Pumkin Oatmeal Cream Pies With a Maple Cream Cheese Filling

Every one of us has probably heard of those Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies and most of use probably ate them every chance we could, trust me I'm guilty as well. this Instructable will show you how to make Oatmeal Cream Pies but with a pumpkin and maple cream cheese twist.

For this version of the Oatmeal Cream Pie you are going to need these ingredients. One thing you also could do while you are getting your ingredients out is preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

• 2 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, make sure to get this out first so by the time you are ready to start mixing the ingredients together it is at room temperature.
• 1 cup of Brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, make sure to get this out with the butter so that it also becomes room temperature.
• 2 tsp of molasses
• 1/4 of a cup of pumpkin puree, you don't have to use the pumpkin if you don't want to have pumpkin in the cookie part.
• 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp of maple extract, this ingredient is also optional along with the pumpkin puree if you just want to have a normal homemade oatmeal cream pie.
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flower
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp of ground cloves
• 3 cups of quick cooking oats, if using whole oats, grind them down to a fine powder

Maple Cream Cheese Filling

• 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, make sure this is also room temperature
• 8 oz. of softened cream cheese
• 3 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp of maple extract, (you do not have to use if you do not want a maple cream cheese filling)
• only a pinch of salt

In a large mixer put the butter and sugars in the mixer and mix on medium to high speed until creamy. Then add the egg and vanilla and maple extract, molasses , and pumpkin puree, make sure you are scraping the sides when ingredients cling to the wall of the mixer bowl. make sure all ingredients are mixed together fully before moving to next step.

In a different bowl, mix the flour,baking soda, salt cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

While the mixer is mixing on low slowly add the dry ingredients, make sure to do it at different times preferably when the dry ingredient amount is fully mixed in.

When all of the dry ingredients are mixed with the wet add the oats. do not use the mixer to mix the oats in make sure you use a rubber spatula until completely mixed (or do not see any white from the oats being dry).

By now the oven should be fully heated but before you put the dough in put the raw dough on a rubber cookie sheet or parchment paper. Make sure the cookies are also spaced out about 2-3 inches because they will spread in the oven. Scoop the dough out with a large cookie scoop, if you don't have access to one just use two table spoons full as a measurement. If you are not using the Quick oats then you can probably get away with spacing the cookies 2 inches apart because whole ground oats will not cause it to spread as bad but make sure you flatten them with moist fingers or gently press them down fresh out of the oven with the bottom of a glass.

Bake cookies for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl beat the softened butter and cream cheese on a medium to high setting, I used a handheld mixer but you can use a stand mixer with a new bowl. make sure that when the butter and cream cheese is combined fully then add the confectioners sugar and beat on medium for about 2 minutes then add the maple extract and beat on high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. give it a taste and add a pinch of alt as needed. Then spread desired amount onto cookies and sandwich the cream.