Happy Winter!

I hope your December has been filled with lots of togetherness and memory-making.  See you in January 2016!

TGROAT? Really?

In a recent Flipboard search for holiday meals, I locked-on a Bon Appetit recipe with this title:

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies are The Greatest Recipe of All Time

What a claim!  Best of the best?  The use of a superlative adjective (found in so many titles we read anymore) got my attention, and I did not move on (would you have?)...rather, read on to discover what this cookie was all about.

You know that I spend a great amount of time perusing recipes, looking for something tasty to prepare.  Mostly I spend time under the umbrella of ANYTHING SWEET.  I say mostly because I am also very keen on health and the truth is...health wins out...always.  Many of my friends imagine that my sweet tooth rules my existence, but it does not.  Yes, the hunt for that new dessert keeps me internet-occupied and subsequently busy in the kitchen, but my day's plan never includes time for a sugar-induced coma.

I made the choice to stop purchasing items like cookies, cakes, bars, doughnuts, etc. quite some years back with the notion that when I wanted to indulge, I could have some knowledge and control over the ingredients I ingested.  Baking fills in where purchases no longer exist, but my love of kitchen activity/behavior is bound to health.

Okay, back to this cookie.  At first glance, it was not much to look at.  But I read through the backstory and was piqued by the ease of method, the brevity of ingredients, and hold onto your hats... the fact the these could be prepared and served in under an hour!  Was this enough to earn the TGROAT vote?

I decided to do what I love to do: I made these cookies.

Notes:

1.  FYI- There are variations on the BA recipe like this one from The Food Network.  

2.  The recipe from BA yielded 60 cookies, but if they failed to deliver, that would be a lot of waste, right?  So I cut the recipe in half and got 28 ping pong-sized cookies (2-bite cookies).

3.  I added an ounce or so of dark chocolate (broken into small pieces) when the oatmeal went into the mix.  This is an option.

4.  I used one cup of sugar, even though I should have used only 1/2 a cup.  It worked.

5.  I did not need to refrigerate the cookies after placing them on the cookie sheet.  They firmed up on the counter within 10-15 minutes.  Could be the season...it is December. 

6.  The leftovers were put into a cookie tin and then refrigerated.

7.  A one saucepan recipe...what's not to like about this?

8.  The cookies have a confectionary profile...kind of like a piece of fudge with some heft.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

(Yield depends on size of cookie; see note above)

1/2 stick of salted butter

1/4 cup milk (I used 2%)

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)

1 and 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1-2 ounces of dark chocolate (optional)

Directions

1.  Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper, waxed paper, or silpat.  Set to the side.

2.  Into a medium-sized saucepan, place the butter, milk, cocoa powder, and sugar.

3.  Turn the heat to medium low and melt the butter, stirring to combine all ingredients.

4.  Turn heat up, and bring to a boil, stirring. 

5.  Allow to boil for one minute while stirring.

6.  Remove from heat and add peanut butter, vanilla, salt (if using), oats and extra chocolate (if using) into the saucepan.

7.  Mix until evenly incorporated.

8.  Use a spoon to scoop up dollops of batter and place onto the cookie sheet. (Using one hand, I was easily able to form the dollops into roundish cookies before placing them onto the cookie sheet.)

 9.  Let cool on cookie sheet.  They are ready to eat almost immediately.  Enjoy!

Am I ready to get behind the bold opinion that this cookie is the greatest recipe of all time??  That's tough to say because as usual, I was online today searching for and reading recipes, and guess what headline I saw from Bon Appetit?

                           Chili Colorado is the Greatest Recipe of All Time

:)