the no-bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal "cookie"

To me, no-bake cookies come right out of old cookbooks with worn canvas covers. I've seen plenty of no-bake recipes while browsing through my vintage cookbook collection, but never thought to try them myself. Then I spied these no-bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies on Ezra Poundcake and something told me....Go! Now! No-bake these immediately! Well, that was last fall and I only made them a few days ago. Obviously, I'm tardy when it comes to following my gut. But no more. These are seriously the easiest cookies anyone could ever make, so what are you waiting for?

I'm actually hesitant to call this a cookie. They remind me of a chocolate haystack candy that my mom made when I was little. They were amazing and this no-bake recipe is the closest thing I've had since I was nine. It's like a sweet bite of memory overload. I followed the original recipe and used tablespoons to drop the mixture onto waxed paper, but in hindsight I'd use just a teaspoon. Smaller lumps would make for better bites. Plus, these babies are sweeeeeeeeeet! Next time I'd cut the sugar and increase the peanut butter, but I'm not sure if that would screw up the recipe. Thoughts? Oh and another bonus? Easy to make vegan by switching in soy milk and soy margarine!

These cookies/candies make use of the stove top, so they are perfect for summer sweets when turning on the oven would be criminal. Plus they are delicious served cold, which makes them a refreshing bite of chocolatey goodness. I tried a keeping a batch in the freezer and a batch in the fridge for testing sake. The ones in the freezer were stickier and gooey and the ones in the fridge were almost sandy in comparison. I liked the sandier fridge chilled cookies best, but do whatchya like! Either way, they'll go quickly.

no-bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies
(adapted from Ezra Poundcake)
1/2 c butter
2 c sugar (I used a scant 2 cups)
1 t salt
1/2 c milk
4 T cocoa
1/2 c natural peanut butter
3 to 3 1/2 c old-fashioned oats
2 T vanilla

In a medium sized saucepan, mix together the first five ingredients and bring to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute and then remove from heat. Add in remaining ingredients and then use a teaspoon to drop the mixture onto cookie sheets lined with waxed paper. Chill until set. Keep in refrigerator.

chocolate chip oatmeal kumquat cookies

I'm a fan of kumquats. They're tiny little bursts of concentrated orange tartness that pops in your mouth like candy. And I love that you don't need to peel 'em...just pop 'em and go. However, I 've never really looked inside of one before, never having a need to before. But then a bought a large bag of kumquats in Chinatown and wondered what else I could do with these tiny citrus fruits. I found a recipe for kumquat cookies and the deal was sealed.

When I started chopping the kumquats I was surprised to find out that there's not much fruit or juice to these little orange balls....just pith, rind and seeds. Who knew? I guess it's what makes these cookies so great. The flavour of the kumquats provide a concentrated burst of orange flavour that goes so well with the chocolate. These cookies aren't overly sweet but they pack a wallop of deliciousness...and this coming from someone who claims that she's not even a fan of the orange/chocolate combo! Pass on the Terry's chocolate orange and snack on these instead. Oh, and that sweet pink knife up above? I bought it locally at a kitchen shop in Chinatown, but it's available on Amazon: Kuhn Rikon Pink Nonstick Paring Knife with Sheath 4-in.



chocolate chip oatmeal kumquat cookies
(based on this recipe)
1 c kumquat, diced small
2/3 c softened butter
2/3 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
2 c flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c oatmeal
2/3 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 F. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale. Add in eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour little by little to the butter mixture and beat slowly together. Stir in the oatmeal and kumquats and finally the chocolate chips, stirring until everything is evenly mixed.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on rack.

a twist on morning oats: pan fried oatmeal

Cold mornings loves a hot breakfast and oatmeal is pretty much our mainstay for the winter months. I make it straight up but will often bake it (two different ways), or mix things up a bit with steel cut oats or scottish oats. Yesterday I made oatmeal in my usual way. Cornelius topped his with bananas, almonds and brown sugar, while I added a dollop of sour cherry jam. It's hearty, filling and perfect. But after making a potful of oats, I always seem to have some leftover. Usually, the next morning the leftovers go into the microwave and get rehydrated with a bit of milk. But not today.


