From our Blog
Perfect chocolate-oatmeal cookie is an old-fashioned childhood dream
Lalena Price of Charleston, W.Va., was desperate. “All I want is that simple recipe for no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies – you know, the kind the elementary school cooks make with oats, peanut butter, cocoa and such. I can find it nowhere.”
My elementary school cafeteria also served these cookies, and so did my Mom. Once I even found them for sale at a gas station along a country road just off the Interstate. When we published the recipe in our column years ago in response to Lalena’s plea, I even got fan mail from a state penitentiary.
“I just wanted you to know I’ve been making your chocolate-peanut butter oatmeal cookies, and everyone here is crazy about them,” said an inmate who worked in the kitchen. “Thanks for the recipe.”
Sadly since the cookies contain peanut butter, today’s elementary tykes (and inmates?) may never experience this treat en masse. Peanut allergy is a real problem, I know, but that doesn’t stop me from mourning the fact that kids will never get to love these cookies unless parents of the un-allergic everywhere unite and make them.
This cookie is a one-pot wonder -- a bit like fudge only with oatmeal. Gotta love it, right?! So did anyone else out there grow up with this cookie?
Related Recipes
Chocolate-Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies
Lalena Price was desperate. “All I want is that simple recipe for no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies – you know, the kind with oats, peanut butter, and cocoa." Here it is!
Read full recipe.
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Comments
Actually, no. But my husband did - his aunt made me some the week after we were married and made all this silly-in-law stuff ALL BETTER.
And they’re called mudpies here. I’m not sure if that’s just a Canadian thing or not.
But YUM.
I am sitting here with my son Sam who’s home from college. He sees the blog photo: “Ummm….you’ve got to make some of those. Very soon.“ So guess what I’ll be doing ....very soon!
When I make No-Bakes (also known as Mississippi Mud Cookies at my house,) I use crunchy peanut butter sometimes. It gives an extra bit of texture. A batch won’t even last a day here!
Diane
I’d guess that you are not cooking/boiling them long enough. Also, if you cook them on a rainy day, they absorb moisture and will not set up right. Make them on a sunny day.Dining Chair
Hi Julianna….it’s very true that the cooking time on these cookies can be a bit tricky. If you boil too long, the cookies will firm up too quickly and sort of be crumbly and not shiny. If you don’t boil long enough, they’ll never fully firm up. And it’s also very true that the “ambient” conditions of humidity and temperature make a difference in how long to boil and how long they need to stand to firm.
I tried once to get the exact temperature on a candy thermometer so the recipe could be standardized, and I think it’s somewhere just below a soft ball stage, but was never able to stick with the process long enough to get it nailed. What happened? I ate so many of them that I was starting to need to go shopping for larger trousers!
Has anyone ever seen a recipe with a temperature on it?
here is the recipe
MISSOURI COOKIES
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cocoa or 1 sq. baking chocolate
1/4 c. real butter
1/4 c. milk
1 tbsp. molasses
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. peanut butter
1 1/2 c. quick cooking oatmeal
Mix sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk in heavy skillet on top of range. Heat until bubbly. Add vanilla, peanut butter, and oatmeal; mix well.
Drop on waxed paper by the spoonful. Let cool.
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