An Old Favorite in a New Form

The no bake peanut butter cookie was a standard recipe of my childhood home - all my friends mom's or grandmother's made them. And for good reason, they are easy and so irresistibly delicious. 

Chocolate and peanut butter are a classic combo and I wanted to re think this easy and so tasty recipe with more chocolate.  At first I thought about dipping them in chocolate, but then that seemed like too much work for a recipe whose primary genius was it's ease and simplicity.  So instead what I came up with was to add cocoa to the dough, chill it, then roll it up in more cocoa - so they look like large chocolate truffles.

There are a million recipes for these "cookies" if you have one and want to share it I'd love to hear from you!

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats

In a medium saucepan add 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup half and half, 1/2 cup of cocoa and 1/2 cup room temperature unsalted butter,  over medium heat cook until the butter is melted and the mixture comes to a simmer.  You want to make sure the sugar has all melted.

Whisk in 1 1/4 cup of freshly ground organic peanut butter and a scant teaspoon of salt  (if you use a processed jar of peanut butter that has salt added, don't add the salt, taste the finished dough and if you feel it needs more salt add as you see fit). Stir in 2 Teaspoons of Amber Rum or Vanilla.

Optionally for a richer more adult version you could add 1/2 cup of roughly chopped 70 percent chocolate or bittersweet chocolate chips, but that's optional.  

In a large bowl add 3 1/3 cups of rolled oats then stir in the peanut butter mixture.

When they are well combined place the mixture in the fridge to cool for about an hour.

 

In a medium size bowl add 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.

Using a Tablespoon scoop up the chilled dough and roll into balls, place the bowls in the coca and coat.  Place the finished treats on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Chill until ready to serve.  A guaranteed crowd pleasure!