No Bake Cookies

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

Source: I have no idea. I've been making these since I was a kid, and so has everyone else I know.

I asked my kids what kind of dessert they wanted, and two of them voted for no-bake cookies. I was surprised. They always seem so, I don't know, mundane or something. It's like they're not a real cookie. But, sometimes quick and easy is a nice change, so I went for it.

The truly nice thing about this cookie is that you can make it very quickly on the stove, and it never goes in the oven at all. Hence the name, no-bake. Frankly, I feel a little silly making this post at all, since I'm sure all of you made this cookie at some point in time, and it was probably back when you were 10 years old.

Usually, I opt for the no-bake chocolate cookie, but since I recently shopped the case lot sales, I went for the no-bake peanut butter cookies. (I have 12 small jars of peanut butter in my storage room. Well, 11 1/2.) I'll include both recipes here, though, since they are almost identical.

PEANUT BUTTER:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup peanut butter

1 cup coconut

3 cups quick oats

CHOCOLATE:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 T. cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 cup coconut

3 cups quick oats

You start by melting the butter. Add in the milk and sugar, and the cocoa if you are making the chocolate variety, and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for a minute or so, and then remove it from the heat. If you are making the peanut butter kind, this is the point where you add it. Stir it in and let it melt. If you are making the chocolate kind, add the vanilla now.

Have I mentioned that I love this Pampered Chef measuring cup for this job? It is perfect for messy jobs like peanut butter or shortening. You choose how much to put in, and then just push it right out into your bowl, or pot, as the case may be. I don't use it much, but for peanut butter, nothing else will do.

Next, just mix in the rest of the ingredients, which is nuts, coconut, and oats. A word about that. We're big coconut fans here. I love it. I also think walnuts are great in the chocolate cookies, although I wouldn't put them in the peanut butter kind. However, I know that some people are really opposed to coconut and some opposed to nuts. It's fine to leave them out, but you do have to make up the difference by adding more oats. It's not an exact ratio, either, meaning that 1 cup of coconut does not necessarily equal 1 cup of oats. Just add more oats until the consistency is right. Not enough oats, and the cookie will be gooey and stick to the pan, your fingers, and everything else it touches. Too many oats, and the cookie will fall apart and be very dry. I am intimately acquainted with both of these situations, having messed up in both directions in the past.

When we made these as kids, we always lined a cookie sheet with wax paper and dropped them onto it. Now, I prefer to put them into my mini-muffin pan. I always spray it pretty generously first with some kind of non-stick spray. Either way you do it, drop them in little globs and put the pan in the freezer for a little while. They'll be ready to eat before you can finish creating a blog post!

Graham Cracker Pudding

Yield: 2 logs

Source: My husband's grandmother used to make this every Christmas. It seems no one in the family has any idea where she got the recipe. It is the most unique dessert I have ever come across! It is not too sweet, which is sometimes a nice change from the ordinary.

This is my favorite inherited recipe from my husband's family. I like to think it describes them perfectly. They are the Norwegian-Wyoming-Lutheran-Farmer types, for whom life requires a lot of hard work, and is never too sweet. On the bright side, this recipe requires no baking, so you can eat it as soon as it chills a bit.

If you have ever eaten this before, or even heard of it, I beg you to drop me a line. I would love to know what you know about it, even if it is next to nothing.

So, here are the ingredients:

2 lb. graham crackers

1 bag small marshmallows

1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple

1 cup chopped dates

1 cup chopped walnuts

(dates and walnuts are optional)

You will also need a flour sack towel, or preferably two

You start by emptying the entire bag of marshmallows into a bowl. Then open the pineapple, DO NOT DRAIN THE JUICE, and pour it over the marshmallows. Stir them together a little, and let it sit for a few minutes while you crush the graham crackers. The marshmallows need to soak up the juice.

I like to use the food processor to crush up the graham crackers, and yes, you will be using the entire box. When you pour the crumbs into the bowl with the marshmallows and start mixing, you quickly realize that there is something very wrong here. The entire two-pound box of crackers and only one tiny little can of pineapple to moisten it? Yes. It's true. It will be very, very dry.
Do your best to mix everything together, and don't be surprised if your mixing muscle gets sore. This is also the point at which you should add the dates and nuts. Personally, I prefer it to have both, but I usually make one log with nuts and one without, because I have a family that is afraid of nuts. Wimps.

At this point, you should take a clean flour sack towel and get it wet. Wring most of the water out, but don't squeeze it to the point of dryness. Lay the towel out on the counter, and scoop about half of the mixture onto the towel, arranging it into a long string. (Later you should repeat this process with the other half, giving you two long logs of frozen yumminess.)
Wrap the wet towel around the mixture and start squeezing. When you do this, you will easily see why we say this recipe is a two-man job. It just goes better with two. You have to really work on this, squeezing hard to get everything to stick together, and arranging it into a long log.
Don't be surprised if you open the towel, and the log just falls apart. I know it's frustrating. I'm on your side. You can add a little water to the towel if needed, but usually you just have to keep squeezing. Get someone stronger than you to work on it if you come to the end of your rope, so to speak!
It looks gross in the picture, right? The people watching me create this post have used words like "manure" and "puke" to describe how it looks. Don't be deterred by the pictures, though. It is worth the wait.

Once it's all put together, unwrap it from the towel, which is probably now ruined, or at least very dirty and stained, and roll it carefully onto some wax paper. I actually like to put aluminum foil down with wax paper on top of it. Roll it up, fold the ends in, mark which log has nuts, and put it in the freezer.

When you are ready to serve, just use a sharp knife to cut off some slices. Place them on a plate and cover them with a big dollop of whipped cream. Yum!! Eat with your fork, or with your fingers, either way is fine with me.