I wanted to try something different. When I was in Vilnius, we ate breakfast at a little place called Cozy. I ordered oatmeal and it was served not only with a dollop of sour cherry jam, but with a sumptious pool of melting butter. It was utterly delicious. While I have yet to add butter to my oatmeal at home, I decided that maybe butter was the key to a new breakfast discovery. And that's how this butter pan fried oatmeal was born.


pan-fried oatmeal
The key to this "recipe" is using leftover oatmeal that still retains that leftover flattened slab-ish quality that results from leaving the oatmeal in the pot overnight (kept in the fridge, of course). Then, you can slice it up, melt up some butter, add the slab to the bubbling butter, flip it when it gets golden on both sides and serve. It's really delicious topped with yogurt and maple syrup. It takes leftovers to a whole new level of goodness.

veggie burgers & green fries

Last week I wanted burgers but I also wanted to use up stuff we had around our kitchen, so that meant no going to the grocery store for new items. I had to use what was around the house. Luckily I stumbled across this veggie burger recipe over at My Food Geek and with claims that this was the best veggie burger ever, I was definitely intrigued. The recipe originally comes from The New Laurel's Kitchen: A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition and while it seems strange to add broth to the cooking burgers, it works! The burgers are delicious and hearty and I might just have to second these as the best veggie burgers ever. We ate them on toasted hamburger buns spread with a dollop of homemade chipotle mayo, some organic ketchup, a slice of melted cheddar cheese and a few slices of cucumber. Delcious! We didn't server these with fries, but we ate them with my favorite lemony green beans which have bite, contain the perfect amount of salt and are the perfect summer substitute for hot and greasy fries.

walnut oatmeal burgers
burger mixture:
2 c walnut pieces
2 c rolled oats
½ c breadcrumbs
3 eggs, slightly beaten
½ c skim milk
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t sage
1 t salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

for cooking burgers:
oil to brown patties
3 c vegetable stock*

1. Grind walnuts in blender and combine with the rest of the burger mixture ingredients. Let the mixture rest in refrigerator for about an hour to let the flavors meld together.

2. Form the mixture into patties. The entire mixture will make 8-12 burgers depending on the size patty formed. It is recommended to use half of the mixture now, and reserve the rest for use in another recipe or for more burgers later.

3. Brown patties on both sides in a lightly oiled skillet, then pour the stock into the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Serve on buns with all your burger fixings.

* If you are only cooking up half the mixture now and half later, be sure to also half the amount of stock. So use 1 ½ c of stock per half batch.

morning oats

If you've been reading this blog for a while now, you've certainly been made aware that I love oatmeal. I've made steel cut oats for breakfast, two different kinds of baked oatmeal and some gussied-up porridge. What I have never tried until now was the deliciousness of Scottish oatmeal. Hello, take my hand and follow me around forever, you yummy oat! Scottish oats are very similar in consistency to steel cut but cook in way less time yet yield that nice chewy texture provide the perfect sustenance to get you through any rough morning.

This isn't really a recipe. It was just me for breakfast today so I decided to prepare myself a large bowlful of oats. I just took the directions off of the package of Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oats and cut the amounts in half. What really made this breakfast special was the addition of pecans, dried cherries and a touch of brown sugar. Yum!

EDIT: The next morning, I made oatmeal again and while I made mine the same way with pecans and cherries, I made some for Cornelius with some bananas caramelized in butter and brown sugar and topped with pecans. Yes, he was very, very thankful.

scottish oatmeal
1 1/2 c water
pinch of salt
1/2 c scottish oats
a couple of pecan halves broken into bits
a small handful of dried cherries
1/2 t brown sugar

1. In a small pot, add the water and salt and bring to a boil.

2. Add in the oats, cover and lower heat to a simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and keep covered for another 5 minutes. Stir up porridge and add into your favorite breakfast bowl. Top with pecans, cherries and brown sugar.

model behaviour

Tonight I'm having a psuedo-girl's night. I'm getting together with friends to watch the trashiest of television trash, America's Next Top Model. The reason why I'm calling it a psuedo-girl's night is because half of the people showing up to our apartment are boys. ANTM is not only fun tv to watch with friends of both genders, but it's great television to actively engage in a friendly wager. Yes, you heard it! We bet on who will become America's Next Top Model. At the beginning of the season (or cycle, to those in the know), we each place $10 in the pot and rank our top three picks in order. It's all very scientific, really, and it makes for a good excuse to get together mid-week.

