These Iced Oatmeal Cookies are a nostalgic treat loaded with brown sugar, molasses, spices, and old-fashioned oats. The dough needs an hour of chill time before being baked in the oven. The soft, chewy cookies are finished with a delicate powdered sugar glazed for a vintage dessert that hasn’t gone out of style.
Frosted Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
These Frosted Oatmeal Cookies remind me of the Archway cookies you might have loved as a kid. With a soft center and chewy edges, they’re topped with a powdered sugar glaze that hardens beautifully.
To whip up these oatmeal raisin cookies, all you need are some basic baking staples you likely already have in your kitchen. The combination of molasses and brown sugar creates that melt-in-your-mouth softness, while warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg add a cozy, nostalgic touch.
Normally oatmeal cookies don’t need frosting, they’re sweetened with brown sugar or coconut in my oatmeal coconut cookie recipe. These are no exception. They’re a delicious cookie all by themselves without the frosting, but when you want something a little extra, go with the glaze.
Since the cookies are just lightly dipped in the glaze, it doesn’t overwhelm the cookies or make them overly sweet.
They’re simple to make, evoke fond childhood memories, and have the perfect texture. If you prefer a crispier oatmeal cookie than you will love Rice Krispie oatmeal cookies.
What Makes These Frosted Oatmeal Cookies So Good?
- Nostalgic: The warm spices, molasses, brown sugar, and oats yield a wonderfully nostalgic treat that’s even better than the store-bought ones you remember as a kid.
- Fuss-free: This recipe uses basic pantry staples to create a simple yet flavorful cookie.
- Make-ahead friendly: If you’re short on time, you can make the dough ahead of time, shape it into cookies, and bake it later!
Key Ingredients
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats – the quick-cook oats will not give you the texture you need for these cookies.
- Pantry Staples: You’ll need all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, unsalted butter, brown sugar, eggs, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and molasses.
- Raisins: I think raisins should be in all oatmeal cookies, golden or dark, either will work. But they are perfectly fine without them.
- Glaze: You’ll need powdered sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla extract.
Should I use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar?
Dark brown sugar has a higher molasses content than light brown sugar, so it depends on how intense of a molasses flavor you prefer.
How to Make This Iced Oatmeal Cookies Recipe: Step-by-Step Instructions
Step One: Prepare the Oat Mixture
Place the oats and flour in a food processor, giving it a couple of pulses until you have a nice blend of flakes and oat flour. Then, mix in the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices in a big bowl.
Step Two: Make the Cookie Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and brown sugar until a nice and creamy consistency forms. Add in the eggs, molasses, and vanilla, mixing until it all comes together. Gradually add the dry ingredients and stir in the raisins if you’re using them.
Step Three: Chill the Dough
Let the dough chill in the fridge for a bit. This helps with the texture and makes it easier to scoop. If you’ve refrigerated it overnight, let it warm up a bit on the counter so that you can scoop it into balls.
Step Four: Shape and Bake the Cookies
Preheat the oven and line your baking sheets. Use a cookie scoop to drop dough onto the sheets, pressing them down if you want flatter cookies, leave in a ball for a cookie with a rounded top. Bake until the edges are golden brown, and then let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes.
Step Five: Add the Icing
Whisk up your icing ingredients until you have a nice glaze. Dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the icing, letting the excess drip off. Allow them to dry on a cooling rack.
Tips For The Best Cookies
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a blender instead.
- For an extra touch, let the cookies sit for a day after icing. They’ll taste even better as the flavors meld!
- Don’t submerge the cookies into the icing. You just want to dip them slightly so the icing only gets on the top of the cookie. Then, lift up the cookie from the glaze, allowing any extra to drip off.
- If your glaze is too thin, add some more powdered sugar. On the other hand, if it’s too thick, add a tiny amount of milk (you don’t need much).
Storing Iced Cookies
To store these cookies, let the glaze harden first then pop them in an airtight container. They’ll last up to one week at room temperature. The frosting will not be sticky.
You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months. Let them thaw on the counter before eating, they won’t take long to thaw.
Make Ahead Tips
Make the dough as directed and shape the cookies. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flash-freeze them for 30 minutes to one hour. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or airtight container for up to 3 months. Before baking, let the dough thaw in the fridge overnight and bake and ice as directed.
Don’t Forget!
Like and review this post – it helps our website grow so we can give you more delicious Southern recipes!
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup butter room temp
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup raisins optional
Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Place the oatmeal in a food processor and pulse a couple of times so that you have a mixture of flakes and flour. Don't over process, you don't want it to b e powder. Add to a larger bowl and whisk in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time then the molasses and vanilla and beat on high speed until it it well combined. It will look separated at first but will smooth out as it’s beaten.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour so that it doesn’t fly out out. Mix until combined then add the raisins. It will be sticky. Refrigerate for at least an hour or for a couple of days. If longer than an hour, let it stand at room temperature for a few minutes before making into cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350º and line cookie sheets with parchment paper
- Use a cookie scoop to form 1 ½ tablespoons of dough. Place on the prepared cookie sheet and press down with the bottom of a glass, coat it in flour to keep it from sticking. If you don’t want flat cookies but more mounded cookies, don’t press. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly brown around the edges. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Let cool completely before adding the icing.
Icing:
- Whisk together the ingredients in a bowl wide enough to dip the cookies, adding about 3 tablespoons of the milk, then add the rest of the milk if needed. You don’t want it to be too thick or you won’t see the cookies through the top. It should be more like a glaze than a frosting.
- Once the cookies have cooled, just barely dip the top of the cookie into the bowl of icing, letting the excess drip off of the cookie into the bowl. Place on a wire rack until the icing hardens.
Notes
- Don’t over grind the oats, you want small flakes not powder.
- You can use a blender if you don’t have a food processor to grind the oats.
- Make sure the butter is at room temperature.
- If you don’t want thin flat cookies, then don’t press them flat on the cookie sheet.
- The raisins add some natural sweetness, but you can leave them out.
I don’t see granulated sugar in the ingredients. But in the instructions #2 you mentioned granulated sugar, I confused.
Thanks so much for catching this Jill. It does have 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. I have updated the recipe card.