Friday, February 13, 2015

Valentine's Day is Nigh...

This is Ryan's first year of college, and I wanted to send him a box for Valentine's Day.  Oh, I know he's big and stuff like that, but we moms have the right to be sentimental and hold with tradition.  Initially, I was going to just get him a nice big box of chocolates, wrap and send it.  But then, it rained over the weekend, so I stayed home.  And then it got colder Monday, so when I went out on Tuesday to buy milk and Valentine's Day candy, my garage door wouldn't move.  The rain melted just enough snow to cause it to run under my garage door and freeze it shut.  And it's only gotten colder as the week has gone on; today's high was 9. (For those of you in celsius-land, that's like -13C.)  So, after contemplating Poppy's comment about cocoa powder in her oatmeal, I knew what I had to do.

NO BAKE OATMEAL COOKIES
(with variations)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk (I use nonfat milk)
optional: 2 tbsp dry milk powder
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/3 cup chopped nuts

Melt the butter in a pan with the milk.  Stir together the sugar, cocoa powder and milk powder if you're adding it (to give them a richer flavor), and whisk into the warm milk/butter combination.  Bring to a boil, and boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is fully dissolved.  Remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla, until the peanut butter is melted.  Add the oats and nuts, stir until combined, and drop by the teaspoonful onto baking sheets lined with waxed paper which has been sprayed.  The recipe says it makes 30 cookies, but I use my smallest cookie scoop, which makes 2-bite sized cookies, and routinely get about 70 cookies from this recipe.


To make these lower sugar if you have sugar issues, substitute 1 cup of Stevia for 1 cup of sugar - don't replace all of the sugar with Stevia, or the cookies will fail.  These are good without peanut butter or nuts for nut allergy sufferers, and fine without cocoa powder for chocolate allergies.  Using the small scoop as I do, each cookie only contains 3mg of cholesterol, even using butter; I figure the oats surely counteract that, right?  So comfort yourself in the knowledge that these are almost-health-food treats, perfect for Valentine's Day if your car is frozen into your garage!

Happy Weekending, everyone!

10 comments:

Two French Bulldogs said...

He sure will appreciate it
Lily & Edward

Nellie said...

I love these treats! It has been a long time since I've made them here, and you've given me an idea! Thanks!

~~louise~~ said...

Oh my goodness, Marjie. Your garage door is frozen shut?!?!

I just came in from taking Iggy out (yes he's here another weekend, John's b-day and you know Valentine's day with the new "friend.") It is freezing outside!!! And as you said, only getting colder. From the sound of it, your door may be frozen for quite a few days.

I'm sure Ryan will be more than thrilled to have these No Bake Cookies. I've got some cocoa NuStevia that I need to test. I may just try it on these! Thanks for sharing, Marjie...

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day with that Hubby of yours. Enjoy every moment:)

STELLA and RORY from Down Under said...

Hi Marjie, those cookies look good. I'll show my daughter the recipe and she might make some! Over here in our part of Oz we're heading for 41C (105F) today. Stay warm and hope your garage door opens soon! No worries, and love, Carol

SissySees said...

Oh yum! Thanks for the substitutions info too. I'll have to make some soon.

gMarie said...

these look amazing. I need to make cookies. right after I put the little dog out! g

Poppy Crocker said...

I'm glad my comment inspired you! No bake cookies are SO GOOD! :-)

grace said...

we call these preacher cookies, though i'm not sure why. very tasty choice!

Anonymous said...

I'm down with "No Bake." It's 90 degrees out here.

Pam said...

I bet he loved those cookies way more than a box of chocolates! They look and sound tasty.