I usually try to make a treat each Wednesday and this week is no exception. And because the models are wafer-thin, tonight I was inspired to make a something model-approved. This oatmeal cookie recipe came from Dawna at Always in the Kitchen. I made a couple of changes to Dawna's original recipe (like the addition of sunflower seeds), but they'd be perfect anyway you bake them. These cookies are surprisingly light in texture, low(ish) in fat and are as pretty as a picture. I'm normally a fan of buttery oatmeal cookies, but I didn't miss the butter in this recipe at all. These cookies are fierce and perfect for any errupting catfights.

coconut oatmeal cookies
1/2 c canola oil
1 c brown sugar (not packed)
1 egg
1 c rolled oats
1/2 c stoneground whole wheat flour
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c sweetened coconut
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t kosher salt
1 t vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium mixing bowl, pour the oil, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and egg. Beat well until smooth. Add the rolled oats, coconut, and flours in layers without stirring. Add the baking soda, baking powder and salt, and then stir the whole mixture slowly until evenly mixed.

2. Using a tablespoon, drop the cookies onto a baking sheet, leaving enough room for them to expand. Use your fingers to slightly flatten the tops. Bake for about 12 minutes or until just barely golden. Remove promptly to a cooling rack.

baked oatmeal

I love oatmeal for breakfast. It's comforting and virtuous and above all, tasty delicious. I try to make our weekend breakfasts a bit more special than the everyday morning eats and yesterday I decided to make baked oatmeal. I've made baked oatmeal before, but I found a new recipe and wanted to try something a bit different. This oatmeal recipe included an egg plus baking powder which I thought a bit odd, but the results were fantastic. I can't say that one baked oatmeal is better than the other since I'd welcome either at the breakfast table.

I changed the original recipe somewhat by lowering the sugar content, adding spices and using fresh grated apple instead of applesauce. You can view the original Cooking Light recipe here. My take follows below.

baked oatmeal #2
2 c quick oats
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c. raisins
2 T chopped walnuts
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1 pinch of nutmeg
1 t baking powder
1 1/2 c skim milk
1 apple, grated
2 T butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
1 t vanilla

1. Mix the first 8 ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

2. In another bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well.

3. Pour into square baking pan and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve with a large dollop of yogurt.

can't stop, won't stop

I can't stop snacking on these cookies! Usually, I'm not much into double chocolate cookies, but these are just too good and I should have doubled the recipe. They are easy to make and twelve cookies the recipe makes just isn't enough. Make them now and send me your gifts of thanks after you've licked off all the crumbs.

double chocolate oatmeal cookies
3/4 c flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 c butter, softened (or use a vegan margerine to make these cookies fully vegan)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 T oats (I used quick oats, but slow oats would work just as well)
1/4 c semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, sift together the first 4 ingredients. In a seperate bowl (or use your mixer), beat butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy and well blended. Slowly add flour mixture until combined. Mix in oats and chocolate chips.

2. On a prepared cookie sheet (I covered mine with silpat), use a tablespoon to drop balls of dough onto the sheet, about 2 inches apart. Slightly flatten tops with fingers.

3. Bake cookies until center is slightly firm , about 14 minutes. Cool on sheet.

* It really is best to let these cookies cool on the sheet because when they are warm they are very crumbly and prone to break in half.

breakfast. 7am.

I'm not so much into rigid schedules as I pride my work-at-home schedule on it's flexibility. This week, however, I am working away from home and I need a schedule to keep me afloat. I set my alarm for 6:30am. I toast & set my steel cut oats to a simmer. I take a bath (alas, our 100 year old apartment is without shower!), dress and dry my hair. Steel cut oats are done shortly after 7am. Eat porridge, drink coffee. Check email. Put on jacket. Leave building with bicycle at 7:50am and arrive at my desk in a downtown corporate head office at 8am sharp. Phew! Repeat until Friday.

I'm actually quite busy with freelance work AND this extra graphic design job that takes me out of the house for the week, so I won't have much time to update around here. I hope my breakfast routine will keep you interested enough to give these steel cut oats a try. They're great! (note my refrain from the Tony the Tiger bellow.)

steel cut oatmeal
1 t butter
1 c steel cut oats
3 c boiling water
1 c milk
1 t cinnamon
optional: extra milk, raisins, honey, brown sugar or maple syrup to taste

1. Melt butter in a large pot and add the oats. Stir until toasted -- about 2 minutes. Add the boiling water and reduce heat to a simmer. Keep at a low simmer for 25 minutes with the lid on. Don't stir.

2. Add milk and the cinnamon into the oatmeal and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. Spoon into a bowl and add some extra milk and some honey to sweeten things up.

preparation is important!

