Soft Iced Oatmeal Cookies
These iced oatmeal cookies are soft and chewy, made with brown butter, warm spices, and lightly dipped in vanilla icing. They are even better than the classic store-bought cookies!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 14 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 ¾ cup + 1 tbsp old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon + 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon + 1 tsp unsulphered molasses
- 1 cup + 1 tablespoon + 2 tsp all-purpose flour *See notes below for measuring*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Brown the butter. In a stainless steel pan, cook the butter over medium heat, stirring frequently. When the bottom of the pan has brown bits of butter solid and it starts to smell nutty, scrape all of it into your mixing bowl. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Hot butter will make the cookies spread too much when baking!
- Pulse the oats. Pulse the rolled oats in a food processor or dry blender until half of the oats are oat flour with some whole oat pieces remaining. (See a visual photo in the post above!)
- Whisk the butter and sugars. When the butter is cooled, vigorously whisk in the light brown sugar and granulated sugar for 1 minute until well combined.
- Whisk in the wet ingredients. Whisk in the egg, vanilla, and molasses.
- Mix in the dry ingredients. Fold in the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- Scoop and chill the cookie dough. Scoop the dough into two tablespoon-sized balls and place them onto a parchment-lined baking tray. Chill the tray in the freezer for 3-4 hours minimum, overnight is best!
- Preheat the oven. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Bake the oatmeal cookies. Bake the cookies spaced at least two inches apart for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. For crispy cookies, bake 2-3 minutes longer. Let the cookies cool completely before glazing!
- Make the vanilla icing. Whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk until smooth. The glaze should be thick but should flow off the end of the whisk easily. Adjust with more powdered sugar or milk as needed.
- Glaze the cookies. Quickly and lightly dip the tops of the cookies into the icing. Let the glaze set for 1-2 hours before packaging, then enjoy!
- Store iced cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. You can freeze the cookie dough balls in a freezer bag or airtight container for up to 3 months.
Notes
*Measure your dry ingredients properly. This is my #1 baking tip! Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour as this always leads to using too much flour. Instead, use the spoon-level method. This means fluffing the flour first, then spooning it into your measuring cup/spoon. For the BEST results, use a kitchen scale!*
Glaze completely cool cookies. If they are not completely cool after baking, the glaze will rip the top of the cookie off!
Make the glaze thick. A thin glaze will run off the sides instead of settling onto the top. Dip one cookie to see how the glaze behaves, then add more powdered sugar or milk as needed.
Quick and light dip! To get the icing to set just on the top of the cookie, dip them quickly and lightly. Do not press the cookies too far into the glaze!