No-Bake Cookies: A Love Language

By Cami Wagner

My stepfather’s favorite dessert has been no-bake cookies for as long as anyone who knows him can remember. His grandmother made them for him growing up and continued to make them every holiday get together. When she passed away, the responsibility of supplying no-bake cookies to him was passed on to me. I make them for him to say thank you, happy birthday, merry Christmas, or I’m sorry. It has always been sort of a silly thing—he will nag me until I make them, and he will say thank you with delight. This year though, his dad passed away, and I made him no-bake cookies for the first time in a long time. To see the light spark in his eye again after so long gave me a sense of joy and peace in the midst of all the suffering just as the cookies did for him.

These no-bake cookies made me realize just how much power food has in our lives. Food can be the very tether that keeps people together or brings them together. What I want to convey here with this story and with these cookies, is that it’s the little things that count. These cookies only take about 15 minutes to make, but they helped get my stepdad through the week the cookies lasted, of grief. Maybe making cookies will be the thing that makes someone’s week in your life.

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup peanut butter
3 cup oats
1 tablespoon vanilla
A pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Line two baking sheets with wax paper or parchment paper.

2. In a large saucepan, bring the sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa to a boil over medium heat. Stir occasionally. When ingredients come to a boil, start a 1-minute and 15-second timer.

3. Once the timer goes off, take the saucepan off the hot burner. Add the oats, peanut butter, vanilla, and salt. Stir to combine.

4. Once combined, take a spoon full at a time to place on the baking sheet. These can be as big or small as you want.

5. Wait about thirty minutes to harden and cool before enjoying.

Coug Eats