Coconut Oatmeal Cream Sandwiches

Have you entered to win the Hershey's Cookies 'n Creme gift pack yet? It's super easy to enter! You can enter to win here: Hershey's Cookies 'n Creme Giveaway. Good luck!

Oatmeal cream pies were (are?) some of my favorite junk food treats. The soft, squishy little cookie stuffed full of vanilla cream is perfect. Then, you don't eat them for 3-4 years and you pick up a box at the grocery store and anxiously bring them home. It takes all of your willpower to put the other groceries away before you rip the box of oatmeal cream pies open and pull a plastic wrapped cookie out. Oh, it's going to be so good! Mmmmm, first bite....

Eww, it's not very good. The filling kind of tastes like plastic smells. What the heck happened to my delicious treat of yore? It tastes so....so gross. That kind of disappointment really sticks with you and you start to wonder (well, if you're me you start to wonder), if you can make something that tastes just as good OR maybe even better.

And so I did.

Ok, so these aren't traditional, standard oatmeal cream pies. I used my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe, added coconut and cooked them a bit shorter to make the cookie very soft. The filling reminds me of the filling from a Twinkie, but it can be flavored any way you want. I chose to go with vanilla although coconut would have been really good as well.

The verdict: They aren't the oatmeal cream pies I remember and they don't taste like the ones from the store BUT they are really, really good and after much tasting and deliberating, I've decided that I prefer them. They are very tasty, are simple to make and I know what's in them. I want you to make them too!

Coconut Oatmeal Cream Sandwiches

• 1 cup shortening (or lard)
• 1 cup raw sugar (or white)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups unbleached flour (or white or soft whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 cup oats (old fashioned or quick cooking)
• 2 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat together the shortening and sugars. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure everything is incorporated well. Drop by a small cookie scoop (about a tablespoon) or by rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes- just until the edges are brown and the center is set. Let cool on the cookie sheet, place on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. Fill with cream filling (recipe follows). 

Cream Filling

• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup shortening (or lard)
• 1/2 cup raw sugar (or white)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt

In a small saucepan, cook the milk and the flour together until thick. Remove from heat and let cool. In a mixing bowl, add the shortening, sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat until combined, add in the cooled milk/flour mixture. Beat on high speed for 20 minutes, filling will be very light and fluffy. Fill cookies. Makes approx. 24 sandwiches. 

These are so good! I wrapped them up and put them in the fridge for easy grab and go lunch treats for this week. My kids (and husband) were pretty excited about these and, I have to admit, so am I. You could easily leave out the coconut for a more traditional flavor, or add something like raisins or chocolate chips to the cookies. It's up to you! Just make some and enjoy.