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 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
- 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 (2 sticks; 230g) 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 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.
The flavor is awesome!! My cookies came out really flat though. What could I have done wrong? Or is that how they are supposed to be?
Hi Laura, here are a few more tips for helping to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope this helps!
Mmmmm these are just so yummy. I may or may not have eaten 4 cookies after they came out of the oven. Couldn’t stop. Whoops 🙂
I left out the molasses because I didn’t have any and they’re still delicious.
If you love butterscotch you will love these! I keep this dough in my freezer and these cookies are always a hit! I have used GF all purpose flour and they turned out great. I do sprinkle a bit of kosher salt on the tops when they come out of oven to balance out a bit of the sweetness.
I made a batch this evening. I didn’t chill. Cookies were great. Will definitely make again. I plan to use this base recipe
Best Oatmeal Scotchie Recipe and tips were so helpful! I add a tsp. of starch for chewier cookies. Ty!
Made these last night! I had doubts, but they turned out so good!!!! Very rich and delicious and buttery! Only thing I did different was add a cup of chopped walnuts and an 1/8 teaspoon maple extract, and increased cinnamon to 1 tsp. They really were amazing!! I weighed the ingredients and the cookies were the perfect texture and very chewy not cakey.
Great recipe! I did use half shortening and half butter with very good results and the cookies did not spread.
These cookies are delicious! However, mine also flattened like a pancake. Could half the butter be swapped out for shortening? Would this help keep their shape? Thank you!
Hi Angie, we don’t recommend swapping out for shortening here, but here are some of our tips for how to prevent cookies from over spreading. Hope these tips help for next time, and thank you for giving these cookies a try!
Came out perfect and delicious. Only change was for altitude. I live at 6100 ft, so I reduced sugars to 1 1/3 cups combined. Also, no need to refrigerate the dough, as it was 18 degrees outside, and cool in the house.
Great cookies!
I have tried this recipe twice (I love butterscotch) and have gotten super flat cookies each time. Is the flour weight correct? (I weigh the flour). Any help is appreciated!
Hi Jen, the flour weight is correct, but here are a few more tips for helping to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope this helps!
Wow- this is my new favorite cookie! I added extra cinnamon and a little maple extract.to die for! I followed the recipe exactly and chilled for 50 minutes. They are perfect!
This recipe calls for way too much salt. They are inedible
I actually added a tsp of salt (used unsalted butter). Mine definitely were not too salty at all..
can i use less sugar? it is too sweet for me.
Hi Diana, while you can certainly try reducing the amount of sugar in these cookies, the taste, texture, and structure will be different. Let us know what you try!
This recipe has way too much sugar and the cookies will burn and need to be taken out way before the 13 minutes, especially if you are using dark brown sugar. I followed the recipe exactly with no substitutions or changes but they are not edible. Made two baking trays and threw the rest of the dough away
Could I use whole wheat flour or no? Never sure when I can swap it for APF
Hi, my stand mixer doesn’t have a paddle attachment. Just the two regular beaters and 2 dough hooks. Will using the regular beaters make a big difference in the cookies? I tried these at a bake sale and was told they came from your site.
Hi Joni, Your regular beaters should work just fine. Enjoy!
Hi, if I use ths dough for bars is the temperature the same as for cookies?
Thanks, Annie
Hi Annie, you can turn this cookie recipe into a cookie bar recipe. This cookie dough should fit into a 9×13 inch baking pan or for much thicker cookie bars, use a 9×9 inch. Same temperature, we’re unsure of the exact bake time though.
Could this recipe be used to make oatmeal scotchie bars? Would you recommend any changes before trying it as bars? Thanks!
Hi Alyssa, yes, you can turn this cookie recipe into a cookie bar recipe. This cookie dough should fit into a 9×13 inch baking pan or for much thicker cookie bars, use a 9×9 inch. We’re unsure of the exact bake time though.
I made it into bars! I followed the recipe exactly except I subbed 1/2 cup of the butter with half cup of butter flavor shortening. I baked it in 9×13 glass pan for 18 mins on 350. You could go 20 if you like it a bit more well done. It makes thick bars.
