Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies with peanut butter filling from Joy the Baker’s Homemade Decadence cookbook. Soft, chewy oatmeal cookies with smooth and creamy peanut butter frosting. Absolute perfection.

Joy the Baker’s new cookbook Homemade Decadence came out last week, and these cookies were the first thing I made. It was a difficult decision, to be sure, but it was absolutely the right one because I. AM. OBSESSED.

Homemade Decadence is bursting with tantalizing recipes (like Apple Pie with Cheddar-Bacon Crust, Champagne-Sorbet Floats, Sausage and Blackberry Breakfast Pizza, and the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pretzel Layer Cake on the cover), but these Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies were the perfect choice because:

a) I had been craving oatmeal cookies

b) I was home alone and it is a truth universally acknowledged that oatmeal cookies are probably the most comforting dessert ever, and

c) when is oatmeal + peanut butter + chocolate not the perfect choice?

I rest my case.

If you don’t own Homemade Decadence yet, I advise you to remedy that, like, now. Joy’s eponymous first cookbook has been our baking bible since it came out two years ago, and I can already tell you that Homemade Decadence is going to find itself propped up against a container of flour, suffering the occasional splatter of butter and flour, just as often.

Since making these Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies, we’ve already made two other recipes from it – frosting and cake for our dad’s birthday cake (which you won’t see on the blog…sorry! we ate it before it could be photographed…oops).

I think we love Joy the Baker so much because her recipes embody the same baking philosophy we subscribe to here on The Batter Thickens: our guiding philosophy is simply to obey the ‘yum’ factor. We’re not about following the latest food trends or making our desserts paleo/gluten-free/vegan or adding so many frills that it’s intimidating. All we care about is whether something makes us think “wow, YUM” when we see it. Desserts don’t have to be complicated to be delicious, in ideation or creation.

These Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies are the perfect example. There’s nothing complicated about them whatsoever. You may even have had this exact cookie combo before. It’s just chewy oatmeal cookies sandwiched around creamy peanut butter filling, with chocolate chunks.

Joy’s recipe called for pecans to be mixed in to the oatmeal cookie dough, but I’m not big on nuts in my baked goods, so I substituted dark chocolate shavings. (Thank you, me.) The filling is basically frosting, but a little firmer and less fluffy so that it doesn’t ooze out the sides when you bite into it. (Thank you, Joy.) Joy’s recipe suggests that you store them in the fridge. I did this, and I would recommend you do so as well. Keeping them refrigerated makes them last longer (not that they’ll last that long anyway…) and serving them chilled also helps prevent you having a big ole ooze situation on your hands when you eat them (not cute).

I finished the last of these cookies yesterday and I’m mourning them. I’m serious. It was love at first bite. I’m not getting over this feeling any time soon.

**Disclaimer: This is post is not actually sponsored by Joy the Baker, believe it or not.

– Molly

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

Author: Molly
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 13 minutes
Total Time: 38 minutes
Yield: 24 sandwiches 1x

Ingredients

Oatmeal Cookies:

1 stick butter, at room temp
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 coarsely chopped Ghirardelli dark chocolate

Peanut Butter Filling:

3 tbsp butter, at room temp
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3–4 tbsp milk

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Instructions

For the cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter and sugar until creamy, 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and beat on medium for about 1 minute. Add vanilla and beat until incorporated.
In a medium bowl, whisk together oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add this mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low until just incorporated. Stir in your mix-ins of choice.
Scoop dough by heaping tablespoons, rolling into a ball before placing them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, spacing balls about 1 1/2 inches apart.
Bake for 10-13 minutes, until cookies are a little underdone. Let cool completely before sandwiching.

For the filling:

Beat butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 3-5 minutes. With mixer running, drizzle in the vanilla. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time, until filling is smooth and will spread easily.
When the cookies have completely cooled, flip them over and spread one side with filling. Top with a similarly sized/shaped cookie.
Wrap individually and store in refrigerator. These cookies are best served slightly chilled.