My children don’t like oatmeal raisin cookies. They will eat them under duress (i.e. no other options), but only one…maybe. One child won’t even touch them.
This is odd because they pile raisins on their garden salads, and they happily eat all other oatmeal related foodstuffs. They like cookies, too. Or at least some cookies.
Come to think of it, I’ve noticed a collective attitude of snobbishness when it comes to cookies. They appreciate the standard chocolate chip, sugar, and gingerbread, but others? Not so much.
Weirdos.
I first started observing this odd behavior while we were in Guatemala, but I chalked it up to too much junk food at school (and thus a decreased hunger for homemade cookies) and not-as-expected textures and flavors thanks to inferior/different ingredients. But now we’re home in our butter-filled fridge and they’re still not enthused. What gives?
I decided to ignore their freak behavior and make oatmeal raisin cookies because they’re classic, because I like them, and because I don’t have a recipe for them on this blog, which is tantamount to blasphemy (not the blog—the lack of cookies). It’s a good recipe. The cookies are caramely from the butter and sugar, crispy on the edges and soft in the middle, lacy with oats, and studded with juicy, fat raisins. The kids are not impressed, but so what.
I suppose I could try to be accommodating and decrease the amount of raisins, change the rolled oats to quick, and toss in some chocolate chips or white chocolate.
But wait—what’s wrong with me? Why am I trying to get my kids to eat cookies?
This is so not a problem. Let them eat carrots. More cookies for me.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Adapted from the April 2013 issue of Bon Appetit.
I’ve gotten into the habit of shaping the chilled cookie dough into logs and then freezing them for later. To bake, I just slice the dough into rounds (some doughs can be sliced while frozen, but others—like the oatmeal raisin dough—need to thaw a little to minimize crumbleage). With no messy scoop-and-plop dough to do battle with, fresh cookies have never been easier! Bonus: this tactic will make you look completely With It. Whenever I pull a stick of dough out of the freezer, my husband gets all moony. Nothing, and I mean nothing, turns him on like a smart-ass shortcut.
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon each salt, baking powder, and baking soda
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups raisins
Cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, and oats. Add the raisins. Chill the dough for an hour in the fridge. Divide the dough into three or four parts and shape into logs. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in a plastic bag before returning to the freezer.
To bake, thaw the logs for about 20 minutes before slicing, laying the rounds on a cookie sheet, and baking at 350 degrees until the edges are golden and the centers are puffy but still slightly wet looking. Allow the baked cookies to rest on the baking sheet for two minutes to set up before transferring to the cooling rack.
This same time, years previous: answers, quotidian (4.9.12), this slow, wet day, with the fam in WV, asparagus with lemon and butter, and the kind of day.
11 Comments
Rachelle
My grandmother would always make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for us growing up. All us kids loved them. I have a fondness for pretty much all oatmeal cookies because of that, I think.
Becky
I love the idea of freezing cookie dough in logs. I so need to remember to do that!
Starr
I don't like oatmeal raisin at all. I know, Un-American of me. But I love oatmeal chocolate chip. Delicious.
Speaking of that book about sugar, the author argues we probably need more fat (read: butter) in our diets not less! Sugar is poison while butter is roaring back as a "health food".
Melodie Davis
My kids don't like oatmeal raisin cookies either and I agree they are classic. Haven't made any oatmeal cookies in years … So your kids are normal.
dr perfection
I already do not eat much sugar so it wouldn't shake me up very much. I should do YEAR WITH NO IPHONE OR TV. that would be very difficult and I have no desire to do it.
dr perfection
There's a new book YEAR WITH NO SUGAR. I want to read it–I think the reviews are good. I was thinking maybe you could do YEAR WITH NO BUTTER. (you do want to shake up your life, don't you?)
Jennifer Jo
I kind of did a year with no butter last year (or at least "greatly reduced") and it was NOT fun. But I think a year with no sugar would be TONS harder. Are you going to try it?
Kate
I make oatmeal raisin cookies BECAUSE my kids don't like them. I never have to worry that they are sneaking them when they are not supposed to or that someone will take the last one. Plus with oatmeal and fruit in it, it practically counts as a healthy breakfast:) I'm partial to the recipe under the Quaker oats lid with added raisins and cinnamon.
Anonymous
If raisins aren't cutting it, try dates. Or, as I call em, nature's caramels.
🙂
MAC
Jennifer Jo
"Nature's caramels"—I like that.
Margo
hahah, love your cookie trick and your husband's reaction! I resist making cookies because of the drop and plop method – so tedious! So messy! I suddenly think I want to make these cookies and sandwich them with Nutella. . .