I want to be sure that I get a good start to the day in preparation for the New Year's Eve revellery that will begin this evening. Friends have arrived from Portland, OR and Randy will be spinning the decks at Justin & Veda's dance-dance party. My pretty pink dancing shoes are ready for some boogie-woogie and I've got to be full prepared, inside and out! Breakfast this morning had to be hearty and warm -- the perfect base in preparation for all the sloshing about that would no doubt occur. Happy New Year's everybody!

After viewing Zen Foodism's recipe for cranberry almond oatmeal, I realized that it had been awhile since I've made this breakfast standard. I changed the ingredients somewhat to reflect what I had in the cupboard and it made a lovely and delicious hot breakfast.

cranberry walnut oatmeal
4 cups water
1/4 t salt
1-3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup oat bran (I used all oats)
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
4 T maple syrup (I used only 2 T)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (walnuts)
1/4 t cinnamon (1/2 t vanilla instead)

Boil the water in a small saucepan. Then add the salt, oats, oat bran, and cranberries. Lower heat and simmer for about 10-12 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 2 more minutes. Serve immediately.

* Recipe totally nicked from Zen Foodism (well, I changed the title!)

oatmeal

After cursing that the OC had been replaced by a baseball game, I went on my computer to drown my sorrows in ones and zeros. I discovered a new food blog and decided that I was going to make this recipe for breakfast the next day. The idea of baked oatmeal sounded amazing and I like that it was referred to as "breakfast cake". Sorry for the blurred photos. Sometimes, I just don't want to re-take a photo.

Here is the recipe as it appeared: (my notes are below)

Baked Oatmeal
Serves 2-3

2 cups lowfat milk
1 cup water
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. almond extract
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 ½ cups rolled oats
½ cup dried fruit of your choice [I used raisins and cherries]
½ cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped [or walnuts, or almonds]
1 t. cinnamon
1-2 pieces fresh fruit, peeled, pitted, and sliced [I used a nectarine, but this would work equally well with plums, apples, pears, apricots…]

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a small rectangular baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.

Combine milk, water, extracts, and sugar in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, combine oats, dried fruit, nuts, and cinnamon. Pour in the liquid and stir, then pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with the sliced fruit and sprinkle with additional sugar, if desired [I didn’t, but I think it might look pretty]. Bake for ½ hour, or until all liquid is absorbed. Serve with additional milk.

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* Both Cornelius and I loved this recipe and no doubt we'll make it again. I don't use a nonstick spray and just lightly greased the pan with butter, which didn't alter the flavour at all. Dang! I used a granny smith apple (mmmm, tart!) which was delicious and next time I'd love to try this with raspberries. We both found this a bit too sweet. It could be that I packed down the brown sugar, but next time I make this I will just use less. I also added a bit of ground ginger, nutmeg and cloves cuz I love a bit of spiciness and it worked out well. Who knows, if the spirit moves you, mix in some canned pumpkin!

pumpkin chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

The great thing about working from home is that I've got cookies in the oven and I'm finishing up an ad for a client all at the very same time. Nice! These cookies are actually Cornelius' favorite cookies and he talks about them all the time. Since fall is here and I'm enamoured with everything pumpkin, I figured now would be the perfect time to share these beauties!

2 c flour
1 c quick or old-fashioned oats
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 c (2 sticks) butter
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 c cooked and pureed pumpkin (I use canned)
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (I usually use more)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt). Set aside.
3. Cream butter. Gradually add both sugars and cream until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
4. Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet, leaving room for cookies to spread. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until tops of cookies are dry and spring back when touched lightly. Remove from baking sheet and cool on racks.

c is for cookie.

I love this recipe! It was originally printed years ago in the Georgia Straight, our local free weekly and I've made some additions and I think it's a near-perfect cookie recipe. I like to keep the cookies in tins to keep them soft. I made them last night in a fit of procrastination. It was much easier making these cookies than gathering work for my portfolio!

These can also be easily made into vegan cookies since there are no eggs in this recipe. Just replace the butter for vegan margerine or Natural Balance. Yum!

chocolate chip oatmeal cookies
1 c butter
1 c brown sugar, lightly packed
1 t baking soda
1/4 c boiling water
1 t vanilla
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 t salt
2 c oats
1/2 c dried coconut
2 c semi sweet chocolate chips (this is where I play: I mix walnuts, raisins and chocolate chips to equal to 2 cups)

Cream the butter with the sugar until well mixed. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add it to the butter/sugar mix, followed by vanilla. Stir together the dry ingredients and add it slowly to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate chip (or mixture) and combine. Form small balls, flatten a little, and bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.