Sunday, November 18, 2007

Where's My Crafty Dessert?

After some crafting, we got a craving, looked around the house, then made this:

Stove-to-Freezer Oat Chewies

Soymilk or almond milk, whatever
Cocoa powder
Peanut butter, creamy
Sugar
Pinch of salt
Oats, not cut groats, but the rolled kind
Vanilla extract

If you think ahead, first combine some cocoa with sugar in a bowl until the cocoa isn't lumpy.
If not, do this:
Heat some soymilk, then shake in some cocoa and sugar. Try to make it smooth, use a whisk if you have one. (Get a whisk, fool!) get the mix close to a boil, add some glops of peanut butter. Add the pinch of salt if you use unsalted peanut butter. Stir/whisk to smooth texture. Keep it moving & scrape bottom of pan to avoid burning. Taste to check balance of PB, salt, cocoa flavors. When yummy & thickened, turn off the heat, add a splashlet of vanilla, and add a bunch of oats. Should be thick and gloppy with oats, almost coming together as a single mass, sort of like cookie dough. The oats will soak up some of the liquid, but it should not be soupy at all. Let it sit for a minute while you grease a cookie sheet or parchment-paper it, whatever you have 'round for that kind of thing. Use two spoons to drop tablespoons of the oat mixture onto the cookie sheet. Toss it in the freezer to set up, go craft.

Pop the chilled chunks off the sheet and serve after you can't wait anymore. You'll need napkins, and you may have to chill the remaining cookies between servings.

This is also good with some chopped & toasted nuts or dried fruit folded in at the end. Bits of dry coconut or cereal would rock, too.