Book Update: I’ve learned some new and interesting things from “Salt, Sugar, Fat” by Michael Moss… Like Oscar Meyer had a bologna problem back in the 80’s and 90’s. Red meat was being purchased less and less as a result of the “fat is bad” boom from the 1980’s. Nothing new. However, Lunchables were created to solve this problem. They needed to sell bologna and now with Kraft their sister company (all under Philip Morris… holy cow that company owns a TON of stuff), they can get the cheese at cost. At first, they were going to put bread in the lunchable, but that idea had to be removed because the Lunchables had to be able to last 2 months in storage. Bread can’t do that… but crackers can. And that is why there are crackers in Lunchables. They were designed to solve mom’s problem of rushing around in the morning trying to fix lunches, get breakfast on the table and have everyone out the door on time. (Might I add that freezer lunches would solve this? ;-))
Recipe Update: I’m not the biggest chocolate fan ever, but these cookies were AWESOME. They lasted two days in our house. I think it is the oats. I love oatmeal, oatmeal cookies, etc. Why are these healthier? They use a reduced about of butter (fat) and sugar (sucrose), and the recipe uses old fashioned oats instead of quick oats. Quick oats are yummy and they would work as well. But, I like the chew of the rolled oats personally. You choose what your family likes. These cookies set very nicely and came together quickly. I used Trader Joe’s baking cocoa because I think it tastes better than most others including Aldi’s (the nutrition facts are drastically different, so it isn’t the same thing). Next time, I may try to reduce the sugar even more.
Since we are snowed in and receiving 8-12″ of snow today, I thought everyone should have this recipe today. The ingredients are probably in your pantry.
**Update** 1/6/14: I made these and reduced the sugar to 1 cup. They worked! They are not as sweet, but I don’t think you could tell unless you made a side by side comparison. They are not as solid, but they are solid. This could also be solved by storing them in the fridge like we do.
Healthier No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
40 cookies
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa (the normal natural baking cocoa like Hershey’s, I like Trader Joe’s)
1/2 cup milk
1/8 heaping teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
5 tablespoons butter, cut up
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups rolled oats
1. Add the sugar, cocoa, milk and salt to a large pot. Mine is stainless 3 liter size.
2. Mix all of this up and boil for 1 minute.
3. Remove the pot from the heat. Add the peanut butter, butter and vanilla. Stir until melted.
4. Add in the oats. Stir gently to coat.
5. Dollop cookies onto a piece of wax paper, parchment or silicone. I used a 1 Tablespoon cookie scoop. This yielded about 40 cookies. Allow the cookies to cool on the counter to set up. I waited an hour. Then store at room temperature in an airtight container or for long time storage (or just because they taste good cold), put them in the fridge.
Recipe from Food.com
i love these cookies! glad to see a healthier recipe. yum!