Food Storage Friday: No Bake Cookies/ Cocoa Oatmeal Macaroons

These are your basic 'no bake cookies,' although I prefer the name from Allrecipes: Cocoa Oatmeal Macaroons. Sounds much more appetizing.

Allrecipes, by the way, is such a great resource. You can do an ingredient search for meal ideas, or type in the ingredients you DON'T want/have like eggs for example. Great, great resource.


Seriously no bake cookies are the first thing I think of when I think 'food storage.' How many times have you started craving cookies and realized you didn't have eggs? Enter no bake cookies from stage left.



Ingredients: Milk (powdered milk and water), shortening, oats, white sugar, flaked coconut, unsweetened cocoa powder. (I'm just realizing now, that I totally made buttermilk on autopilot, when I just needed milk. So ignore the vinegar in the picture. I think I need an assistant.)



The recipe I "borrowed" from Allrecipes didn't specify which kind of oats to use, so I used quick oats because look--they expire in December. Good job me for rotating!



Make your milk.


Don't make buttermilk.



Ridiculous, it's like I can't even read.



Prepare the dry ingredients now, it will save you stress later.



Plus I was waiting for the buttermilk to settle. Duh.


By the way, these turned out to be "dark" chocolate macaroons. So if you are more of a milk chocolate lover, you might want to cut back on the cocoa powder.



Mix those all together in a mixing bowl and set aside.




Now is also a good time to lay out some wax paper for the cookies to cool on.



On a saucepan over the stove add your sugar



Shortening



And milk (or buttermilk, it didn't seem to make a difference!)



Oh scary! Here's my deal with shortening: I know that lots of people think it's really really bad for you and we shouldn't cook with it. BUT, I think that anything in excess will harm you. If you only ate celery you would probably have malnutrition. No bake cookies twice a year? Not going to kill you. Plus, shortening stores forever, not like butter, and finally, when you're in an emergency situation living off food storage, you are probably going to need the extra calories, right?

Anyway, that's my argument. Please don't send me hate mail if you abhor the use of shortening. Just substitute butter and call it good. Please.



It always looks so much better when the shortening melts.



Start your timer when your mixture starts boiling.



You'll probably have to stir furiously while it boils if you use a small pot like me. (Hey, the big one was dirty!)


After one minute, take off the heat



And add it to the already mixed dry ingredients. Aren't you glad we mixed these up first?



Stir it together, making sure the oat mixture is completely coated. I love action shots.




Now drop by spoonful onto wax paper. I use my one-inch ice cream scooper thing.



It make about 3 dozen one inch balls. Next time I'm adding 1/2 cup of peanut butter to the wet ingredients (in the saucepan) I love peanut butter for dessert.



I left some out on the counter and stuck some in the fridge. Obviously the ones in the fridge hardened faster, but the ones on the counter combined just fine. A little too easy to eat if you ask me.


Oatmeal Cocoa Macaroons
aka No Bake Cookies
recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com

1/2 cup milk (1/2 cup water, about 3 T powdered milk)
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup flaked coconut
3 cups oats
1/3 - 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup Peanut Butter (optional)

Make milk from powdered milk and water. Combine coconut, oats, and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Line sheet pans or counter tops with wax paper. Heat shortening, milk, and sugar in a saucepan until it boils. Let it boil for ONE minute. Remove from heat and add to dry ingredients. Mix well and drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool. Stick in fridge to speed the cooling process. Eat up!