Old Fashion Oatmeal Scotchie Cookies

Ingredients

• Butter unsalted 
• Light brown sugar
• Sugar white
• Egg
• Vanilla bean paste
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Ground cinnamon
• Kosher Salt
• Old fashion oats
• Butterscotch Chips

Types of Vanilla for Cookies

I guess you could say I am a Nielsen-Massey fan since that is what I usually purchase at the grocery store. Unfortunately, pure vanilla of any type is not cheap. I will never tell anyone to change the brand they use if you love how your cookies taste.

I have three types of vanilla I use for my cookies. The first and the most expensive is the vanilla beans. You get the most intense flavor by cutting a vanilla bean in half and scraping the specks out of the pods to add to your cookie dough.

It also shows off all those pretty little specks throughout the desert. I would use the specks from the pods if I were making a white cake, vanilla icing, something that you want the prominent flavor of vanilla and had the background color to show off the specks from the pod.

I commonly use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste for almost all my cookies. If you have both the extract and the paste, you can do a taste test.

When I tasted the vanilla extract, I got a strong alcohol taste when tasted on its own. I still taste vanilla, but the alcohol taste hits me first. It is clear in color, which to me means a less saturated taste.

Vanilla extract is a clear thin liquid.

Vanilla bean paste has a lot of the vanilla specks but still in a pourable form.

On the other hand, when I tasted the vanilla bean paste, I got a concentrated vanilla taste. Although vanilla bean paste is made with vanilla extract, the alcohol is much less prominent. The vanilla specks in the paste come through in any medium or light-colored cookie dough or icing. So, if you want a stronger vanilla taste and want to show off the vanilla specks, go for the vanilla bean paste.

To help keep costs down, you can make your own vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste. Some Facebook groups sell vanilla beans in bulk during certain times of the year. I belong to Indri's vanilla bean group. The Facebook group first points people to their website so you can get a feel for what the group is about. Their website is Indrivanilla, and their FB group, Indri's Vanilla Bean Group (you must request to join), have tons of resources.

I use and love all things vanilla, so I suggest doing a taste test to see what you like. I have always preferred pure vanilla, but I also know home bakers that like the imitation vanilla. So, purchase based on taste and cost. They are your best guides.

How to Make Scotchie Cookies

I start by preparing my ingredients, so I don't forget any ingredients when making the cookies. In a bowl, weigh or measure the white and light brown sugar, setting the bowl aside.

Next, weigh or measure the flour into a bowl and add the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. I then run a whisk through and blend and set this bowl aside. Finally, weigh or measure the oatmeal and set it aside also.

Mixing

In a mixer bowl, I cube the butter to see how cold the butter is. This determines how long it takes to cream the butter.

Turn the mixer on medium speed and cream the butter for a minute or two.

Now add the sugars and mix for 3 minutes on a medium speed. You want the sugars to be well incorporated with the butter. Next, add the vanilla bean paste and the egg. Next, add the oats and mix until blended into the wet ingredients.

Scrape down the bowl and turn the mixer to a low speed. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until the flour is incorporated. Finally, add the butterscotch chips and mix for about 15 seconds.

If you see a little flour not incorporated, use a nice solid spatula and finish mixing with the spatula.

You can see that the cookie dough is moist but still stays together. But look at all the butterscotch chips, enough for any butterscotch lover.

Cover lightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Scoop and Bake

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and line 2 cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. I use a medium cookie scooper to get nice, consistent-sized cookies. These cookies spread some when they bake, so leave a couple of inches between scoops.

Bake for 11-13 minutes. Try not to overbake these cookies. Oatmeal tends to dry out if baked too long. Even if they are a little soft, when taking them out of the oven, you will want to leave them on the cookie sheet pan for a few minutes. This will help to finish the bake, and the tops will start to harden.

Then, move the cookies to a cooling rack to finish.

Enjoy!

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