Where to eat Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie in Chattanooga
Two soft molasses-oat cookies around a vanilla creme filling, the first snack sold under the Little Debbie name in 1960 and still baked by McKee Foods in Collegedale on Chattanooga's eastern edge.
The story of Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie
O.D. McKee was selling cakes from his 1928 Whippet before he and Ruth McKee built a family bakery, founded in Chattanooga in 1934. In 1960 they named a new snack line after their four-year-old granddaughter Debbie, launching it with the Oatmeal Creme Pie, a soft oat sandwich that became an American lunchbox fixture. McKee Foods remains privately held in Collegedale, and Debbie McKee-Fowler grew up to sit on its board.
How to make Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie
Serves: Makes 10 pies
Ingredients
- 230g butter, softened
- 200g brown sugar
- 2 tbsp molasses or black treacle
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 180g plain flour
- 160g rolled oats, briefly blitzed
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- For the filling: 120g butter, 200g icing sugar, 100g marshmallow creme, 1 tsp vanilla
Method
- Cream the butter, brown sugar and molasses, then beat in the egg and vanilla until glossy.
- Fold in the flour, blitzed oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt to a soft dough.
- Scoop 20 small mounds onto lined trays, well spaced, and bake at 180C for 8 to 9 minutes; they must stay soft and underdone-looking in the centre.
- Cool completely. Beat the filling ingredients together until fluffy and pipe or spread onto half the cookies.
- Sandwich with the remaining cookies, pressing gently until the filling reaches the edge.
Editor tip. Pull the cookies at first colour; an extra minute in the oven turns a creme pie into a crunch sandwich, which is not the assignment.
The editor picks for Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie in Chattanooga are still in research. Meanwhile, see the Chattanooga signature-dishes index or the Chattanooga food guide.