There comes a time in everyone’s life when they crave something that can ease pain or alleviate feelings of stress and bring a little comfort. It could be a hug, a smile, a newly blossomed flower, the laughter of a child, or food. Whatever it is for you, every once in a while we need to embrace it to help us feel better or get through a challenging time.
My hubby never complains when he’s having a bad or challenging day. He just asks me to make his favorite foods. Today he mentioned oatmeal cookies about five times so I finally got the hint (not that I was ignoring the request – really!).
I have to make the old-fashioned Quaker Oats cookies because hubby is a bit of a purest when it comes to his favorite comfort foods. Even though I have dozens of oatmeal cookie recipes with wonderful ingredients, he prefers the original — so that’s what I make for him. And I can’t mess with his tomato soup either — it has to be Campbell’s and it has to be made with milk. While we’re at it, his pizza has to have traditional toppings, none of this garlic chicken kale stuff on top.
To be fair, hubby will eat homemade tomato soup and pizza with just about any topping, but when it comes to his comfort food favorites, it has to be the traditional.
So how did this creative-loving-to-cook-new-recipes Italian manage to make meals to satisfy a husband and family for 40+ years? It’s been a challenge! When our children were about six and eight years old, I had a real problem with them sitting down to eat dinner and immediately saying “yuck” before even tasting their meal. Of course their favorite foods were hot dogs and macaroni and cheese so what did they know!
I had warned the kids to at least have a “no thank you” bite of their dinner and if they truly didn’t like it I would make them something else. But if they sat down and said “yuck” before taking a bite, their dinner would be an onion sandwich. My husband was thrilled because he loved onion sandwiches and knew he would get them in the end.
As you might imagine, both kids sat down to dinner, looked at their dishes, and immediately said “yuck”. I whisked away their plates and placed an onion sandwich in front of them. Our daughter burst into tears and said she didn’t want dinner and ran to her room. Our son sucked it up and took the tiniest of bites so his dinner was given right back to him. After the three of us finished dinner, I rescued our daughter from her room and gave her dinner….. and she ate it!
We finally came to a compromise where dinner was concerned and each child had his/her night to choose the dinner, hubby had two nights and I got to choose the rest. While I can’t say that solved all the issues of my family wanting their favorites, at least I wasn’t hearing “yuck” every night.
This is the original Quaker Oat oatmeal cookie recipe that I’ve only changed slightly. I substituted craisins for raisins. I know that may be going out on the edge a bit, but it is one alternate ingredient my hubby will accept.
Makes 4 dozen
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1/2 up (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I use a heaping teaspoon because we like cinnamon)
- 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt (optional)
- 3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
- 1 cup(s) craisins or raisins
- 3/4 cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- Beat butter and sugars until creamy.
- Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
- Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and add it to the egg/sugar mixture. Mix well.
- Add oats, walnuts, and craisins; mix well.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. (I use silpat mats)
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown.
- Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack or parchment paper.
- Store tightly covered.
Notes
Variations: Substitute 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or candy-coated chocolate pieces for raisins or craisins; omit cinnamon. Substitute 1 cup diced dried mixed fruit.