The No Bake

I love no bakes!  I remember my mom making them when I was a kid and they never lasted long in our house.  When I really started gaining an interest in cooking, no bakes where one of the first things on my list of things to try.  However, I could not find my mom's recipe, so I set out to find one.  As it turns out, this is one of the oldest recipes in my repertoire that is not a family recipe.

This recipe is actually from the Food Network show Cooking Live with Sara Moulton.  Talk about a blast from the past!  Cooking Live was one of the first shows I watched on the Food Network, and I can't remember whether I saw these cookies being made on the show, or if I just found it doing a recipe search online.  Either way, this is a simple recipe and produces quite delicious cookies.

No bakes are a lot of fun to make.  They are easy, quick, and a nice change from traditional 'baked' cookies.  Plus, since they don't need to be baked, they are a great idea if you need to make a sweet treat in a pinch.  The cookies are chocolaty, sweet, and rich.  Definitely fun to make with the kids, and they still don't last long in our house. 

Chocolate Peanut-Butter No Bake Cookies
Recipe courtesy Helen Ostrosky
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
Waxed paper

Directions
In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 1 minute then add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooled and hardened.
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