Iced Oatmeal Cookies
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Iced oatmeal cookies are a classic, old-fashioned favorite. These cookies are tender and chewy with a sweet vanilla icing on top. The cookie dough is made with brown sugar, molasses, a hint of cinnamon, and vanilla for a super flavorful oatmeal cookie.
These iced oatmeal cookies taste cozy and comforting with a cold glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee or tea. I love this recipe in the fall and winter because of the hints of molasses and spices, but these cookies are delicious all year round. The cookies are perfectly chewy, and the oats leave a bumpy surface on top that’s perfect for the thick vanilla glaze.
If you ever think oatmeal cookies are boring, then these cookies will change your mind.
Making Iced Oatmeal Cookies
This cookie recipe is adapted from my favorite chewy oatmeal cookie recipe. The recipe uses a combination of quick oats and large rolled oats. The large rolled oats provide more texture, whereas the quick oats give the cookies with a more uniform shape because they’re smaller. Note that for thicker cookies, you can chill the dough, but I don’t find it necessary in this recipe.
- Prep. Preheat the oven and line your cookie sheets. I always line my cookie sheets for easier cleanup and to avoid the cookie bottoms becoming too brown.
- Whisk the Dry Ingredients. Don’t forget the cinnamon – it really improves the flavor. Be sure to measure the flour properly – otherwise the cookies can become dry! Use a scale and weigh or whisk first, then spoon into dry measuring cups and level off the top.
- Cream the Butter & Sugars. Note that this recipe is developed using softened butter – melted butter or cold butter won’t produce the same results.
- Mix in the Eggs, Molasses and Vanilla. The molasses adds not only flavor, but also contributes to the chewy texture.
- Mix the Dry Ingredients into the Butter.
- Mix in the Oats. You can do this by hand – but I actually prefer to use an electric mixer because it can help to manually soften the oats.
- Form into Balls. I like to use a cookie scoop with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and place 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets.
- Bake. The cookies will need to bake for about 9-12 minutes, or until the tops look just set.
The cookies will need to completely cool before adding the glaze. If the cookies are still warm, then the glaze will melt instead of harden and crust.
For the icing, you’ll simply whisk together milk, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and salt. The icing should be thick and opaque in color, but still thin enough to drizzle. If your icing looks see through, then you’ll need to whisk in a little more powdered sugar. I like to pour the glaze into a shallow dish and give the tops of each cookie a quick dip. The icing should be tacky after you dip each cookie.
Recipe Tip
The glaze will take an hour or so to harden. Do not stack the cookies one on top of one another until the glaze is hard – otherwise they’ll stick together and create a bit of a mess.
Make Ahead Tips
- The cookie dough can chill in the fridge for up to 48 hours before baking. Simply cover tightly with plastic wrap.
- Cookie dough balls can be frozen for up to 2 months and baked from frozen. Form the dough into balls, place on a wax paper lined plate, cover and chill in the fridge for about 1 hour (or up to 48 hours) for the dough balls to firm up. Then place in a freezer bag. Bake the cookie dough balls as directed in the recipe, from frozen. They’ll just need 1-2 extra minutes.
Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Sheets
Ingredients
Oatmeal Cookies
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (281 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (226 grams), softened but not starting to melt
- 1 cup brown sugar (210 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 1 tablespoon molasses, or honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ cup quick oats (about 135 grams)
- 1½ cup large rolled oats (about 135 grams)
Vanilla Icing
- 2-2½ cup powdered sugar (220 – 275 grams), sifted
- 2-2½ tablepsoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Oatmeal Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamed.
- Beat the molasses, vanilla and 2 eggs into the butter mixture.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until smooth.
- Mix the oats into the butter mixture until evenly combined.
- Scoop the dough into balls with about 1½ tablespoons of dough each (I use a cookie scoop for this) and place 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets.
- Bake 1 cookie sheet at a time in the middle of the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes, or until the tops look just set.
- Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet.
Icing
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups powdered sugar, 1½ tablespoons milk and the vanilla. If the frosting seems too thin, whisk in a little extra powdered sugar. If it seems too thick, whisk in a little extra milk. It should be opaque in color, but still thin enough to drizzle.
- Be sure that the cookies are 100% cool before icing. Dip the top of each cookie in the glaze and set on a cooling rack or back on the cookie tray for the icing to harden.
Notes
- Molasses: Molasses can also be substituted with honey.
- Quick Oats and Large Oats: I prefer using the combination of both quick oats and large rolled oats. If you only have 1 variety, you can use a total of 3 cups of quick oats or 3 cups of large rolled oats. Do not use steel cut oats.
- Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Be sure that the icing has completely hardened before stacking.
- Nutrition: Details provided are an estimate only based on 1 cookie with icing, assuming 40 uniform cookies and all the icing is used.
