Butterscotch Oatmeal Bars are chewy, sweet, and packed with toasty oats and rich butterscotch flavor. Topped with crunchy oatmeal cookie bits, these easy bar cookies—also known as oatmeal scotchies—are perfect for summer snacking, or sending in care packages thanks to their heat-resistant ingredients.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Butterscotch and oats are both cozy, comforting flavors that make a tasty combination.
- Bar cookies take less prep time than scooped cookies.
- Heat resistant ingredients make these bars ideal for hot weather care packages and outdoor summer snacking.
Butterscotch Oatmeal Bars, sometimes called oatmeal scotchies, are chewy bars with a crunchy topping. They are full of chewy oatmeal with sweet, buttery butterscotch flavor.
The bars are sprinkled with chopped, crunchy oatmeal cookies. For ease, I used store bought oatmeal cookies, but homemade cookies could certainly be used.
For a no-bake oat bar option, try these Chewy Granola Bars.
Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. The full measurements and detailed instructions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Oatmeal: Quick cook oats provide these bars with plenty of texture and chew. Regular oats (also called Old Fashioned oats) might be too chewy.
- Chopped Oatmeal Cookies: Any brand of packaged crunchy oatmeal cookies will work. The chopped cookie bits add crunch and visual appeal to the bars.
- Vegetable Shortening: Vegetable shortening is used in this recipe to make the bars heat resistant (for warm weather shipping), provide chewy texture, and to retain the chewy texture longer. Butter does not provide these benefits.
- Butterscotch Chips: My prefered brand of butterscotch chips is Guittard. The flavor and color is less artificial. Because these chips are only stocked seasonally in many stores, I buy them online. Guittard offers free shipping for orders over $25.
Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
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- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together shortening, sugar, eggs and egg yolk, water, and vanilla.
- Slowly add in flour mixture until combined. Stir in butterscotch chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle with chopped oatmeal cookies.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. The top will be set firmly and a toothpick can be used to check for doneness.
Storage
Store the oatmeal bars at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
More recipes with oats
Oatmeal Fruit Bars are bursting with the flavors of toasty oats and chewy dried fruit. Dipped in chocolate these bars are outstanding!
Soft, tender Oatmeal Quick Bread is speckled with sweet, plump raisins. All of the flavors of an oatmeal cookie in a delicious loaf.
Apple Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy cookies topped with cinnamon icing.
Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies are chewy oat cookies with spiced flavor from Biscoff cookie butter.
Chocolate Chip Oat Bars are thick, chewy bars with lots of toasty oat flavor. These treats taste like your favorite oatmeal cookie in a quick and easy to make bar.
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Butterscotch Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups quick oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup butter flavored vegetable shortening Crisco
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 1 ¼ cups crunchy oatmeal cookies coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease a 9”x 13” pan with nonstick spray, then line with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together shortening, sugar, eggs and egg yolk, water, and vanilla.
- Slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined.
- Add the butterscotch chips and stir to distribute throughout the batter.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle with chopped oatmeal cookies. Using the palm of your hand, gently press the cookie bits into the batter.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. The top will be pale but set firmly. A toothpick can be used to check for doneness.
- Cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
Notes
- Wrap bars individually or in pairs in plastic wrap before stacking in airtight containers or ziplock bags.
- For longer storage or shipping, I recommend not cutting into individual bars, but wrapping the entire pan. Wrapping the entire pan without cutting will help preserve moisture and keep the bars chewy for longer.
Nutrition
First Published: August 10, 2014. Last Updated: June 21, 2025. Updated for revised recipe, additional information, improved photographs, and better reader experience.
Dennis
I am not sure which planet this recipe is for. I had to make a large number and doubled the ingredients, and baked them in a half-sheet cake pan. They bubbled up the sides of the pan and into the oven. Instant smoke and smell.
Is there a high altitude adjustment? (I live in Colorado, near Denver.)
The Monday Box
Hi, Dennis. I am sorry your bars were not successful. This recipe was adapted from a Nestle's Very Best Baking recipe you can find here: https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/118635/butterscotch-scotchies Nestle's made their bars very thin using this single (not doubled) recipe in a jelly roll pan. To make my bars thicker, I used a 9"x 9" pan for the same amount of batter. I believe that the problem is not the recipe, but the height of the sides of your pan. A 9" x 9" pan has 2" high sides and a jelly roll (a.k.a. half sheet pan) pan has only 1" sides. That would definitely make the batter rise up and over the sides. For thin bars only use the recipe as written. Do not double.
saltandserenity
Butterscotch is the Rodney Dangerfield of flavours…it doesn't get the respect it deserves. Chocolate gets all the accolades while butterscotch/caramel is a sorry second. You have done butterscotch lovers proud with these bars Wendy. The oatmeal cookies topping is genius!
themondaybox
I need you to write the introductions to my recipes, Cindy! I LOVE that line,"Butterscotch is the Rodney Dangerfield of flavours…it doesn’t get the respect it deserves." If I can figure out how to use Twitter, I will even tweet it (with proper credit given to the source, of course 🙂 ) After watching the popularity of certain pins recently, I think that it might be lemon that comes in second, pushing butterscotch/caramel to a pathetic third! However, this baker will not be deterred from proclaiming the virtues of butterscotch!
