No Bake Cookies

Ahhhh my favorite cookie of all time and I am low on most of the ingredients so will refrain today no matter how much I am craving them!! Maybe a trip to the store as it will be "cheaper" not really but I can get a few for cheaper than the ingredients all together to make much more...lol. It will be enough to kill the craving for them at least.

*There's just one trick; you have to make sure that the sugar mixture boils hard for at least one minute, otherwise the cookies will be sugary instead of creamy.
*Also I am a fan of raw sugar but found it doesn't work well or at least I have yet to get it to work so if you know of a trick that will work let me know otherwise stick with white sugar.

You can add other ingredients to this basic recipe. Substitute 1 cup of flaked coconut for 1 cup of the oatmeal. Add some chopped peanuts to the recipe for crunch. Or add some milk chocolate chips after the mixture has cooled slightly.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

Preparation:

In large saucepan, combine sugar, milk, cocoa, salt, and butter and mix well. Bring to a boil and cover saucepan for 30 seconds to allow steam to wash sugar crystals down sides of pan. Stir mixture and bring it to a boil that can't be stirred down for 1 minute. Then remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth. Add oatmeal and mix well. Do not use regular or instant oatmeal; quick-cooking oatmeal is essential to the success of this recipe.

Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to let the oatmeal absorb some of the liquid.

Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let cool until you can touch the mixture; then reshape the cookies to make them more a ball shape. Let cool completely; store at room temperature.

A couple variations I have tried is 1 cup of coconut in place of one of the cups of oatmeal OR if mixture is still a bit wet as made above is roll the balled cookie dough in coconut for a truffle type cookie. DELICIOUS! These are easy for the little kids to help out with even.