Homemade Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cream Pies

One of my biggest character flaws is the ability to find blame on someone other than myself, no matter what. Kevin receives the brunt of all the displaced blame, and it’s become quite the ongoing joke in our relationship, so much so, that whenever anything goes awry, Kevin will immediately ask how we can trace fault back to him. Luckily, I’ve realized this shortcoming in myself, and I’m happy to report that I’ll now accept at least twenty percent of the blame…

One thing I know I can absolutely blame on Kevin, is my unwavering sweet tooth. Before he came along, I could pass up any cookie, piece of candy, or chocolate that came my way, and now, I’m like a weak five year old who can’t keep her hands out of the cookie jar. Pregnancy only accelerated my love of all things sweet, and I indulged in one of my very favorite confections – an oatmeal cream pie – at our neighborhood bakery at least once a week.

Even with my absent sweet tooth as a kid, I was always a sucker for an oatmeal cream pie. Back then, it was the Little Debbie packaged variety, which I was totally content with up until I had the real deal at my girlfriend’s wedding last year – now, I’m never going back.

At $3.95 a pop, my bi-weekly oatmeal cream pie habit, has become quite an expense in this budget-minded gal, so I set out to make my own version at home. Plus, why have two oatmeal cream pies a week when I can have a dozen at my disposal??

Now, I’ll level with you, this is not an easy recipe. This is not a quick recipe. There are three components; the cookie, the frosting, and the salted caramel. All made from scratch, all essential to the final product.

The cookie recipe is surprisingly enough, a VERY liberal adaptation of the recipe on the back of the oatmeal container – since I’m not an avid baker, I used the recipe as a subtle guideline on measurements. I added in some molasses since I was using light brown sugar, some instant pudding for softness, and shortening, because, frankly, I was curious how it would change the texture.

Luckily, my curiosity paid off, because the end cookie is chewy in the middle, super crisp on the outside, and the perfect thickness to encase a sweet and salty cream cheese and salted caramel filling.

A few notes about the cookies. You MUST chill the dough, this is essential, the cookies are already on the thin side, and if you don’t chill the dough, they will just spread and melt on to the pan. I’d suggest forming them and then chilling them overnight, but you can also pop them in the freezer for 45 minutes if you’re in a hurry.

The filling is a super easy cream cheese frosting you can throw together in under ten minutes. You just whip up a little bit of softened cream cheese and butter, then slowly add in your vanilla and powdered sugar.

For the salted caramel…I know, making homemade caramel can be daunting, BUT it’s really super easy. Add your sugar to a cold pan, then turn the heat on a medium-low, once the sugar begins to caramelize on the edges and melts, I start to stir. When all of the sugar melts and is an amber color, I add in my butter, stir until it’s completely melted, and then take it off the heat and add in the cream. The mixture will sputter and boil, just keep stirring and it will eventually settle down and come together.

All that’s left is to assemble – one cookie gets slathered with cream cheese frosting, then drizzled with the homemade caramel, and topped with another cookie.

If you don’t eat them all right away (you probably will), keep them chilled in the fridge in an airtight container and bring them out about 30 minutes before you serve them.