Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
- By Amy Dong
- Updated Dec. 5, 2024
Soft, chewy, and buttery, these Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies are packed with rolled oats, brown sugar, and butterscotch chips. Both the dough and baked cookies freeze well.
In This Article
This post may contain affiliate links, at no additional cost to you.
Why This Recipe Stands Out
These Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies rival our favorite Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Here’s why we love this recipe:
- Packed with Butterscotch: We don’t go light on the butterscotch chips in this recipe. Every bite is chock full of these melty, sweet morsels.
- Hearty Rolled Oats: Just like our recipe for the Perfect Oatmeal Cookies, we use old-fashioned rolled oats for that rustic, toothsome texture and semi-healthy kick.
- Great for Sharing with Friends: This recipe makes 48 cookies – plenty of room to share with friends while still enjoying some yourself!
- Dough Freezes Well: Like many of our favorite cookie recipes, the dough for Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies freezes really well, making cookies equally as soft, chewy, and fresh even out of the freezer.
What is Butterscotch?
We’ve all probably heard of butterscotch, but what exactly is it? Butterscotch is made by heating butter and brown sugar until it forms a substance similar to caramel. In fact, the only difference between caramel and butterscotch is that caramel uses granulated sugar and butterscotch uses brown sugar, which gives it it’s characteristic buttery-molasses flavor.
Key Recipe Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter – Let butter soften at room temperature for 1 hour before mixing with the sugar.
- Sugar – We use equal parts granulated and brown sugar for the perfect balance of softness and chewiness, not to mention the delicious molasses flavor from the brown sugar.
- Eggs – Eggs help our cookies hold together perfectly while baking.
- Vanilla Extract – An essential for any type of cookie, vanilla extract makes the house smell amazing while these are baking!
- Cinnamon – Cinnamon pairs wonderfully with the rolled oats and butterscotch.
- Rolled Oats – Old-fashioned rolled oats provide these cookies with a hearty flavor and chewy, toothsome texture.
- Butterscotch Chips – The star ingredient of these cookies, butterscotch chips, bring melty, buttery bursts of sweetness to the cookies.
Substitutions And Variations
Here are some of our favorite recipe variations for Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies:
- Add Chocolate Chips: Feel free to substitute white, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate chips in this recipe like we do in these Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
- Add Nuts: Try adding roasted chopped pecans or walnuts into the mix.
- Add Icing: Spruce up the cookies by adding a super easy Sugar Cookie Icing or try the icing we use in these Pumpkin Spice Cookies.
- Make Cookies Healthy: Check out our recipe for Healthy Cookies, where we mix in shredded carrots, sunflower seeds, and whole-wheat flour. Feel free to experiment with healthy add-ins.
Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions
- Beat butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt in a separate bowl.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix on medium-low just until combined.
- Stir in the rolled oats and butterscotch chips by hand.
- Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Form 1.5″ dough balls and place on parchment-lined baking tray. Slightly flatten each cookie into a disc.
- Bake at 350F for 9-10 minutes. Let cookies cool completely before serving. Enjoy!
For full list of ingredients and instructions, see recipe card below.
How To Prep Ahead
As we mentioned earlier, Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie dough can be prepared in advance to bake later. Here’s how:
- Chill Dough in the Fridge: You can chill dough airtight up to 5 days. Let dough soften at room temperature until it is pliable before baking.
- Freeze Unbaked Cookies: Freeze the cookie dough after shaping dough balls into discs. To prevent the cookie balls from sticking together, flash freeze them on a parchment-lined tray before transferring to a freezer safe container.
- Freeze Baked Cookies: Baked cookies will stay fresh chilled in the fridge for up to 3 days. After this, they can start to get a bit crisper. You can also freeze baked cookies for up to 2 months.
Commonly Asked Questions
Use old-fashioned rolled oats for best results, as quick oats have a very different texture. Rolled oats give oatmeal cookies that satisfying chewy, toothsome texture.
The two main culprits for tough cookies are over-mixing and over-baking. Make sure to only mix the wet and dry ingredients until they’re barely combined. Also, take care not to over-bake. Cookies may seem a touch underbaked when they’re done, but they will set nicely as they cool.
If your cookies spread too much, it’s likely that you either used too little flour or didn’t chill the dough long enough. Make sure when measuring the flour, that you’re scooping the flour into the cups and leveling off with a butter knife. The dough for this recipe is best chilled for 30 minutes to 1 hour to reach the perfect texture.
This can happen sometimes with oatmeal cookies since they tend to have a thicker batter. We like slightly flattening the cookie dough balls before baking to help them spread while baking. Otherwise, you can use a spatula to gently press the cookies down right after baking when they’re still hot.
Did you make this?
Please give us a rating and comment below. We love hearing from you!
Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, just softened
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1 TB vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp table salt
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 11 oz butterscotch chips
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and both sugars. Beat with paddle attachment at medium-high, until butter mixture is fluffy and light, 3 minutes.
- Scape down sides of bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and beat to combine, 30 seconds.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt.
- Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, on medium-low speed just until dry ingredients are mixed in; don't over beat.
- Stir in the rolled oats and butterscotch chips by hand.
- Cover and chill dough in fridge about 30 minutes to an hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment.
- Form 1.5-inch dough balls and place balls 2 inches apart on cookies sheets. Slightly flatten them a bit.
- Bake 9-10 minutes. It will seem under baked, but firms up when cool.
- Let cool on baking sheet about 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- If using salted butter, reduce salt to 1/4 tsp.
- For butter/sugar mixture, you want to beat it for the full 3 minutes or continue beating until the texture resembles marshmallow fluff. Beat it until it’s smooth, airy, light, and fluffy. No longer dense nor grainy.
- If cookies don’t spread much after baking, you can gently flatten them with a rubber spatula while they’re still hot.
- Dough can be transferred to an airtight container to chill for up to 3 days; let it soften at room temperature a bit if it’s hard to scoop.
- Dough can be frozen airtight for up to 2 months.
- Feel free to mix up white chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips with butterscotch chips.
- These cookies are part of our delicious Cookie Recipes Collection.
Nutrition (per serving)
More To Bake And Eat
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies – Loaded with the goodness of rolled oats and plump raisins, these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are every bit as good as bakery cookies.
- Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies – Packed with chunks of bittersweet chocolate and wholesome oats, these cookies are an ultra-satisfying treat.
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies – These Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies boast a deep, nutty flavor and chewy texture.
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars – These oatmeal bars make the perfect quick, easy, and delicious make-ahead breakfast.