Adventures In Summer Cookies
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I like dessert every day. 365 days a year. And I mostly make my own desserts, rather than buying them. I have a lot of good recipes. But in the summer, when the house is already hot, I don’t really feel like turning on the oven to bake anything. So it’s handy to have a “no-bake” cookie recipe to hand. Chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal…what could be better? Sidenote: I do know that it’s not technically summer in October, but a couple days ago it was 80° here in the Pacific Northwest. So it very much still feels like summer in some ways.
The method is simple: combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil. Boil it for a minute, then remove it from the heat and stir in some vanilla. It will bubble up quite excitingly at this point, which is why you need a large saucepan. After that’s stirred in, add in the peanut butter and stir until it’s completely combined. Then pour this hot mixture into a bowl of quick-cook oats, and stir until all the oats are coated with the chocolate-peanut butter mixture.
You have to work quickly at this point, while the cookie dough (batter?) is still warm. Scoop the cookies onto waxed paper-lined baking sheets. You can either use a regular spoon, or if you want more precision, you could use a nice 2-Tbsp cookie scoop like this one. Either way, space your cookies out on the sheets…they will spread a little bit while they are still warm. I generally get 24-30 cookies out of any batch.
Then just leave them at room temperature to set up. Depending on the climate inside your house, this will take anywhere from 4-8 hours. If you need to hurry the process along for some reason, you could set the cookie sheets in the refrigerator. Once the cookies are completely cool and firmed up, remove them gently from the baking sheets and store them in an airtight container. They will last the better part of a week at room temperature.
And that’s it. Quick and easy and tasty and no baking required…the perfect recipe for summer cookies. Although I like these enough that I’ve been known to make them during the other three seasons as well. Enjoy!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Click here for printable PDF of recipe
INGREDIENTS
2 Cup sugar
1/4 Cup cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 Cup milk
1 Cup peanut butter
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 Cup quick oats
DIRECTIONS
Put oats in a large bowl and set aside. In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Let boil for 1 minute then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Then stir in the peanut butter. Add the chocolate mixture to the bowl of oats and mix. Drop the mixture by spoonsful onto a cookie sheet covered with waxed paper and let set (4-8 hours). Store at room temperature in an airtight container. Makes 24-30 cookies.
