Well good morning! Are you excited that Christmas is just 3 days away? Our tree is filling up with presents, but the only present I’m anxious to open is the one in my belly.
I did arrive home yesterday to this:
Naava discovered where I was hiding stocking stuffers (in my closet behind piles of clothes on a high shelf), so she managed to eat a bag of peppermint dark chocolate pretzels and a bag of TJ’s rosemary nuts. Bad dog! The little butthead was all hopped up on sugar for hours!
Moving on…
I had never had no-bake cookies until I spent my first Christmas with Zach’s family. I was instantly hooked and had no idea how easy they were to make.
After looking at various online recipes, this is the mish-mash I came up with and they turned out fabulously!
No-bake PB cocoa oat cookies:
Ingredients
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons Nestle cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup creamy PB
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 1/3 cups quick oats
Directions
- Add all ingredients into a pot on the stove
- Heat on medium-t0-high stirring frequently
- Once mixture begins to boil, allow to boil for 1 min (no more than 1 min 20 sec or so)
- Remove from heat
- Add all oats and stir
- Allow to cool on stove top for about 15-20 min
- Drop large teaspoonfuls on waxed paper (lined over cookie sheet or large plate)
- Place cookie sheet in fridge for several hours
- Store in airtight container in fridge or freezer
After tasting some of these, I knew I needed to bake with them:
Cinnamon M&M cookies:
Simply follow the recipe on a bag of a Nestle chocolate chips and instead of adding the chips and optional nuts, add 1 bag of cinnamon m&m’s and about 1/2 – 3/4 cups of chocolate chips.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 9 minutes. Cookies will be unbelievably soft and chewy 
What are you baking up this Christmas season?
If you have a dog, is she/he as crafty as finding hidden food as my dog is?
