Toss Yer Cookies

I guess this is turning into Nostalgia Week here at NotAFoodie.com. I didn't intend it, Gentle Reader, but the universe is just aligning to bring things into my life that remind me of times past.

Consider my recent yen for making cookies. I'd intended to whip some up for the husband, and while I was looking forward to making something, I wasn't terribly keen on putting in a lot of effort. Thus I was delighted to open up my copy of the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion and discover a butterscotch-oatmeal no-bake cookie recipe that was simple, quick and didn't require any unusual ingredients since I wasn't in the mood to make a run to HEB or Wally World.

Butterscotch-Oatmeal Stovetop Cookies1 1/2 C (5 1/4 ounces) rolled oats (not quick-cooking oats)
1 C (8 ounces) brown sugar
1 5-ounce can evaporated milk
1/2 t NaCl
1 t vanilla extract
1 C (1 ounce) crisp cereal of your choice
1 C (6 ounces) butterscotch chips
1/2 C (2 ounces) chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Place the oats in a large bowl and set aside.
   
2. In a medium-size saucepan set over low heat, combine the sugar, milk, salt and vanilla, then bring the mixture to a boil.
   
3. Pour the mixture over the oats, stirring to combine.
   
4. Allow the oat mix to cool to room temperature.
   
5. Stir in the cereal and butterscotch chips.
   
6. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto waxed or lightly greased parchment paper, pressing to flatten slightly with wet fingers.
   
7. Chill until set.

Yield: 26 cookies (serving size: 1 cookie, 30 g)

Nutritional Info
May the FSM bless the fine folks at King Arthur Flour for including nutritional info with each cookie recipe!

Calories:114
Fat: 4 g
Protein: 2 g
Complex carbs: 6 g
Sugar: 13 g
Fiber: 1 g
Cholesterol: 2 mg
Na: 67 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
Remember how I noted how simple and quick this recipe is? I found a way to make it even quicker--and yes, I made a few substitutions.

• Instead of pouring the boiling liquid over the oats, I just put the oats in the large saucepan I was using. Later, I just put the cereal and chips into it as well. Why dirty two dishes when one will work fine?
  
• Speaking of cereal, I used HEB-brand Rice Krispies because I have 'em out the wazoo still. Who knew it would take so long to go through such a big friggin' bag of 'em?
  
• I substituted Splenda brown sugar blend for the brown sugar, which I do not have in my house.
  
• I used fat-free evaporated milk. Can't say that it made a difference, but I doubt I would know. Mum always had skim milk in her refrigerator, so I grew up on the stuff. I have had whole milk in the last...five or six years (I think we bought a carton for the boy when he was younger), and the stuff was disgusting. The mouth feel was...heavy and slimey with all that fat. Blech!
  
• I used Morton's Lite Salt, even though I have an adorable salt pig on my counter full of kosher salt that's much easier to get to. Hey, yer lucky I used salt at all in this recipe, Gentle Reader, but I know now that it's kind of essential to help differentiate flavors.

Given the various substitutions, I don't think the nutritional info is entirely accurate for my version. I'm too lazy to go over to one of the online calculators, and I'll admit that I'm hoping that ignorance is bliss since I couldn't keep my damn hands off these things.

Nostalgia Sets In
The look and mouth feel (not the taste, mind you) of the finished product reminded me far too much of the wonderful no-bake cookies Mum made when I was a kid. The combination of melted Blue Bonnet, C&H sugar, Peter Pan peanut butter and Nestle Tollhouse cocoa powder--not to mention the coconut flake (the brand, I recall, changed over the years and often depended on what was available and affordable at whichever store Mum shopped)--will be forever imprinted on my brain and on my taste buds. And that fffttt! sound the used wax paper made when we pulled it up off the counter! That was music to my ears!

Oh, were those cookies ever a sinful thing--and evidently a Southern thing, as in my attempts to find a recipe similar to the one Mum used, the first one I found closest to it (or what I remembered of it) in About.com's Southern Food section. (It doesn't include coconut, but this one does yet excludes peanut butter!) While chocolate-peanut butter no-bake cookie recipes are a dime a dozen on the Internet, finding one that used cocoa powder, not chocolate chips along with coconut was somewhat difficult. Of course, for many folks, coconut is sometimes an option in some cookies, but I'm hard-pressed to recall Mum ever making a batch without coconut.

At this point, I'd extend an apology to you, Gentle Reader, and to Mum for not including her recipe. I had it at one point, for the husband often made it--or at least his version of it--when we were young, fat (well, just me) apartment dwellers. I doubt I still have that recipe card: Most likely I tossed it years ago, knowing I'd never do it justice trying to futz with it to make it somewhat healthful. Why suly wonderful memories, y'know? Plus I know that Mum doesn't read my blog, so apologizing to her would be futile.

With a longing for those long-gone chocolate-peanut butter yummies growing deeper and deeper, I decided that dammit, the recipe was so basic it just cried out for experimentation. I had peanut butter chips. I had chocolate chips. I had cocoa powder. I still had oats, Splenda brown sugar blend, Rice Krispies (I'll most likely have those until the day I die), evaporated milk and vanilla. I had time and opportunity. So yes, Gentle Reader, the universe was aligning to allow me to indulge in some nostalgia. Here's the result.

The Faudie's Futzed No-Bake Cookies1 1/2 C rolled oats (not quick-cooking oats)
1/2 C Splenda brown sugar blend
5 ounces fat-free evaporated milk
1/2 t Lite NaCl
1 t vanilla extract
1 t cocoa powder
1 C Rice Krispies
1/2 C peanut butter chips
1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In a large, nonstick saucepan set over low heat, combine the sugar, milk, salt, cocoa powder and vanilla, bring the mixture to a boil, then turn off the heat.
   
2. Pour the oats into the mixture, stirring to combine.
   
3. Allow the oat mix to cool to room temperature.
   
4. Stir in the peanut butter and chocolate chips and Rice Krispies.
   
5. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto wax paper, pressing to flatten slightly with a small silicon rubber scraper or the back of a spoon.
   
6. Chill until set.

I think perhaps next time, I'll add only a quarter-cup of chocolate chips and three-fourths of a cup of peanut butter chips. The combination of the chocolate chips and the cocoa powder almost completely overpowers the peanut butter, and I recall that Mum's no-bake cookies maintained distinct chocolate and peanut butter flavors. Hell, I might even try it without chocolate chips--just PB chips and some cocoa powder.

Just a tip, Gentle Reader, should you try either or both of the recipes: Do try your best to be patient to let the oat mixture cool to room temperature before adding the chips. If not, the suckers will met, and I believe the creator(s) of the original recipe intended for the chips to be distinct chips in the finished cookies.

I was more patient--and was working in a cooler kitchen--when I made the butterscotch version. I thought I'd waited long enough when I whipped up my experimental version, but evidently I didn't, for both the chocolate and peanut butter chips were largely melted into a messy goo in the very short time it took me to get the last three ingredients stirred in well enough for the stuff to be ready for dropping onto wax paper.