Grandma Holmes's Oatmeal Cookies

These no-bake oatmeal cookies are fairly common. The cookies are routinely brought along to potlucks or other events requiring something easy to make and easy to eat. This recipe is especially good when you want cookies on a hot summer day but you don't want to use the oven. The recipe makes about 60 cookies, which is great for feeding a crowd. I recently made these cookies for a family get together and the cookies were quite popular. Although not as popular as my sister-in-law Laura's peach cobbler, so I may need to make that cobbler for a future blog post.

There are variations to the recipe. As noted on Grandma Holmes's recipe card below, you can use chocolate or peanut butter. Or, I bet you could easily make a peanut butter chocolate cookie by using half of the chocolate and half of the peanut butter. I went with a chocolate cookie because some family members have peanut allergies. I also substituted an extra cup of oatmeal instead of the coconut. The recipe card calls for oleo (more commonly called margarine these days), but I used real butter. I think that you could add in other items, like nuts or dried fruit, but just reduce the amount of oatmeal by the amount you substitute in. Whatever ingredients you decide to use, these cookies are delicious treats.

Grandma Holmes's Oatmeal Cookies 

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 stick (8 Tbsp.) butter
• 2 squares baker's chocolate or 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 cups oatmeal

Boil the sugar, butter, chocolate (or peanut butter) and milk for three minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the stovetop. Stir in the vanilla and oatmeal. Spoon out onto wax paper, using the spoons to shape and pack the cookies. Allow the cookies to set for several hours or overnight, if possible. Enjoy!