No boring oatmeal cookies here! These soft and chewy oatmeal cookies are flavored with maple and brown sugar and topped with brown butter maple icing. Serve alongside a cup of coffee, tea, or milk and enjoy!
Confession: I don’t really love oatmeal cookies. They’re either too dry, too heavy, or lacking flavor. I can always go for sprinkle cookies, brownie cookies, or M&M Cookies, but I just don’t crave an oatmeal cookie with the same passion. Until now!
Introducing an oatmeal cookie to get excited about. These cookies are super chewy, flavored with maple syrup, and topped with an incredible brown butter maple icing!
I also use this recipe for inspiration for our homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies. They are so good!
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Why you’ll love this recipe
Texture – Soft and chewy all throughout with a creamy icing on top.
Flavor – Brown butter, brown sugar, and maple – so good!
Ease – Although this recipe does require a food processor (more on this below) the recipe is still very easy. The dough comes together in minutes.
Recipe trick
This recipe starts by pulsing the oats in a food processor. This extra step is totally worth it (I promise!). It ensures that the oats are finely ground and makes the cookies really soft and chewy.
Ingredient spotlight: maple extract
In order to get a noticeable maple flavor this recipe uses maple extract (in addition to maple syrup). You can find maple extract in the spice aisle of the grocery store. Note: maple extract is much stronger than vanilla extract so you will use less. A little goes a long way!
Love maple? Try our Maple Snickerdoodles!
Recipe tips
- Butter should be softened but still cool to the touch.
- Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. This helps the cookies bake evenly and prevents them from spreading too much. Bonus: it also makes clean-up a breeze.
- Use a cookie scoop for evenly sized cookies. My go-to cookie scoop is 1-½ tablespoons.
- Underbake the cookies. You should remove these cookies from the oven when the edges are just set but the centers are still undercooked. They should be so soft that you cannot pick them up off the baking sheet without them falling apart. They will firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.
- Once the cookies come out the oven use the back of a spoon to gently push the edges inward to create clean edges and a perfect round shape.
- Let the cookies cool completely before adding icing.
Serving and storage
Store tightly covered at cool room temperature and serve within 3 days. Cookies can be frozen up to 3 months (with or without icing). If you plan on freezing them with icing I recommend placing the cookies in a single layer and freezing briefly (just until the icing hardens) then layering and double wrapping them for freshness.
Recipe
Maple Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1½ cups quick oats
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened but still cool
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon maple extract
- ¼ cup finely chopped pecans, optional
Icing:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
- 1-2 tablsepoons pure maple syrup
- 1-2 tablespoons half and half, cream, or milk
- 2 drops maple extract
Instructions
Cookies:
- In a food processor, pulse the oats several times, until broken down but not powdery. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and pulse a few more times until combined.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment., beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated until creamy and combined. Add egg, syrup, and extract and beat until combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Add the dry ingredients and pecans (if using) and beat until fully combined. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F with a rack in the upper third and lower third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Following the 30 minute chill time, scoop the dough into 1½ tablespoon balls (I use a cookie scoop) and place a couple inches apart on the baking sheet. If you'd like your cookies on the thinner side you can flatten the dough balls just a bit to encourage spreading (see more in the notes).
- Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the edges are set but the center is still underdone (the cookies will still be fairly light). Place the baking sheets on wire racks and allow the cookies to cool completely, they will firm up as they cool.
Icing:
- Place the butter in a saucepan set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned bits form on the bottom of the pan and the butter begins to turn golden and smell nutty. Immediately transfer into a bowl along with any accumulated brown bits. Cool for about 5 minutes. Whisk in powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon syrup, 1 tablespoon milk, and maple extract. Whisk vigorously, until smooth and combined. Adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken or more milk to thin. Drizzle or spread the icing onto the cooled cookies. Allow the icing to firm up a bit before serving.
Notes
- Underbake the cookies. You should remove these cookies from the oven when the edges are just set but the centers are still undercooked. They should be so soft that you cannot pick them up off the baking sheet without them falling apart. They will firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.
- Once the cookies come out the oven use the back of a spoon to gently push the edges inward to create clean edges and a perfect round shape.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!Recipe updated October 2021.
Aida@TheCraftingFoodie says
Allison, these look delicious! I love that you used maple syrup, and that there are so many options for mix ins 🙂
Celebrating Sweets says
Thanks, Aida!
Cynthia Banwart says
I love the idea of the syrup and I use the Reynolds Baking Sheets every time I make cookies, which is often. These things are the greatest invention. No cutting of parchment paper equals no waste. And, you just slide the entire sheet off the pan with the baked cookies and you’re ready to slide another one on. They can be used for more than one batch too so it’s not wasteful there either.
Teri says
I made these cookies yesterday with raisins and pecans! They are so moist and delicious with a hint of maple!
KM Boisvert says
I couldn’t really taste the maple. And I didn’t like that the cookies are not dense. Any suggestions??Other than that they were very delicious ! ??Also, I mixed in the dark chocolate chips along with the dark chocolate chunks. ??
Celebrating Sweets says
I don’t have any suggestions for making them more dense (possibly increasing the flour and/or oats), I’d have to play around with it to know for sure. As for the maple flavor, you can try using “grade b” maple syrup as it has a much stronger flavor, or you can add 1/4 teaspoon maple extract to the dough. Thanks for stopping by!
Liz says
I loooove oatmeal cookies and these maple oatmeal cookies are the perfect way to satisfy my sweet tooth! Thanks for the recipe!
Allison says
You’re welcome!
Ashley says
My kids loved making these and they are so delicious. Yum!
Cathy says
I just finished making these cookies. I have made many different kinds for Christmas. But these I love, they’re my favorite. I had to make them gluten free because I have Celiac disease. I used gf quick oats and King Arthur Measure to Measure flour. You’d never know they’re gluten free. Thanks a million times for such a wonderful recipe!!! The browned butter maple frosting just makes thrm even better!
Allison says
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Mindy says
These sound delicious and I would love to make them but I don’t have a food processor. Is it really necessary to break down the oats? I’ve made many different oatmeal cookies in the past and never done this.
Allison says
Hi, Mindy! I’ve only made this recipe as written but I would assume you could skip processing the oats. I personally prefer the texture when they’re broken down but feel free to play around with it.
Susan says
Yum really liked these will be making these again
Allison says
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Caitlin says
I followed this recipe exactly. Chilled for over 40 minutes even. I now have sheet pan cookies. I cannot believe this was such a fail. The author joked that they wouldn’t spread much so to mush them a little. Well I didnt cause I like a thicker cookie. Doesn’t matter now.
Allison Mattina says
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that. Are you sure you used 1½ cups of oats? The oats should absorb some of the liquid and keep the cookies from spreading too much. Also, you only used 1 stick (½ cup) of butter, right?