these came out beautifully and taste amazing. Will definitely make again.
These are delicious, although I did make a few changes to suit my dietary needs…. First, I didn’t have any molasses on hand, but I did have some sorghum so I used that instead, and lowered the salt just a smidge. More notably, I cut both the butter and the sugars in half! They still turned out great! I was able to get 35 cookies out of a single batch this way, and they came in at about 134 calories each! Thanks for the recipe!
I just found this recipe, and I’ve loved everything I else I’ve made from your site. Quick question for you, have you ever chopped up pecans and added them to these cookies? If so, how much did you use? Thank you!
Hi Stephani, you can use 1 and 1/2 cups of butterscotch morsels and 1/2 cup of pecans. Enjoy!
I don’t know what happened, but these are the flattest cookies I’ve made in years. I bake cookies often, and followed these directions to a T. Quite disappointing, although I will still say the flavor is good. Probably won’t make these again, and if I do I’ll add flour.
Most likely your butter was too soft. It is the most common culprit of flat cookies.
Hi Sally! Dumb question, but which size cookie scoop do you recommend using — medium or large?
Hi Troy, large cookie scoops typically hold 3 Tablespoons of dough which is perfect for this recipe.
I used a 1 1/2 Tablespoon scoop and the recipe made 57 cookies. Baking time was 10-11 minutes at 325 convection oven
I’ve made these twice and the first time they came out great, this time however the cookie dough is really wet. I’m tempted to add more oats but I think I’m just going to refrigerate it for a while and see if it sets up. What do you recommend for this issue?
Hi Hannah! Did you make any changes? You could try beating in a couple Tbs of flour or some oats to help it firm up if refrigerating doesn’t work.
Most likely your butter was too soft. It is the most common culprit of wet dough and flat cookies.
These are SO good! Made recipe mostly as listed, even had molasses on hand which I think took this cookie to a new level. But, as someone else posted, the current bags of morsels fall short of the 2 cups. It still made a yummy cookie. I just copied onto a recipe card (yes, I’m a dinosaur) for future use. Thanks for the great recipe!
May I freeze these?