Spiced Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bakes

 This recipe is another old favorite that I'm putting up so that I don't have to wonder about exact measurements if the original recipe ever gets taken down. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have over the years!

Spiced Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup of salted butter

1 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

Cardamom (to taste)

Cinnamon (to taste)

Nutmeg (to taste)

1 cup of peanut butter*

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

3 cups of instant oats

Salt** (to taste)

*The original recipe called for smooth, but I prefer the chunky peanut butter myself!

**I generally use salted butter and don't feel this recipe needs any additional salt. If you're using unsalted butter though, then you might give things a taste and see if you want to add some.

Directions

1) Thoroughly mix the milk, butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and spices in a medium-large pot over medium heat, bring to a boil while stirring regularly, and then continue boiling for a minute.

2) Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla to give the peanut butter a chance to disappear into the chocolatey goodness already in the pot.

3) Incorporate the oats and salt (if desired), drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a sheet of aluminum foil, wax paper, or parchment, and allow the resulting cookies to dry for about 30 minutes before placing them in an airtight container in the fridge for storage.

4) I enjoy these as is, like I've said they're an old favorite of mine! I tend to put more cinnamon and nutmeg than cardamom when I make these, but I've also experimented over the years with a bit of powdered ginger, a tablespoon of orange flower water, et cetera, and the above just happens to be my favorite. Feel free to play around yourselves and make these your own!