Grandmommy's No Bake Cookies

I've been trying to eat healthier, you know to lose my baby weight (from my almost, ahem, two year old...), so what do you do when you try to eat healthier, you add oatmeal to chocolate!  Baby steps, right?

I have loved these cookies since I was a kid! My Grandmommy would make them sometimes when she would come to visit our house.

I remember helping my mom make these when I was in high school and I have been making them ever since. I think I have messed up this recipe any possible way you can mess them up.  I've also had them so many other places where they have been dry, crumbly, or heaven forbid not sweet enough! 

I have finally figured out how to make them perfect every time.  (But, you know because I just typed that, the next time I make them they aren't going to turn out!) So, I will share the recipe with you!  They aren't even dry the next day like I've made them so many other times too! 

Here's the recipe in my mom's handwriting that she wrote down for me before I went to college.  I have put this recipe in other places, but I like using the recipes in my mom's handwriting for some reason.  I don't think I'll ever get rid of the recipes that she wrote down for me.  It's fun to have memories from my mom as I cook.

In case you can't read my mom's cursive, here's the recipe in print (with my added notes):

 

Grandmommy's No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. milk

1 stick of butter

4 T. cocoa

1/2 tsp. salt.

Mix together above ingredients in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook boiling for 2 minutes (or just barely over 2 makes the best consistency.  If you over cook it, your cookie will be dry, if you undercook it, your cookie will not harden).  Remove from heat and add:

2 1/2 - 3 cups of Quick Oatmeal (I start with 2 1/2, I rarely add 3, somewhere in the middle.  Once I accidentally used not instant and it was fine too, just crunchier, but I definitely didn't use as much!)

1 cup of peanut butter

1 tsp of vanilla

Mix well and drop by spoonful on wax paper, let cool.  (Though I've started to be more frugal, and if you take your wrapper from your butter and grease a cookie sheet, you can use that instead of wax paper.)

If you live in a dry climate, you need to store these in an airtight container as soon as they cool to make them stay moist longer. 

Remember - for this cookie it is all about the boiling time, it will make or break your cookie.  Quite literally...

I dare you to eat just one...

Enjoy!

POST SCRIPT - Last week I made these no bake cookies again, and I was multi tasking with too many things, and the chocolate mixture boiled a little over three minutes, and you can see the difference in the color of the cookies when you over cook them.  I know the shape is different, but I usually use the cookie scooper and hadn't in the picture above for some reason.  When overcooked, they just aren't as creamy, and I just wanted to show you the difference.   I mean, they are still edible, just not quite as enjoyable...  These were all devoured.