a simple recipe :: the perfect no bake cookies

I had never even heard of no bake cookies until I moved to the Midwest for college!  I had them a few different places while I was there, and always thought they were really good.  I started looking for a recipe a few years later and came across so many different variations.  Some were made with cocoa, some with chocolate chips.  Some had coconut, some had raisins.

My mother-in-law is a wonderful cook and her no bakes were some of my favorites.  I asked her for the recipe and when she sent it to me, it also had lots of variations. She is the kind of cook that throws stuff in here and there and uses a recipe as a guideline.  For her it comes out great.  This is how I am when it comes to cooking, but when it comes to baking (well, I guess these are technically no bakes) I like to have a specific recipe.  I took the recipe she gave me and tried out some different combinations, and we finally decided on “the perfect” combination of peanut butter, oats, sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter to make our no bakes.

Here’s the easy recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

½ cup milk

1 stick butter

4 TBL cocoa powder

3 ½ cups oats (rolled or quick it doesn’t matter)

2/3 cup peanut butter

Combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa in a large sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in oats and peanut butter.  Drop by spoonful onto wax paper.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

You can make these any size you want, but it should yield 2-3 dozen cookies.  I love these for a quick dessert to bring places or an easy dessert to have when company comes over.  I also love them in the summer because they are delicious cookies, and you don’t need to turn on the oven and heat up the whole house!  And really, you can’t go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.  With that said, there is another chocolate peanut butter cookie recipe coming to the blog next week!