No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Apparently I was very impressed when I was a child and my grandmother made no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies for me.  So impressed, in fact, that I prepared them for my sixth grade class demonstration project.  All these years later I have found that I still love these things, but mine use half the butter and I've added the omega-3 goodness of hemp seeds. I've also replaced the refined, white sugar with some sucanat and turbinado sugars.  You really have to use butter here over a heart-healthy oil as the butter is needed to solidify here.  Though, if you are a vegan, or are simply avoiding dairy, you can replace the butter with 1/4 cup of coconut oil.

These are good.  Damn good.  We won't go crazy and call them health food or anything, but they sure do wonders for a chocolate craving.  

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter

½ cup peanut butter

½ cocoa powder

½ cup sucanat

½ cup turbinado sugar

½ cup nonfat milk

2 ½ cups of rolled oats (regular, NOT quick cook)

½ cup hemp seeds

1 - In saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.

2 - Add milk peanut butter, cocoa powder, sucanat and turbinado sugar to melted butter and stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and sugar has melted. 

3 - Remove from heat.  Immediately stir in oats and hemp seeds until wet and dry ingredients are well combined.  Be careful not to overstir or oats will begin to break up. 

4 - Drop by measured tablespoons onto wax paper or aluminum foil covered baking sheet. 

6 - Place into fridge or freezer until hard; remove from pan and place into an air tight container.

Cookies will keep in an air tight container in fridge for up to one week.   I dare you to try and keep them around that long!



Recipe makes 30 cookies.  Nutritional info per cookie:



Nutritional info is compiled using ingredient compilation program for 2,000 calorie diet and is deemed close but not exact.