Surprising No-Bakes...

Let me start off with, if I had known how cold it was going to be today, yesterday's no-bakes would have been a bake. And there is a good chance that I will be baking something ANYTHING to help warm the house up. Last night before I headed off to bed I opened my house up. Hoping that we could survive the unusually warm weather the following day. And true to Idaho weather, today's high is a forecast of 56 but the real feel is 53. I will say this for Idaho weather, if you don't like it, wait....it will change.
So back to the no-bakes. I am very fond of baking, not so much of cooking. I would not be able to tell you why I prefer the one to the other, I just do. And when it's hot the last thing I want to do is add to the heat by turning the oven on. So the no bake offers a wonderful option.
The sad thing is since I have moved here there has only been one successful batch of No-bakes, and it was not for lack of trying. Most of the no bakes are little drops of mushy mess. The only one that came out right was a batch that a good friend gave me. Including her recipe + all the ingredients. That batch was tasty, delicious and in cookie form. The rest I would have to scoop up with my fingers and eat quickly before it would drip all over. They tasted okay, but not as good as the actual cookies should be.
Glutton for punishment I decided to try again. I used a recipe off of pinterest.
Easy enough and I had all ingredients. So away I went.
Here is the recipe courtesy of "Lick the Bowl Good"

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 stick oleo, margarine or butter (I used butter)
• 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups oatmeal (old fashioned rolled oats, not instant)

Mix the sugar, butter, cocoa, and milk in a medium saucepan.* Boil for 1 minute.

Add the peanut butter and vanilla. Mix quickly until peanut butter melts, then add the oatmeal and mix til well blended.

Drop spoonfuls on tin foil, wax paper or parchment. Allow to set and cool completely.

She would place her oats in a bowl then pour the mixture over the oats. I followed suit thinking "It can't hurt!" 

I then dropped them on to wax paper (that I had placed on baking sheets.) And waited. Not patiently I'll admit it. I helped myself to a few mushy soupy cookies. They tasted good. I kept waiting...and waiting...and waiting...
The cookies remained "soupy." sadly disappointed I left the "mess" to be cleaned up later and went on to other things. Like bed. 

And then this morning, Surprise! In place of soupy little mounds, there were actual cookies! Like pick them up, set them down, pile them together, cookies! So when the author says "allow to cool and set completely' she means over night. When you have given up all hope of them ever being cookies, they will overnight become what you want. 

http://lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com/2010/09/summer-and-autumn.html