Old Fashioned Butterscotch Cookies are soft, chewy oatmeal cookies with crisp golden edges, brown sugar in the dough and a full cup of butterscotch chips in every batch. You may know them as oatmeal scotchies. Keep them in the cookie jar; one batch makes 24.
How to make it: Cream softened butter with brown and white sugar, beat in an egg and vanilla, then mix in flour, old-fashioned oats and butterscotch chips. Scoop 2-tablespoon balls onto lined baking sheets and bake at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes.
Why You’ll Love It
- No chilling: the dough goes straight from the bowl to the oven.
- Chewy and crisp: hearty rolled oats in a tender middle, with crisp golden edges.
- Quick to mix: 15 minutes of prep and 8 to 10 minutes in the oven per tray.
- Freezer-friendly dough: scoop it once and bake a few cookies whenever you want them.
Ingredient Notes
Butter: Unsalted and softened to room temperature, so it creams with the sugars. If you only have salted butter, cut the salt back a little.
Sugars: You need both brown sugar and granulated sugar. Light brown sugar gives soft, tender cookies. Dark brown sugar also makes a soft, chewy cookie and adds more depth to the flavor.
Egg and vanilla: One large egg at room temperature, and pure vanilla extract.
Oats: Old-fashioned rolled oats. They give the cookies their hearty, chewy bite.
Flour and leaveners: All-purpose flour with a little baking powder and baking soda. The baking soda gives the cookies a bit of lift and chew.
Butterscotch chips: Look for butterscotch morsels in the baking aisle. Use the full cup, and keep a small handful back to press onto the tops if you want bakery-style cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into the cup and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, not melted
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats (rolled oats)
- 1 cup butterscotch chips, plus a few extra for the tops, optional
How to Make Old Fashioned Butterscotch Cookies
1. Heat the oven. Heat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Cream the butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with a hand mixer on medium until creamy.
4. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat in the egg and vanilla just until combined.
5. Add the flour and oats. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined, then mix in the oats just until combined.
6. Fold in the chips. Fold in the butterscotch chips with a wooden spoon or spatula.
7. Scoop. Scoop 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie, roll gently into balls and set them about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Press a few extra butterscotch chips on top if you like.
8. Bake. Bake on the center rack for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges are light golden brown and the centers still look slightly underdone. They keep baking on the hot pan.
9. Cool. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Keep Them Soft, Chewy and Round
The goal is a cookie that is chewy in the middle and crisp only at the rim, not a tray of flat, hard disks. These are the choices that decide it.
Take them out while they look unfinished. Pulling the tray while the centers still look soft is what keeps the middles chewy. Overbaked, these cookies turn crunchy, and even an extra minute or two can make them hard. If you like a crisper cookie, that is the one time to leave them in a little longer.
Bake two cookies first. Put just two balls of dough in the oven and use them to set the time for your oven. Then bake the rest of the trays at that time.
Soften the butter, never melt it. Butter at room temperature creams with the sugar into a fluffy base. Melted butter makes the cookies spread all over the pan.
Chill the dough balls for thicker cookies. The dough needs no chilling, but if you want taller, thicker cookies, chill the scooped balls for 15 to 20 minutes before they go in. Cold dough keeps the butter from melting too quickly in the oven, so the cookies spread less.
| You want | Do this |
|---|---|
| Chewy middle, crisp edge | Bake 8 to 10 minutes and pull them while the centers still look soft |
| Thicker cookies | Chill the scooped balls 15 to 20 minutes |
| Thinner cookies | Press each ball down slightly before baking |
| Crisper cookies | Leave them in a little longer |
Round out any spread. If a tray spreads more than you like, set a round cookie cutter or a glass over each cookie while it is still hot and swirl it around the edge. The soft cookie pushes back into a neat circle.
Tips for Success
Why are my cookies dry?
Too much flour. Scooping the measuring cup straight into the flour packs it down, and the extra flour dries the cookies out. Spoon the flour into the cup and level it off.
Why did my cookies come out tough?
The dough was mixed too long. Too much mixing after the flour goes in overdevelops the gluten and makes the cookies tough. Stop the mixer as soon as the flour disappears, and fold the chips in by hand.
Why do some cookies burn before the rest are done?
Uneven sizes or dark pans. A cookie scoop keeps every cookie the same size, so they all finish at the same time. Light-colored baking sheets lined with parchment paper keep the bottoms from burning.
Variations
- Butterscotch and chocolate: swap half the butterscotch chips for regular chocolate chips.
- Different chips: use white chocolate chips or raisins in place of the butterscotch chips.
- Nuts and spice: stir in chopped pecans or walnuts, or whisk 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon into the dry ingredients for a warm, spiced cookie.
- Iced: drizzle a simple icing over the cookies once they have cooled completely.
Storage & Reheating
Keep the cookies in an airtight container or a cookie jar at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days. To freeze, let them cool completely, then pack them in a freezer bag or container for up to 3 months. Warm frozen cookies in the microwave to take the chill off.
What to Serve With It
Serve them with a cold glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee or tea. For more oatmeal treats, bake a pan of oatmeal raisin cookie bars, stir up no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies, or try pumpkin oat cookies in the fall. To fill the cookie jar with something different, there are maple cookies with maple icing, soft carrot cake cookies and a quick batch of air fryer peanut butter cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are oatmeal scotchies?
Oatmeal scotchies is another name for oatmeal butterscotch chip cookies like these. The name comes from the two things that make them: the oatmeal and the butterscotch.
What two flavors make butterscotch?
Butter and brown sugar. In these cookies the butterscotch flavor comes from the butterscotch chips, with brown sugar in the dough as well.
Can I use quick oats instead of old-fashioned oats?
Yes. Quick oats have been pressed, so they work, but the cookies come out softer. Old-fashioned oats give the chewiest texture.
Can you freeze butterscotch cookie dough?
Yes. Set the scooped balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze them for about 2 hours, until firm, then move them to a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Bake them straight from the freezer without thawing, and add an extra minute or two to the bake time.
Can I make the dough ahead?
Yes. The dough keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Scoop and bake it as usual when you are ready.
Final Notes
Before you start, check that your baking soda and baking powder are not past their date. If you have a question or bake a batch, tell me how they turned out in the comments.
Old Fashioned Butterscotch Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour spooned into the cup and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature, not melted
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats rolled oats
- 1 cup butterscotch chips plus a few extra for the tops, optional
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with a hand mixer on medium until creamy.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla just until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined, then mix in the oats just until combined.
- Fold in the butterscotch chips with a wooden spoon or spatula.
- Scoop 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie, roll gently into balls and set them about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Press a few extra butterscotch chips on top if you like.
- Bake on the center rack for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges are light golden brown and the centers still look slightly underdone. They keep baking on the hot pan.
- Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
