Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies with Walnuts
These oatmeal butterscotch cookies with walnuts are easy to whip up in one bowl, and perfect to store in your freezer for when the mood strikes for a little treat! Leave the walnuts out for a nut-free version.
Servings: 48 cookies
Calories: 137kcal
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Electric or Standing Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened salted butter (two sticks, see notes for unsalted)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 11 oz. butterscotch chips (one standard package)
- 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
Instructions
- In a large bowl (or bowl of a standing mixer) beat together the 1 cup softened salted butter, 1 cup packed brown sugar, ½ cup white sugar, and 2 large eggs on high speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Stir in the 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
- Add the 3 cups rolled oats and 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour and stir until just combined.
- Fold in the 11 oz. butterscotch chips and 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts.
- Optional: Cover and chill the dough for a couple of hours, or up to 24 hours (this will help the oats absorb some of the liquid and be softer in the cookie, and help the cookies maintain an firmer shape, though if you aren't picky you can go ahead and bake right away, it's not that serious!).
- When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, arrange your oven rack in the center of the oven, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Measure out the cookies in approximately 2-tablespoon amounts (I use a medium cookie scoop to do this) on the parchment lined sheet. If you want smaller cookies, you can do them in 1-tablespoon amounts (cook for a little less time in this case)
- Bake each batch for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. They should look slightly underdone. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes, then enjoy!
Notes
- Salted vs. unsalted butter: I'm a bit of a rebel when it comes to baking and almost always use salted butter. I just prefer the flavor more, and it's what I always have on hand. If you want to use unsalted, that's fine - just be sure to add a full teaspoon of salt to the batter, instead of the half teaspoon listed in the ingredients.
- Make 'em pretty: If you want, you can save some of the butterscotch chips and walnuts to place on top of the cookies before you bake them. This makes them pretty enough to photograph - a trick food bloggers often use so you can see the ingredients that are in the cookies clearly from the photos.
- Walnut substitutes: You can omit the walnuts for a nut-free version, or you can swap them out for another nut, such as pecans or macadamia nuts.
- Butterscotch chip substitutes: These are really the star of the show here in my opinion, but there is no reason why you couldn't use this oatmeal cookie recipe with another baking chip like chocolate or peanut butter! I saw a salted caramel one in the store the other day that looked great for this recipe, too.
- Add other spices: Other warm spices like nutmeg, allspice, and ginger would work well here in addition to the cinnamon. You can try using a pumpkin pie spice mix, if you like.
- This recipe yields about 48 cookies. They don't spread much, so you can fit about 15 (in a 3x5 grid) on a standard baking sheet. That means you'll need to do 3-4 batches of baking, so be sure to plan on this for timing!
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 137kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 107mg | Potassium: 44mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 135IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg