Last weekend (or was it 2 weekends ago?) I was in the mood for some chocolaty, easy no-bake cookies, but because of some of my (and the other half's) dietary issues they had to be made w/o peanut butter (or peanuts) and w/o dairy. So, I went digging thru several recipe websites and really couldn't find any recipes meeting those requirements; however, I was able to find enough ideas in several of them to concoct my own. :)
The version below uses Coconut Milk (you could also use Almond Milk or Soy Milk), very little sugar, semisweet toll-house chocolate chips, flaked coconut, and of course oats (make certain it's the instant oats otherwise they won't hang together well). Those of you who have tried and liked the potato soup recipe w/ coconut milk will probably also like this one. AND it takes care of that sweet and/or chocolate craving very well --- one little cookie will knock out both cravings.
Ingredients:
1 C Coconut Milk
1 C Sugar (white or brown or you can try honey--if you do, please let us know how it turns out!)
3/4C Butter (or margarine or butter-flavored vegetable shortening)
2 C Semisweet Chocolate Chips, melted (put in Pyrex & microwave; you could also use carob chips if you don't like chocolate or milk chocolate chips. (Although if you use milk chocolate, decrease the sugar amount. If it's chocolate you're craving, the darker chocolates will knock out that craving better than milk chocolate. ;>))
3 C Flaked, Sweetened Coconut adjusted to taste (if you use unsweetened you may need to increase the sugar)
1 teaspoon Vanilla (real vanilla extract. This is also handy to help with toothaches until you can get into the dentist---soak a cotton ball in the vanilla extract and hold it on the tooth. Repeat as needed until you get into the dentist. This will not work with imitation vanilla; it must be real vanilla extract.)
6 C Instant Oats (we'll add this slowly as we mix, so use more or less as needed)
Wax Paper & Cookie Pans
Cook:
Put the chocolate chips in a 2 C Pyrex container and melt it in the microwave. Check the softness after 1 to 1.5 min (90 sec) and mix & extend as needed. You'll need to do short increments to avoid "boiling" the chocolate.
In a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients above, on the stove top mix together the sugar, butter, and milk and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Add the vanilla an stir.
Add the chocolate chips. You may need to keep on the heat (not boiling) to completely melt the chocolate so it goes into solution with everything else in the pan.
Turn off the heat. Add the Instant Oats, 1 cup at a time and mix thoroughly. You may want to alternate the additions with coconut as you make sure the mixture doesn't dry out too much to stick together.
When you have a sticky, gooey mess, line the cookie pans with waxed paper and spoon onto the wax paper to set. These are quite rich, so for smaller cookies use a teaspoon; for larger ones use a tablespoon.
Enjoy! A batch this size lasted two of us over a week (and the other half ate most of them!) :)
