(Puppy Chow)
In the wake of my successful sourdough efforts, I’ve been resorting to some easier ways to bake. First, I watched my mom make some of my favorite cookies of all time, which happen to be a no-bake cookie. Then, I threw together a container of Puppy Chow! Isn’t it amazing that some of our favorite recipes can be the most simple ones?
(globs of chocolate, oats, walnuts, and a bit of coconut)
I haven’t had chocolate no-bake cookies in a LONG time, probably because when I watched my mom make them, I saw just how much butter and sugar goes into these. Or, maybe it could be that when my mom used to make these when I was a kiddo, if she ever left the kitchen for just a sec, a ton of the cookies would magically disappear off of the counter (even before they were set!). I have no clue where those cookies could have disappeared to, but hopefully that wasn’t the reason my mom took a hiatus from making them. These cookies are a rich, chocolatey glob of goodness and I feel like a kid all over again while eating them off the counter…Correction: eating MANY of them off the counter.
Next I made Puppy Chow (I think the Rice Chex box calls them “muddie buddies”). Although this classic no-bake recipe may scream childhood to some people, to me it screams college dorm rooms! I had only tried this yummy treat a few times before going to college, so once we made it in the dorms once, we had to make it over and over again. You can see why my dorm room was very popular! My roommate, some floormates, and I would head to the little shop in the University of Iowa union and buy Rice Chex, peanut butter, butter, and chocolate. We would melt the ingredients together and then pour them over the rice cereal and shake and stir them all together inside a clean trash bag, throw in some powdered sugar and shake it all up again. Then girls from our hall would all come in with their Ziplock bags and help themselves to our economy sized amount of Puppy Chow! It made a great accompaniment to study nights or even our Gray’s Anatomy night (most of our hall was pre-med, so we all would get together and eat junk food and try to guess what was going on with each patient).
(Rice Chex)
(the trifecta: chocolate, peanut butter, and butter)
So, when I made these yummy treats (ok, so my mom made the cookies), I definitely appreciated some no-bake ease during this busy weekend (getting ready for my friend’s wedding!) . But don’t worry! I’ll get back to the oven really soon!
