There comes a time in every woman’s life when she NEEDS some chocolate and there is none in the house.
For me, that day was today.
I have been dealing with a head cold/sore throat/headache for days and my husband came home early from work to take the kids off my hands. I rested for about an hour and then I wanted some comfort food to make me feel better. (Yes, I know. That’s bad.) I was really craving chocolate, partly for the comfort and partly for the energy my body was lacking, I think.
Since I have been watching what I eat lately, the only chocolate we had was an old square of baking chocolate, unsweetened.
I decided to play around with inventing a no-bake cookie recipe.
First, I melted the chocolate square and a half-cup of butter in a double boiler. You don’t have a double-boiler? That’s okay, neither do I. I actually placed a metal mixing bowl on top of a sauce pan with a couple of inches of water in it. Boil the water, then turn down the heat to a simmer. The steam heats the bowl and melts the chocolate without burning it. You can also microwave it, if you are into that sort of thing.
Then I added 2 T of peanut butter. You can add more or less depending on your taste. I added a small pinch of salt, too. Use more or less depending on how much PB you use, since PB is salty.
At this point, I took it off the heat.
Then I played around with the sugar. I added it until I liked the taste. I ended up with 1/2 cup of sugar.
Last, I stirred in some rolled oats. You can use instant or quick cooking if you want it less oaty. They are thinner sliced. Personally, I like to be able to taste the oats. I ended up adding 1 1/2 cups of oats.
I then lined a baking sheet with wax paper and sprayed a tiny spritz of cooking spray on it. I used an icecream scoop to scoop out the mixture onto the wax paper. It needs to be pressed together tightly to hold its shape.
Baby Smurf loved them. So did Painter. Jokey thought they were too oaty. Papa Smurf said that it took a couple of bites to really appreciate them. I thought they were great - especially since there was no other chocolate in the house.
Here is the recipe:
1/2 c. butter
1-1.5 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
2 Tbsp peanut butter
pinch salt
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. rolled oats
Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler or a metal mixing bowl placed on top of a pot of boiling water. Add peanut butter and salt. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Mix in sugar until smooth. Add oats. Stir to coat completely. Shape with hands or ice cream scoop onto waxpaper lined baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Chill until firm. Makes approx. 8 cookies.
