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Delightfully soft and chewy, these golden brown butterscotch cookies are exploding with oats and butterscotch chips! A touch of orange zest and a drizzle of molasses take this from a good recipe to a great recipe! No chilling required, so preheat your oven to 350 degrees and jump to the recipe!
Legendary Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies
We’re getting our Christmas tree tomorrow morning! Actually, I should say we’re chopping down our Christmas tree tomorrow morning. We found an adorable little Christmas tree farm not far from our apartment, and they provide you with gloves, an axe, and even hot cocoa and free candy canes!
I have so many fond memories of visiting Christmas tree farms as child, so I’m very excited to continue this tradition as an adult. Question: Are you getting a tree this year?
In preparation for our big day at the Christmas tree farm, I baked our favorite butterscotch oatmeal cookies! AKA oatmeal scotchies! I chose this recipe because it’s always a crowd pleaser! And because it makes a TON of cookies! So there’s plenty to share with the owners of the farm and anyone else who wants one!
Because the only thing better than cocoa… is cocoa AND cookies. Am I right?
Plus, there’s no such thing as too many cookies. Especially in the month of December! It’s holiday law… or something like that.
Butterscotch Cookies: The Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour: I don’t suggest subbing any other variety of flour.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon and cardamom are optional, but add delightful flavor!
- Baking Soda: Helps the dough balls spread in the oven.
- Salt: I suggest fine sea salt for the cookie dough, but you can add some flaky sea salt to the top of the baked cookies if desired.
- Butter: Salted or unsalted butter will work fine in this butterscotch cookie recipe!
- Sugars: A combo of light brown sugar and white sugar (granulated sugar) sweeten and add texture to these cookies.
- Orange: I love using orange zest and orange extract. But if you don’t have either on hand, you can leave it out.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds rich vanilla flavor.
- Eggs: Use large eggs and bring them to room temperature.
- Molasses: Use regular molasses not blackstrap molasses.
- Old-Fashioned Oats: Use old-fashioned oats not quick oats.
- Butterscotch Chips: Add a sweet flavor, but can be replaced with regular chocolate chips if needed.
Where to Find Butterscotch Chips
Our absolute favorite butterscotch chips are from Guittard and you can buy them online here. I love these ones because they have a great flavor and melt better than the other brands I’ve tried. That said, Nestle Butterscotch Morsels are much cheaper and will do the job just fine!
And because I know someone will ask: yes, you can totally just use chocolate chips instead! But also, you’ll no longer be making oatmeal scotchies. So I would just suggest making my chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies instead. But you do you 😉
Quick Oats vs Old-Fashioned Oats
This recipe calls for old-fashioned oats, also known as rolled oats. Quick oats, aka instant oats, are NOT recommended. This is because quick oats absorb a lot more moisture and almost work like flour. So they will yield cakey cookies that are much less chewy.
I suggest stocking up on old-fashioned oats, because if you need quick oats, you can always use a blender to pulse them down. But unfortunately, you don’t have that option with instant oats since they’re already so fine.
Secrets to Perfect Oatmeal Scotchies
- Make sure your butter and eggs are both at room temperature before you begin baking! So be sure to set them out about 20 minutes before you start baking.
- To properly beat the butter and sugar, you’ll need an electric mixer! You can use a large bowl and a handheld mixer or a stand mixer that’s fitted with a paddle attachment. Unfortunately I don’t recommend trying this recipe without one of those mixer options.
- Start off just beating the butter, then gradually add in the white sugar and brown sugar. You want to beat until the mixture is fluffy – and scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl to ensure even mixing.
- Before you add the eggs, toss in the orange zest, orange extract, and vanilla and beat until well combined. Adding the ingredients at this stage enhances their flavor.
- Once you add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, etc), mix only until combined. I like to to turn my mixer off and use a strong spatula or wooden spoon to do this. That way I have more control. You don’t want to over-mix here or your butterscotch cookies will be cakey.
- Have your your baking sheets lined with parchment paper before you begin baking. Then you can simply roll the dough balls (3 Tablespoon sized balls) and bake.
- These cookies bake in about 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. The middle should still be a bit soft.
Although I’m a big fan of warm cookies, I do find these are best when allowed to cool completely. So I suggest placing the baking tray on top of a wire rack to cool completely for at least 30 minutes before digging in!
Chewy Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies AKA Oatmeal Scotchies
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional, but delightful)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (8 ounces, 1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons molasses (not blackstrap)
- 2 and 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats, divided
- 2 cups butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350(F). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, cardamom, baking soda, and salt. Set aside until needed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth.
- Add in both sugars and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add in the orange zest, orange extract, and vanilla extract, beat until combined.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as needed. Beat in the molasses.
- On low speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture, beating until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
- Stir in 2 and 1/2 cups the oats and all of the butterscotch chips, beat until just combined.
- Scoop 2-inch balls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 and 1/2 inches between so they have room to spread. Sprinkle the tops of the cookie dough with remaining oats.
- Bake, one sheet at a time, for 12 to 13 minutes, or until cookies are golden and set at the edges and still slightly soft in the center.
- Cool cookies on the baking sheet, placed on top of a cooling rack, for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever made! We did half butterscotch chips and half dark chocolate chips. Yum!