A Family Tradition: No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Growing up I could always tell when it was getting close to Christmas because my Nana would whip up a batch or two of her famous No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies. They are outta this world and not like anything else I've ever tasted. I would venture to say that many people reading this probably have never had a cookie quite like this. They're BOILED not baked. Yup, you read that right, they're boiled! They are totally simple, with just a handful of everyday ingredients, things that you probably already have in your kitchen. This is a very unassuming, unsophisticated cookie, but gosh I could eat myself sick with these babies. And yanno what?? Tummy ache and all I would still be the happiest girl you've ever seen, they are that delicious!

The cookies contain no flour, the base is peanut butter and oatmeal, and seems extremely simple, but I won't lie, you either have the knack for making these or you don't. If you do count yourself blessed and know that it really is simple.

I've always been the baker in my family and I tried for years and years to make these cookies, usually failing miserably. They would always taste wonderful, but the consistency was wrong, they just wouldn't set up and you'd end up eating them with a spoon. It's totally unexplainable, the same ingredients, the same cooking time, except it seemed like the magic was missing. A few years ago though, I finally beat my struggles & knock on wood I got the hang of it. I've had a batch or two since then that stayed more soft, eat em with a spoon than should be, but usually they harden into those delicious little cookies I remember from my childhood.

So I challenge you, no better yet I encourage you to try these cookies out & let me know how you do. I would love to know if you enjoy these cookies as much as my family does. Around here we're split down the middle in regards to the addition of cocoa powder. They're great either way and no changes are needed if you want them sans chocolate.

Boiled Cookies

2 c sugar

1 stick butter/margarine

1/4 c cocoa powder(optional)

1/2 c milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c peanut butter, chunky or smooth

2 1/2 c oatmeal

Mix and boil sugar, butter/margarine, cocoa & milk for 1 minute. Remove from heat, add vanilla, peanut butter, oatmeal & nuts. Mix well. Spoon by spoonfuls onto wax paper.

*Work quickly as mixture will start to thicken in a hurry.

I've tried both quick-cook and old fashioned oatmeal with these cookies and been sucessful & unsucessful with both. So I guess it's a toss up. I used old fashioned this year.

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Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

Are you like me and love crescent rolls AND cinnamon buns?  If so you've gotta try Crescent Cinnamon Rolls.  They are as easy as they are delicious.

I found the recipe recently via the lovely and highly addictive Pinterest. The recipe comes from The Hungry Housewife, which from the little bit of time I've peeked around looks like a cute blog with some tempting recipes.  The Crescent Cinnamon Rolls literally took me minutes to make, and only needed to bake for 10-12 minutes.  The icing that is drizzled on top took less than a minute to make and totally put these babies over the top.  

From Roots And Renovations

So far I've managed to use restraint and have only eaten half of one, I generously shared the other half with my Picky Eater aka my Big Bad Dad.  He's not one to rave over anything, but I took the fact that I heard not one word of complaint to mean that he enjoyed his share.  My half was still warm when I took that first bite of gooey, buttery, sweet deliciousness, and all I could think was "These will be SO good tomorrow for breakfast with a cup of coffee."  I'm not even a morning person and I'm looking forward to the A.M. because of today's creation.  

I'm betting you have everything on hand to make these except maybe the crescent roll dough, and I urge you to grab your keys now and go pick some up so you can make these already!  Don't just take my word on how good these are, try them yourself and let me know what you think.

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10-12 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Yield: 8
Ingredients

• 1 tube (8 count) Crescent Rolls, unrolled and seperated
• 5 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix filling ingredients together until completely combined.
3. Evenly spread the filling mixture over the unrolled crescent triangles and roll up.
4. Place tip side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown.
5. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. (I recommend leaving the rolls on the foil or parchment and transferring the whole thing to the cooling rack.)
6. Combine glaze ingredients together and using a spoon drizzle over rolls.

