Feeling Cookie

After a weekend of spending Christmas with dad's relatives in his home town, one of the things we got down to doing was unwrapping the presents we left under the Christmas tree. My Mum received some homemade peanut tuiles that reminded me of the first time I discovered the joys of making pastries.

No baker is stranger to making cookies. It was fun to make and a breeze to cook. But before it dawned on me to explore the hidden capabilities of my circa 90's oven toaster, I first stumbled upon this recipe of no-bake cookies in the interwebz. 

Of all the available recipes out there, I found Bliss n Tell's version as the most helpful because of the photos she provided on her blog. It was an understandable choice back then because I was a total baking noob XD

Over some time, I modified the original recipe to suit my taste :)

Oatmeal and 

Choco-Nut Cookies

This is by far the easiest and shortest recipe I have posted on my blog. You got Bliss n Tell to thank for (let me link you to her site again, just hover your cursor above 'Bliss n Tell'). She dusted her cookies with powdered sugar, but I left mine as is because it's still awesome without the added sugar. After all, with all that sugar in the ingredients list, would you really want more? XDD I suppose, the answer would be yes. Silly of me to still ask XDDDD

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 stick butter

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

2-3 generous tbsp chunky or crunchy peanut butter (I used Skippy)

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions 

1. Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan. 

2. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one full minute. 

3. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter, vanilla extract, oatmeal, and ground cinnamon.

4. Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

So back to peanut tuiles for a Christmas present. I suppose, baked goods have a longer shelf-life compared with this no-bake sweet because it requires refrigeration to keep the cookies in firm shape. It is best to eat them immediately and enjoy with good company over warm cookies, a pot of tea (Earl Grey and English Breakfast always taste great with sweet things and since the recipe for these cookies requires 1 1/2 cups of sugar, you would need something dark and tart), or a comforting mug of brewed coffee.

I would imagine the best setting to enjoy these cookies would be while sitting next to the fireplace while reading a good novel (Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol to suit the holiday mood, perhaps?), munching on a saucer of these cookies and washing them down with a soothing warm beverage. I would also be squeezing in a little bit of knitting or crocheting to complete the fuzzy atmosphere. Alas, I'm in a tropical country, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying these sweet things nonetheless~