Tags
1950's food, 1950's housewife food, 1950's recipes, chocolate cookies, no bake cookies, oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies
Before I researched this post, part of my tribute to my mother-in-law and her fellow 1950’s housewife cooks, I had a sneaking suspicion that one could trace the emergence of “no bake” cookies to coincide with the arrival of processed convenience foods. I was both right and wrong!
Foodtimeline.org says recipes for no bake cookies emerged around the time of the depression, using ingredients like butter, honey or sugar as glue to keep the ingredients together. But in the 1950’s, the category exploded as products like margarine, Crisco, and their counterparts hit the market. The whole no-bake catergory is so fascinating, I actually could easily do a whole series on no-bake cookies (comment if you’d be interested in that!)
But I digress. My husband tells me these cookies were a staple in his mom’s kitchen (he is not a fan!). But my girls and I LOVE them.
Don’t be afraid when you’re mixing them together-they appear to be too runny to ever stick together and form a shape. Have patience, they will bind and you’ll have a delicious treat that doesn’t require you to turn on your oven.
Cooking the ingredients in a pan!
Bringing it to a boil…
Adding oats and peanut butter…
And on the pan to set up. They look runny but don’t worry!
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 stick margarine or Crisco (8 tablespoons)
1/c cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
Place waxed paper on a surface nearby for cooling the cookies.
Combine the sugar, cocoa powder, margarine or Crisco, milk and vanilla in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Boil for one minute. Add the oats and peanut butter and stir until well combined.
Drop by the spoonful onto the wax paper and allow to set up (about one hour, longer if the weather is warm. You can put them on cookie sheets into the frig to speed the process).
Delicious, like a peanut butter cup!
Serve and enjoy!
Bite From the Past 
Yum!! I love oat cookies!
I think a series on no bake cookies would be great! These look delicious.
I believe I have made these somewhere back in time!
wow these are great
These look great! I’ve never thought of adding peanut butter before.
do you have a no peanut butter recipe ? if you omit the peanut butter do they still set up the same?
I’m sorry, I don’t have a no peanut butter recipe. I think you’ll need some kind of nut butter for them to set. 🙂
My mom let us help make these when we were kids. We were excited to help but even more excited to try them. But you have to wait; otherwise, you’ll burn your tongue as we found out. ;-p
Another yummy type of no-bake is with chocolate and the little crunchy lo mein noodles. We used to mix in marshmallows and nuts too in and called them spider eggs.
These are to-die-for! My grandmother made her own no-bake fudge cookie recipe. She used omitted the peanut butter and added chopped dates, nuts, honey, orange peel, nuts, coconut, all the flavorings you can mix (she liked Kahlua and other flavored liquors). I leave out the nuts. Then they get rolled in coconut into log shapes. She was well known for her cookies and those were my favorite.
Wow that sounds delicious!! Thanks for reading!
I cannot imagine using frisco? Did women actually use it in this recipe?
Oh yes. And recently I had a friend of mine tell me that she uses it in her baking. In fact, she swears it’s her secret to fluffy baked goods!
Crisco! Sorry.
Pingback: #1 Requested Recipe: Dream Bars – Your Everyday Heirlooms
Hey whatever happened to the no-bake feature???
These cookies were a staple for us in the jungles of southern Mexico, and also Brazil.
One pointer however: you need a bright day or they will be sludge.
Pingback: Check Out Some Really Delicious Canadian Desserts Just In Time For Christmas – Simply Kyra
Should say 1/2 cup milk.
Love knowing others are enjoying our family’s fave too!
Our family recipe is just a tad bit different:
1/4 c. Cocoa
1/2 cup milk
(For a twist: add 1/3 cup diced marachino cherries.)