Double Chocolate Icebox Cookies (Slice-and-Bake with Oatmeal)
?Sneak Preview: These rich chocolate icebox cookies are perfect for stocking your freezer with slice-and-bake dough. Oatmeal adds chewy texture, and optional mini chips or pecans boost flavor. Keep a batch on hand and serve fresh-baked cookies in minutes—no fuss, no thawing.
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That moment when your kids, grandkids, or Eddie Haskell-type neighbors go rummaging through the pantry—what will they find? A crumpled bag of corn chips? Stale saltines? Leftover marshmallows from last Christmas?
Here’s what I hope they find: rich, fudgy Chocolate Icebox Cookies. I keep a log in the freezer, ready to slice and bake whenever someone needs a quick treat. (And yes, icebox cookies are just an old-fashioned name for slice-and-bake.)
Ingredients and Substitutions
• UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE: Use baking chocolate or sub 6 tbsp cocoa + 2 tbsp oil or butter
• BUTTER: Unsalted preferred; margarine or shortening can work
• BROWN SUGAR: Pack tightly in the measuring cup; Sub dark brown sugar
• EGG: Use one large egg (50 g)
• VANILLA EXTRACT: Balances the chocolate flavor
• ALMOND EXTRACT: Adds a subtle signature flavor
• FLOUR: All-purpose, bleached or unbleached
• SALT: Table or sea salt; use a pinch more if using kosher
• OATMEAL: Use quick or old-fashioned oats; avoid instant flavored types
• PECANS (OPTIONAL): Toast for better flavor
• MINI CHOCOLATE CHIPS (OPTIONAL): Slice more easily than full-size chips
Step-by-Step for Making Double Chocolate Icebox Cookies
⬇️ Jump to the recipe below for exact amounts and detailed instructions.
Tips That Make a Difference
• Give the dough “rails” for perfectly round cookies.
Lay your wrapped dough log inside an empty paper towel tube that’s been sliced open lengthwise. The tube keeps the dough round while chilling or freezing so you don’t end up with flat-bottomed cookies.
• Prevent flavor transfer in the freezer.
Wrap the logs in wax paper → foil → freezer bag. Chocolate dough, especially with oatmeal, can pick up freezer odors easily. Triple-wrapping keeps the flavor pure.
• Use a bench scraper, not a knife, to measure uniform slices.
Once the dough is cold, use the flat metal edge of a bench scraper to press light marks across the log every ¼ inch, then slice. You get perfectly even cookies and better baking consistency.
Double Chocolate Icebox Cookies (Slice-and-Bake with Oatmeal)
Video
Ingredients
- 2 squares (56 g) unsweetened chocolate
- ½ cup (113 g) butter
- 1 cup (220 g) brown sugar, packed
- 1 large (50 g) egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup (120 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (81 g) quick or old-fashioned oats
- ½ cup (54 g) chopped pecans
- 1 cup (180 g) mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Melt Chocolate: Melt 2 squares (56 g) unsweetened chocolate in a microwave for 2 minutes on MEDIUM and set aside to cool.
- Combine Ingredients: Mix 1/2 cup (113 g) butter and 1 cup (220 g) brown sugar, packed until light and fluffy. Add 1 large (50 g) egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1/2 teaspoon (½ teaspoon) almond extract, and continue to beat. Blend in cooled chocolate. Add 1 cup (120 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon (½ teaspoon) baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon (½ teaspoon) salt. Stir in 1 cup (81 g) quick or old-fashioned oats, 1/2 cup (54 g) chopped pecans, and 1 cup (180 g) mini chocolate chips.
- Shape dough: Mold cookie dough into a long cylinder and wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate at least 4-5 hours or overnight.
- Bake: Cut cookies with a sharp knife into 1/4-inch thick slices. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180˚C) for 10-12 minutes. It is difficult to tell when they're done because you won't see any browning. The entire cookie should be puffed up but soft in the middle.
Notes
-
How long does the dough last in the freezer?
Double-wrapped logs last up to 3 months. Slice only when ready to bake. -
How to slice frozen dough without breaking it?
- Use mini chocolate chips, not regular ones.
- Slice with a sharp or high-quality serrated knife (e.g., Victorinox).
- Frozen dough slices cleaner than refrigerated but let it soften slightly if too hard.
-
What to do with leftovers?
Turn leftover cookies into truffles using my chocolate chip cookie truffle recipe and substituting these cookies.
Equipment
Nutrition
All images and text ©️ Paula Rhodes for Salad in a Jar.com
Final Thoughts
Bake a few, share a few, and tuck the rest back into the freezer for your future self. She’ll be grateful.
