No Bake Breakfast Cookies

(Ahh, an updated photo of these much loved breakfast cookies.)

No bake cookies have a special place in my heart. I once lived in Taiwan. Taiwanese people do not eat chocolate chip cookies. Or brownies. Or cakes. Or pretty much any of the stuff that makes Americans chubby and Asian people not chubby. Nor do they carry some of the ingredients for the things that make Americans chubby and Asian people not chubby. What was a group of American English teachers supposed to do when the withdrawl symptoms began to appear? Well, we could get oatmeal, cocoa, peanut butter, butter, and sugar. And then when our chubby American needs needed to be met, we met them with honor, with love, with too many cookies at once. Indeed we did. Or at least I did.

I developed this healthier recipe when my mom was visiting and I wanted chocolate. Not that my mom makes me crave chocolate. At least not any more than anything else makes me crave chocolate.

It has one quarter the sugar and less butter. It's still good. Very good. If, however, you are too wimpy for such a change (although you shouldn't be), or believe in suffering and therefore find  the idea of breakfast cookies repugnant, I will let you in on a little secret. (((The original recipe calls for 2 C sugar and 1/2 C butter. You can reduce the sugar to 1 C and... not. even. notice. a. difference. That is right. It will not be a breakfast cookie, but it will be a half-sugar, tastes-the-same cookie, and I think that that is worth knowing.)))

(As a reminder of my first picture of these--just for fun--here it is.)


No Bake Breakfast Cookies
Makes 18 cookies

1/3 C butter

3 T cocoa

½ C milk

½ C sugar

½ C peanut butter

1 t vanilla

3 C oats.

In a saucepan, bring the first 4 ingredients to a rolling boil [a boil in which even when you stir, you can see the bubbles boiling energetically], stirring constantly for about 1 1/2 minutes. (If you boil too long, the cookies will be chalky, not long enough, they won’t hold together well.)

Remove from heat and add peanut butter, then vanilla. Stir until peanut butter melted.

Add oats and stir.

Drop onto wax paper. Let set if you can. Otherwise, you can always grab a spoon.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

(another new picture)

(another old picture)