No-bake oatmeal cookies

 You can read about what happened when I tried this recipe in the article, “What’s a cross between fudge and cookie?”

This came from Practical Sailor’s Mailport, Sept. 2007. They printed the recipe as proof that one can make cookies aboard without an oven.

They’re not much like cookies. More like peanut butter-chocolate fudge with oats. If I try this one again, I’ll substitute something crunchier than oatmeal — maybe granola or rice crispies.

2 C sugar
1/2 C evaporated milk
2 T cocoa
4 oz butter
3 T peanut butter
1 t vanilla
1/2 C chopped nuts
2-1/2 C quick-cooking oats

Combine sugar, milk, cocoa, and butter in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Boil, stirring constantly, for about a minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, peanut butter, and nuts, then add the oatmeal and mix well. Spread this into a large flat pan, like a rimmed baking sheet or a 9×12 baking pan. Let cool into one giant cookie and cut into squares.

Back when we cruised aboard the Northern Crow, we had no oven, so I made Rice Crispies (TM) treats aboard. They go stale almost immediately, so instead of hoarding them with Barry, I had to share them around the marina as soon as they were made! Anyway, I didn’t have a cookie sheet or rimmed baking sheet, so I just spread them out on several plates to cool and then cut them into wedges or rounded squares. That would work with this as well.