I can’t express how much my family LOVES this recipe! The only thing I did differently was add a teaspoon of cinnamon opposed to a half teaspoon (I love extra cinnamon in oatmeal cookies). The molasses makes a huge difference so I threw my old scotchie recipe away and give THIS recipe to everyone I know! Thank you so much for sharing this!
This is hands down my favorite oatmeal butterscotch recipe. However the next time I make them I will skip the 45 minute chill process and cut it down because it’s kind of counterintuitive to chill it and then wait for it to be useable.
It took me longer to get them in the oven from the batter phase then it did to make the batter and do my dishes lol
LOVE THESE!! Best recipe yet !!
I’m noticing a difference in quantity of ingredients when I measure by weight vs volume. Example, 240 g of oats is 2 1/2 cups.
Which measurement should I use, volume or weight?
I haven’t mixed anything yet.
Hi Mary, a cup isn’t always a cup, but a gram or ounce is always a gram or ounce! Basically, when in doubt go by the weight – it’s the more precise measurement. And always make sure to spoon and level your dry ingredients – here’s more information on properly measuring baking ingredients!
These are completely flawless. People I gave them to literally couldn’t stop going on about them. Only change I made is to add vanilla butter emulsion, which probably wasn’t needed here but adds incredible flavor
These cookies are amazing. I’ve made them several times. Everyone in my family raves about them. The perfect oatmeal scotchie recipe.
These cookies are incredible! Some of the best we’ve ever eaten!
Hi and thank you for this great baking site. I appreciate Sally’s very much. I am a newly diagnosed cardiac patient, and because of this, I am wondering if I can lower the cholesterol in these delicious cookies by substituting 2 egg whites for 1 of the eggs or something similar. Please share any and all tips for cutting the cholesterol in these Oatmeal Scotchies. Thank you very much! Happy baking!
Hi Tammy, the egg yolks play an important part in the texture and structure of the cookies, so it would take a bit of recipe testing to find a way to effectively remove them from the recipe without changing cookie too much. You may certainly do some experimenting, though! And if you’re interested, here are our healthy sweet recipes. Hopefully you can find a few in there to enjoy.
These remind me of my great grandmother! I have tried (unsuccessfully) to make them in the past but this recipe, and more importantly, the helpful tips make me believe I can actually make a good cookie ! wish me luck!
I use gluten free flour and add some unsweetened coconut flakes. My family loves these cookies and no one cares that they are gluten free!
My new favorite scotchie wow. I substituted the butter for coconut oil. 1:1 weight and they turned out amazing
These cookies are amazing. Do you happen to have a nutritional chart on theses for sugar and carbs. Can these be made with Splenda sugar and Splenda brown sugar?
Hi Lana, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076 We don’t recommend using sugar substitute for the best results.
Uh oh i supplemented honey for yhe molasses. Didn’t see the recommendation to leave out. Hopefully they turn out ok!
My husband is a cookie snob and his exact words were “these cookies are phenomenal! They’re better than Panera’s cookie!”
I tried this recipe minus the molasses and got a flatter cookie. I did chill for 45 minutes and used a 3 TBSP cookie scoop. Any suggestions on why mine would have spread so much? Everyone loved them anyway!
Hi Sarah, flat cookies are usually caused by butter that is too warm or under measuring flour. This post on how to prevent cookies from spreading will also be a helpful resource. Glad the cookies were a hit!
These were spectacular! I followed the recipe (used a kitchen scale for measuring and dark brown sugar) with the exception of using salted butter (kept the salt listed in the recipe), adding the zest of 2 oranges and doubled the cinnamon. I chilled the dough overnight and then did 75 gram balls which yielded 16 cookies.
These were delicious and I will be using this recipe from now on with my few modifications. The molasses really helped give these an extra umph. I definitely recommend trying these!
May I substitute Crisco butter sticks for unsalted butter?
Hi Bonnie, we don’t recommend it. It’s best to stick with butter here for best results!
Should regular oats be used? Or can quick cooking oats be used?
Hi Dan, we recommend using old fashioned whole oats and not quick oats. Quick oats will absorb too much liquid which dries out the cookies.