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Hard Boiled Eggs - The Baked Way

Around here we love egg salad and deviled eggs, and truth be told, my version of both are pretty darn good!  What I don't love is hard boiling and peeling the eggs.  It's just not a fun job, but I'm a money conscious girl, so I refuse to buy the eggs already boiled and peeled.  With that said, I'm always looking for ways to simplify my recipes, or just life in general, and I've found a way to simplify the hard boiled egg experience.  Thanks to pinterest I've recently discovered the baked method.

Currently, I've only tested this method out once, and although my eggs were cooked perfectly with no rawness in the middle of the yolks and no green around the outside there were a few minor issues.  The shells come out with brown spots, which mostly disappears after being in the waterbath.  The spots on the shells are pretty much a non-issue since I use my eggs for deviled eggs and egg salad.  My main complaint was that I had small brown spots on my egg whites also.  The only time I see the spots being an issue is if you are dying eggs for Easter or serving them to guests.    I'm hoping that either a slight reduction in the baking temperature or baking length would prevent the spots on the egg whites, I'll keep you updated.

From Roots And Renovations

Now, for the instructions?

1.  Preheat oven to 350° (325° if your oven runs hot.)
2.  Place desired amount of eggs in standard muffin tins (I've read that mini muffin tins work well too, but haven't tried this yet.)
3.  Bake for 30 minutes.  If your oven runs super hot give 25 minutes a try.
4.  Immediately remove eggs to bowl of ice water using tongs or a large spoon, and allow to soak until cool enough to handle.

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Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

People that really know me, know that I hate winter, and before you say it, yes I know it's not winter yet (thank goodness!). I'm a southern girl, and a summer baby at that. I was born smack in the middle of June and have no doubt it was sweltering hot the day I was born. I have a theory that because I was born in summer that's my favorite season, and therefore I have zero tolerance for cold weather.

Winter is the most miserable season to me. It's often gloomy, I wake up freezing, and go throughout my day the same way. I hate fall almost as much as winter because the weather starts to turn down, and I know those freezing cold days are looming in the near future. I do look forward to a few things as the weather gets cooler though, and wouldn't you know it, they're both food related.

Making soup is the first cooler weather thing I look forward to. True you can eat soup year round, but it's just not the same when it's 100 degrees outside. The other and yummiest thing I look forward to is that come October there are an abundance of pumpkin spice flavored foods. Everything from cookies and bagels to my all time favorite coffee creamer. Flavored creamer is a must in my morning cup of coffee, and when Pumpkin Spice creamer finally hits stores I am a happy woman!

I'm not the least bit shy about admitting that I've already bought and consumed my first bottle, and after that I decided to kick things up a notch and make my own. I found a recipe via Pinterest that I used as inspiration. I did make a few adjustments and overall I liked the outcome.

The one thing I didn't love was that since the recipe uses pumpkin pie spice instead of a liquid for the pumpkin spice flavor you're left with the spices either floating around on top of your coffee or stuck to the sides of your mug. As for the flavor, it doesn't taste exactly like the store-bought Pumpkin Spice creamer, but it is tasty and couldn't be easier to make. If you're a person who avoids chemicals or preservatives this is a great recipe since you obviously control the ingredients and there's nothing in it that you can't pronounce.

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer

Recipe by Ms. Roots and Renovations

Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 can (12 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups half and half (can use milk or a mixture of the two)
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

1. Add sweetened condensed milk and half and half (or milk/milk half and half mixture) to large measuring cup or small bowl with spout.
2. Stir until completely incorporated.
3. Add pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract.
4. Stir to combine and pour into bottle or mason jar.
5. Shake or stir before each use, sweetened condensed milk will settle to bottom of container.
6. Will keep for 2 weeks.

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Working Out The Kinks

Hey y'all! No matter how you found your way here, welcome to my new blog Roots and Renovations. I'm excited to be kicking things off in my little part of the blogosphere.

Please bear with me, as I try to get all the kinks worked out on the layout and get everything situated. I have a feeling this will be a work in progress and a continuous learning experience, but I'm excited about this new adventure and hope that you will stick around and visit often. Drop me a line and let me know you were here. If you have questions about any of the content, present and future don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy Roots and Renovations!

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