These cookies bring back special memories for me (and probably many others) of my late Aunt Jane. The smell of these cookies brings me right back into her kitchen again. My whole life I have tried to recreate these delicious cookies, and I have finally done it! The secret!? They may be "no-bake" but they aren't "no-cook." Much like fudge, the chocolate must be boiled for a time in order to heat the sugar properly and allow those sugar crystals to cool down and set up. So, my entire life, I have just been melting the ingredients, mixing in oats, and wondering why they never set up. Now I know!
So first of all, it is really important with any candy making to have all of your ingredients set out and waiting for you. If you're using up time measuring out your peanut butter, and this boils for just a little too long, they'll be rock hard. You don't want that to happen! These cookies are soft and crumbly, and that texture is best achieved when you can flow through this recipe without feeling rushed to gather and measure out ingredients. So get your stuff together first! Go on, I'll wait!
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| Do the thing....seriously....measure everything out and have it waiting! |
Alrighty, now that that's taken care of, we are going to put our cut up butter, sugar, milk and unsweetened cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly will prevent weird lumps in your mixture!
Stir until everything is combined and mixed in well, then bring to a rolling boil.
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| Beautiful and lump free! |
If you aren't experienced with candy making, it can be hard to determine when a "rolling boil" has been achieved. Frequent water-boilers know exactly what a rolling boil looks like. Big bubbles, lots of steam. Trust me, a chocolate rolling boil is a little tamer than that. So when waiting for your rolling boil, don't expect it to look like water boiling. Sustain this boil for 60 seconds. Set a timer for this one! 30 seconds over or under could be a cookie disaster! (Not really, they're still edible when they're mush or hard as a rock). Remember to keep stirring constantly!
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"Rolling boil" worries could probably be alleviated with a candy thermometer.
But that would be too easy and make too much sense. So instead, look for something like this!
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Now this part needs to happen rather quickly, so I hope you pre-measured everything like I told you to at the beginning! Take you chocolate mixture off the heat and stir in your peanut butter and vanilla. Once that is well incorporated, mix in your oats.
On a parchment-lined baking tray (or put a towel down on the counter, then some parchment paper on that) spoon out your cookies to their desire size and shape! Let them sit for 20-30 minutes so they can set up, then start shoveling them in your mouth!
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