How to make old-fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies! These cookies are densely packed with chewy pulverized oats and then dipped in a shiny vanilla frosting. Recipe includes a how-to video at the bottom of the post!
I’ve already shared quite a few oatmeal cookies: my soft, bakery-style oatmeal cookies, an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe, and my popular no-bake cookies! Today I’m sharing a fun, old-fashioned, frosted favorite!
Hello and Happy Monday! I’m back in cold and snowy Pennsylvania after spending the weekend in 75 degree Florida (and Disney!) with my family.
Returning to icy weather isn’t exactly my idea of the best way to start off the week, but at least we have Iced Oatmeal Cookies, right?
With firm exteriors and chewy centers, these cookies aren’t as soft as some of my other favorites, but they were specifically designed to have this firm but chewy texture. These are fun and beautiful cookies (can cookies be beautiful? these are to me), so let’s get started!
Tips for Making Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Start with melted butter, but let it cool!
Using melted butter is one of my favorite techniques when making cookie recipes. It imparts a chewy texture and excellent flavor. However, let the butter cool until it’s near room temperature before adding your sugars. It should still be liquid (not re-solidified) but if the butter is hot it will melt your sugars, leaving you with a greasy and unusable dough.
You will need a food processor for this recipe
To give these iced oatmeal cookies that dense, chewy texture, I found the best method was to briefly pulse the oats in a food processor. You don’t get the same results using instant oats, so I do recommend starting with old fashioned oats and pulsing them. This is the food processor I use and love (affiliate).
Your dough will be crumbly once you add your oats
This is OK and the dough is supposed to be this way! Because of this, though, you will want to use your hands to work the dough together and roll it into smooth balls (for neat, uniform-looking iced oatmeal cookies).
It’s also very important (with all cookies, but especially these) that you do not over-measure your flour or you’ll end up with dry, crumbly cookies. I’ve included notes in the recipe below on how to properly measure your flour: stir, spoon, and level, never scoop your flour!
Oatmeal Cookie Icing
The frosting that I used for these iced oatmeal cookies is essentially the same as my sugar cookie icing. I absolutely love this recipe because 1) it’s not royal icing, which I don’t care for, 2) it’s simple to make –essentially foolproof, and 3) it dries shiny and hard on your cookies.
It does use light corn syrup (this is what helps give these cookies their beautiful shiny finish), but I’ve learned that not everyone keeps corn syrup on hand or loves using it (which I thinks comes from a misunderstanding… corn syrup is not the same as high fructose corn syrup). I tested the icing without and found that it will work if you leave out the syrup. However, you won’t get the signature shine and the icing doesn’t seem to set up quite as firmly as it does with the corn syrup.
When made as directed, iced oatmeal cookies will take several hours at room temperature for the frosting to set completely and for the cookies to be stackable without messing up the icing.
Enjoy!
Other Recipes You Might Like:
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Cookie Bars
- Oatmeal Muffins
- White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled 10 minutes
- 1 cup (200 g) dark brown sugar tightly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cup (250 g*) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups (190 g) old fashioned rolled oats
ICING
- 1 ½ cups (190 g) powdered sugar
- 1 ½ -2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoons light corn syrup**
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine melted, cooled butter and sugars and stir until well-combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) dark brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add egg yolks and vanilla extract and stir well. Set aside.2 large egg yolks, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.2 cup (250 g*) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until completely combined.
- Now you'll need to prepare your oats. Add old fashioned oats to the basin of a food processor and pulse briefly (7-10 times, don't over-do it or you'll end up with oat flour!)2 cups (190 g) old fashioned rolled oats
- Stir your oats into your cookie dough until well incorporated.
- Scoop dough by heaping 2 teaspoon-sized scoops and gently roll between your palms to form a smooth round ball (dough may be crumbly). Place cookie dough at least 2" apart on baking sheet and use your fingers to gently press down on each cookie to lightly flatten.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 12 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool completely before covering with icing.
TO MAKE ICING
- Combine powdered sugar, 1 ½ Tablespoons milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Whisk until well-combined, if frosting is too thick, add more milk as needed. The frosting has reached the correct consistency when you lift up the spoon and it drizzles a thin ribbon of icing back into the bowl, that should hold its shape for just a second before dissolving back into the rest of the icing (see my video below for a visual).1 ½ cups (190 g) powdered sugar, 1 ½ -2 Tablespoons milk, 1 Tablespoons light corn syrup**, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- To dip cookies, grip cookie by the base and dip just the surface of each cookie into the frosting. Pull straight out and place dipped cookie icing-side-up on a cooling rack to set. It will take several hours at room temperature for the icing to set completely and for the cookies to be stackable.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you purchase anything through these links I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please view the disclosure policy for more information.
Helen Brockman
I just baked this recipe and weighed all the ingredients. But the dough was so dry, I had a hard time getting it to stick together. And the finished product is crumbly. The taste is great though. I live at 6,000 feet altitude and am wondering if that’s what the issue is. What liquid might I add in a small increment so the dough is easier to handle and the baked cookie will not crumble.
Thanks in advance.
Sam Merritt
Hi Helen! I’m sorry to hear this happened! It could certainly be your altitude causing issues. Unfortunately I am not very familiar with high altitude baking. I think I would attempt to cut the flour a little bit before adding more wet ingredients. I’m glad you were still able to enjoy them. 🙂