If you love chocolate and oatmeal together, I highly recommend my Irresistible Chocolate Granola. My Low-Calorie Granola is good if you’ve already eaten too much chocolate. If you would rather eat cookies than breakfast, I suggest these Easy Raisin Bran Crunch Cookies.
Need help troubleshooting? Email me: Paula at saladinajar.com—photos welcome!
This recipe is adapted from a similar recipe in Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book. Thanks to my friend, Beth P. for putting me onto them.
Paula, wow! These look like a keeper. I love an easy freezer dough cookie. Have you made these with coconut before? I wonder how they would be with coconut subbed for oatmeal. What a gem that book is!
I love refrigerator cookies and raw dough! These look like I need to have a roll in my freezer! We camp in a 5th wheel alot in the Summer and it’s always fun to pull out a log of cookie dough to bake. These look like a contender for my favorite! 🙂
Hi, these look great just wondering if I can swap out the egg and use egg replacer instead and reduce the sugar? I wanted to bake them for grandies but one has an egg allergy.
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Hi Jo,
I haven’t tried the egg replacer, but I’m guessing it would work just fine. You can probably reduce the sugar, too, but I haven’t tried that either. It’s a simple recipe so it’s worth experimenting. I bet your grandies will love them.
Stumbled on this post looking for “oatmeal icebox cookies,” but had to leave a comment: I too once got my mom to agree to letting me make a cake for the purpose of eating the batter. When she said yes, I was so surprised I checked that she had understood the request. Later, when I was partway through one cake pan’s worth of batter, I felt sick. However, my mom denied having given any such permission.
This recipe looks divine. I wonder if I can make these gluten free and still have the batter hold together similarly. One of my munchkins is gluten intolerant and I’ve had to make concessions with anything bread or flour related. I’ll have to give it a try and let you know 🙂
Hi Lucero,
I rarely dabble in gluten-free recipes so I have no idea. But if you try it and it works I would love to hear about it.
These are definitely going on our “must try this summer” list which is steadily growing longer! I am looking forward to the extra time the kids and I will have to play in the kitchen. Thanks for sharing!
Paula, wow! These look like a keeper. I love an easy freezer dough cookie. Have you made these with coconut before? I wonder how they would be with coconut subbed for oatmeal. What a gem that book is!
I, too, am known to make a batch of cookies purely so I can eat the raw dough. While I love the baked cookies, the raw dough is even soooo much better! I knew I liked you!!!
Paula, I enjoy your blog so much! Thank you for all the time and effort you put into it. The photographs are delectable and your cheerful prose is a sunbeam. These chocolate yummers appeared on my blog reader just as I was wondering what to bake for my eldest son’s preschool closing ceremony tomorrow. I’ll send the kids home with chocolatey smiles and a secret serving of oatmeal (heh, heh, heh)!!
I love refrigerator cookies and raw dough! These look like I need to have a roll in my freezer! We camp in a 5th wheel alot in the Summer and it’s always fun to pull out a log of cookie dough to bake. These look like a contender for my favorite! 🙂
That roll of raw cookie dough looks so delicious, it’s practically begging me to reproduce it in my own kitchen. I can just picture nibbling these with a tall glass of cold milk… 🙂
Paula,
Wow, do you have any left? I’ve got my cold milk ready and I’m waiting…….and drooling……:) – they look awesome!!!
Cookie dough is one of the best foods ever! All that talk about coconut makes me want to add some to this recipe!
Jill, I thought of adding coconut and maybe even adding peanut butter so they would be similar to chocolate no-bake cookies like my mom used to make. But that all seemed like too much when they are perfect the way they are. pr
I love cookies with oatmeal in them but have never made anything like this. They look delicious.
Ha. A friend from Bible study years ago used to say, “If it has an egg in it, it’s breakfast.” : )
Kirstin, I used to use the egg argument to justify eating pudding for breakfast. Love it.
I will be whipping up a batch of these this weekend! They look divine!
I love dough that you can keep on hand in the freezer- it’s so handy for those emergencies when you need cookies (or dough) in a hurry. These cookies look delicious! 🙂
looks like a yummy cookie, then again I haven’t met to many cookies I haven’t liked 🙂 And I do think you could count this for breakfast since it had oatmeal in it.
Such a timely post. I just mentioned to John I was in the mood for a cookie. We are plumb out of desserts here (can you believe it?) Nothing in the freezer ~ Nada!
I love that there is oatmeal for a chewy texture. The little flecks look neat too. I can see why this recipe has been around for many years and many memories 🙂