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Friday, October 10, 2008

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!

9 comments:

Kimberly said...

Yummy, can I have one?

Unknown said...

Your picture of the cookie looks so much better than the one on Allrecipes!

The Scavenger said...

As always another wonderful and informative post. We have no bake cookies now and then and I love 'em. Love your blog.

Chris

Sara R said...

Yummy no-bake cookies! An all food-storage-ingredient dessert, no pinto beans added! lol

If you want a storable shortening substitute without trans fats, coconut oil works very well. It's at our Super Walmart next to the shortening. It's solid white like shortening and stores for a long time.

Sara R; Pantry Panel

Kathy said...

Great Job! I have these on my food storage list also. The buttermilk commentary was hilarious! I love that you're human and don't mind that the rest of us know it. :) Thanks for a great site!
Kathy

BWei said...

I love the version of no-bake cookies made with peanut butter. My recipe calls for butter, but I leave it out completely, and the fat in the peanut butter more than makes up for it. It's fabulous, and I don't feel quite so guilty since the fat is from peanut butter.

Mary said...

You posted to my blog a while back, and all I can say is thank you!!! Your food storage Friday recipes are amazing and EXACTLY what I've been looking for.

Now any ideas on how to convince the husband I need to spend more $$ on a Bosch mixer?? You're the 4th person I've heard say they're the only way to actually make bread... wish me luck...

anna said...

eew j.k. y ummy

Christy said...

I love those cookies, however, I have found they take a LOT longer to set in humid weather. Haven't figured it out yet.
FYI: I just found a recipe to bottle butter in case you are interested; it's from "everything under the sun" by Wendy DeWitt.

Butter bottled (Google “bottled butter”) Real butter is best but margarine works too. Heat pint jars in the oven @ 250 for 20 minutes. Heat lids in boiling water for 3 minutes. Slowly stir and melt the butter in a pan. After it has boiled for 5 minutes, stir and then scoop the butter into the hot jars. Use a funnel to keep butter off the rims. Place
the hot lid and ring on the jar and wait for the “plink.” Shake jars several times over the next 15-20 minutes. The separation will stop. While still slightly warm, put the jars in the refrigerator. Check every 10-15 minutes, shaking jars each time. Eventually the butter will harden. Leave in refrigerator for one more hour. Bottled butter can store on your
shelf for at least 3 years.