The COOKIES

No, this is not the start of a food blog. However, these were too easy and delicious not to share. 

Here is the recipe so you don’t have to mindlessly scroll to the bottom of the page to find it. More below the recipe if you care to indulge in some mind-numbing reading on how these came to be. 

INGREDIENTS

• ⅔ cup natural creamy peanut butter (salted or unsalted) 
• 2 1/2 cups of rolled oats
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• ½ teaspoon sea salt*
• 2½ cups rolled oats
• ¼ to ½ cup chocolate chips (minis, regular-sized or chunks
• ¼ ish cup craisins
• ¼ ish cup of shredded coconut

STEPS

1. Take the 2 ½ cups of rolled oats and rough chop in a Cuisinart, blender, or Vitamix-type machine. 
2. Combine peanut butter, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla, and sea salt in a medium to large mixing bowl. Stir until smooth. 
3. Add in chocolate chips, craisins, and shredded coconut until coated. 
4. Add in about half the oats and mix and then add in the remaining oats. 
5. Line baking sheet 
6. Scoop into whatever size balls you want. 
7. Attempt not to eat them and try to let them set for about 24 hours in the fridge (good luck with this one)

THE RESULTS

Ok, if you really care about more detail on this one. I saw an ad on Instagram about Oats Overnight Cookie Dough and that set me down the path of finding a no-bake oat cookie. 

I’m generally averse to the idea of cooking with kids – I know I really SHOULD get over this but c’est la vie! The idea of a no-bake cookie sounded like a good place for me to start. 

I set out to traverse the world wide web and stumbled onto the “No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies” from Love and Lemons. After reading through the ingredients it sounded like the right mixture that I was looking for but needed some tweaks and tweaks we made. 

I found this to be a fun recipe to do with both my kids. We worked on communication, taking turns, using new utensils, and most importantly they had fun – it didn’t hurt that they could lick the bowl and the spatula at the end…and immediately try the cookies before they went into the fridge.

The base mixture is excellent – I want to pour it on ice cream, put it in smoothies, or just eat it with a spoon. The add-ins definitely complement the base. It feels like an easy recipe to constantly tweak or test new versions. Thinking pumpkin spice (could be tough with the additional moisture in pumpkin) but still worth a shot.

The world is your oyster with this one.