Oatmeal Scotchies

Our butterscotch and oatmeal cookies recipe makes deliciously buttery, cinnamon-spiced oatmeal cookies that have a wonderful texture thanks to being loaded with just the right amount of oats and butterscotch chips. After testing several variations of this recipe to perfect the ingredient ratios, we’re confident that this recipe will give you great results! With our easy to follow directions, step-by-step photos for visual aid, and tips for success, you’ll have an excellent batch of these cookies ready in no time!

If I could only bake one type of dessert for the rest of my life, it would undoubtedly be cookies. My love for this treat began in my childhood kitchen, where the scent of freshly baked cookies was a weekly tradition, thanks to my mom and grandma who believed any occasion—especially visits from guests—called for a warm batch from the oven.

For over two decades now, my mom and I have upheld our most cherished holiday tradition: a weekend-long baking marathon where we bake 12-15 different varieties of cookies. It’s more than just baking; it’s a special time to enjoy with our family and enjoy time together playing in the kitchen.

While I love pretty much all types of cookies, I’ve developed a particular appreciation for oatmeal varieties. There’s just something magical about how the oats create a treat with the perfect balance of textures. Mix in warm spices and butterscotch chips, and man oh man, do you have a next level cookie!

Ingredients for Our Butterscotch and Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

• Salted butter. Butter adds richness, tenderness, moisture, and structure to our cookie recipe.
• Granulated sugar AND brown sugar. Using a combination of sugars for our recipe results in cookies with just the right amount of sweetness, moistness, and chewiness. A higher ratio of brown sugar in our dough also helps give our cookies a slightly caramely flavor.
• Large egg. Using a whole egg (versus using just an egg yolk or an egg white) helps give our cookies structure and moisture, as well as working as a leavening agent.
• Vanilla extract and ground cinnamon. Both of these ingredients add depth of flavor to our cookies, with the cinnamon adding a lovely warm spice profile that compliments the butterscotch and oats in just the right way.
• Salt. Used to enhance the other ingredients’ flavors.
• Baking soda. Used as our main leavening agent, baking soda contributes to the chewy texture in our oatmeal cookies.
• All-purpose flour. This type of flour is ideal for baking cookies due to it’s optimal protein range for this type of baking. All-purpose flour helps to create soft and chewy cookies.
• Old-fashioned rolled oats. Old-fashioned oats (sometimes called rolled oats) add flavor, texture, and chewiness to our cookies. This type of oat will give your cookies the very best texture, but in a pinch quick-cooking oats (NOT instant oats) will work as an alternative. You can learn more about oats in our detailed informational post about the types of oats and how to use them.
• Butterscotch chips (sometimes called butterscotch morsels). Butterscotch has a rich and sweet flavor similar to caramel (and often described as having hints of toffee flavor). Due to it’s main ingredient of brown sugar, butterscotch often gives a deeper, more complex sweetness than standard caramel. In combination with our dough’s higher brown sugar content, the butterscotch chips really give these cookies a caramel-like undertone.

For ingredient measurements and recipe directions, refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.

How to Make Oatmeal Scotchies

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Set out your baking sheets, lining with parchment paper if desired (optional).

Add the the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer (or into a large mixing bowl).

Cream the butter and sugars together with a paddle attachment on low to medium speed (or using a wooden spoon if mixing by hand) until the mixture is lighter and a bit fluffy (it will still look a kind of grainy).

Add in the egg and vanilla extract into your bowl and stir to combine into the butter and sugar mixture.

Slowly add your dry ingredients, starting with the salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and flour to form a dough.

Once combined, stir in your oats until well distributed throughout the dough.

Gently mix in the butterscotch chips until well dispersed through the dough.

Using a medium cookie scoop (equal to about 2 Tablespoons worth of dough), scoop dough balls onto the cookie sheets, keeping them about 2 inches apart.

Optionally, press an additional 3-5 butterscotch chips on top of each dough balls.

Bake for 11-14 minutes until the edges look set and the cookies look golden brown.

Remove them from the oven and allow to set on the cookie sheet for a few minutes. Then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Oatmeal Scotchies Recipe Variations

Increase that pop of spice with a pinch of nutmeg. If you love spice cookies, adding in ⅛ teaspoon of nutmeg is a great option for this recipe!

Possible Dietary Restrictions?

This cookie recipe is vegetarian as written, but one easy swap makes this into a gluten free cookie recipe too! Most commercial butterscotch chips are gluten free (yay!), and you can buy gluten-free certified oats relatively easily these day (yay!), so all you need to do is swap out your all purpose flour. I’ve successfully used the Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour in all kinds of baking recipes. As the title suggestions, you swap out your regular flour one-to-one with this gluten free version.

As always, if you’re feeding these to someone with celiac disease, please check your labels to ensure you won’t have any issues.

Storage Information

Store fully cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days (if they last that long!).

Freezing Before or After Baking

This cookie recipe can also be frozen before or after baking!

To freeze before baking: Make the dough and scoop into dough balls onto a wax paper lined a baking sheet (you can place them close together, but try to avoid them touching). Place the dough balls into the freezer for 1 hour (this is called “flash freezing”). Once the cookie dough balls are cold and solid, transfer them into a large freezer bag that’s labeled with what they are, when they were made, and the cooking time and temp.

When you’re ready to enjoy, simply transfer the frozen cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet and bake from frozen! To bake from frozen, you’ll just need to add 2-3 minutes to the bake time listed in the recipe card.

I personally love this option because having a freezer stash of cookie dough balls is THE BEST. It gives you the opportunity to have freshly baked cookies any time, you can bake just a few at a time, and it’s a lifesaver if you have unexpected guests and want to share a sweet treat with them.

To freeze baked cookies: Place fully cooled cookies into a labeled freezer bag or air-tight container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, thaw the cookies overnight in the refrigerator. You can also pull them straight from the freezer (I’ve been known to do this…) but they will be harder.