Megan
My daughter is going to make and send these to her grandfather. My family loves butterscotch! I have been searching for recipes that would survive a summer trip in the mail from Nevada to Florida. This is the answer to my prayers! I can't wait to see what other goodies I find in your recipes.
themondaybox
Thank you so much, Megan! I am thrilled that your daughter will be sending these bars to her grandfather! I hope he loves them. 🙂 It is much harder to find recipes that work for warm weather care packages but the desert safe recipes have made it happily to Afghanistan, so they should travel equally happily to Florida! 🙂
Tracy
These look so yummy! I can't wait to try them. Butterscotch is a flavor that is hard to find yet one I love. Thanks for sharing!
-Tracy
4th Grade Dynamic Duo
themondaybox
Thanks, Tracy! I agree that butterscotch is a flavor that is often forgotten, but then when we find it we remember how much we enjoy it! These butterscotch bars should do the trick! 🙂
Becca Niederkrom
Wow! I can kind of taste these in my mouth just by looking at the pictures, butterscoth is sooo nostalgic to me
themondaybox
Thanks, Becca! If you ever need a quick break from chocolate (or just another flavor on the side), butterscotch is great! Butterscotch in a chewy, oaty bar is even better. You could always add some mini chocolate chips too!
Chris @ The Café Sucré Farine
As soon as I saw the name, I knew I was going to love these. They look wonderful!
themondaybox
Thanks, Chris! Butterscotch is funny. You either love it or you don't. Rarely is there an in between. These are bars for the butterscotch lover. 🙂
gottagetbaked
It's amazing how much our palates change as we age. A lot of childhood treats like M&Ms and Oreos have stood the test of time - they taste just as good to me now as they did back then. But I recently had a twinkie and spat it out. It tasted nothing like the delicousness I remembered. Same with a fudgsicle that I bought a few years ago from the ice cream truck. Sigh. Some things are best left in the past. These butterscotch oatmeal bars are a fantastic way to pay homage to those butterscotch candies your dad used to buy you. They look incredible moist 'n fluffy inside!
themondaybox
I so agree, Nancy! There are very few packaged candies or cookies that I find irresistible, but m&m's and oreos taste as good today as they did when, despite chocolate allergies, I sneakily ate them as a child. 🙂 Why sugary Crisco ever tasted good, I can't explain, but the filling in Twinkies is just gross. The problem is, you can never be sure which things are best left in the past until you try them and are disappointed when they don't live up to your expectations. Sigh in commiseration! These bars offer full butterscotch flavor, but the texture is more chewy (all of those oats!) than fluffy. 🙂
Monica
You are so right about nostalgic treats. I have a million of them...things like Smarties (the chocolate kind that are like M&Ms) in the tube that I'd rattle, Toblerone, and butter cookies from those blue tins I enjoyed in Hong Kong as a child. There's ice cream with fudge on the bottom in a cup from the corner deli...I could go on and on. I'm so glad these bars not only sound/look delicious but they conjure up your dad and good memories.
themondaybox
Did your blue tin of butter cookies have a variety of shaped cookies, Monica? The tins of butter cookies I remember had different shapes of butter cookies but my very favorite was shaped like a little pretzel with sugar crystals on top. I couldn't ever eat Toblerone because of nut allergies, but it was a favorite of my mother and sister, especially when we lived in Europe. Food memories can produce both smiles and a sort of aching nostalgia. I like to try to imagine the fond food memories my kids may have some day. I am guessing that many of your son's fond memories will involve amazing chocolate desserts!
Monica
The very ones and I'm not kidding when I say my favorite was likewise the pretzel-shape with coarse sugar! I could never decide which to take (part of the fun was deciding) but in the end, that was my fave. : ) You are so right about the smiles and 'aching nostalgia' and I also thought about what would be my son's memories one day when I was reading this!! haha
Ashley
Butterscotch is one of those flavors that I had always liked enough but didn't really come to appreciate until I got older! These bars look delicious - love all the oats!!
themondaybox
Thanks, Ashley! The toasty butterscotch and the chewy oats are made for each other!
Jess @ On Sugar Mountain
mmmmm I love how buttery they sound! And I love that I could send them down to my mom in Florida and they won't melt or dry out before they get there! 😀 Great recipe, Wendy!
themondaybox
Thanks, Jess! These bars would be great Florida care package goodies! It made me smile to think of the reversed roles of the baking-blogging daughter sending a package of goodies to their mom. 🙂
mmmarzipan
They look stunning! 🙂 x
themondaybox
Thanks, Marisa! In order to make these desert safe, I have to use granulated sugar as a sweetener (low moisture). I have plans for some honey sweetened, grain free treats when the cooler weather gets here, that I think will fit well in your "I Quit Sugar" lifestyle!