Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

Chocolate has been (temporarily...I hope) outlawed from my life.  Gasp! Sad, but true.  Apparently, the caffeine in the chocolate makes Ry Guy wired. I've been staying away from coffee and black tea, but didn't really think about chocolate in that way until - oops - I had a craving and ate some chocolate chips.

And then paid the price for it.

Ry Guy decided to be REALLY awake after nursing. For hours. Almost all night, in fact. And he decided to keep Mommy and Daddy up with him.  He hasn't really gotten into the independently amusing himself thing yet.  Nay, nay.  Preferably Mommy must be looking at him constantly while he's awake.

Sigh. As much as I love chocolate, I love sleep more.

So, bye-bye, chocolate.  For now.  We WILL meet again.

In the meantime, I've been exploring other, non-chocolate desserts and treats.  The Hubby and I would be very sad if no chocolate = no dessert.  Not that I really need dessert...I have almost 30 pounds to lose. But sometimes you just want a treat.

I digress.  My point is, I'm being forced to be creative with the dessert options.  Here's my first attempt.

M is obsessed with peanut butter and I'm pretty fond of it myself.  I tweaked my No Bake Cookie recipe and came up with this little gem.
By the way, they're incredibly addictive.  I have to take a couple out of the fridge and go to another room to eat them, or else I'll just mindlessly keep munching.

They're pretty healthy, too!  The PB, of course, is a little fattening, but it's also high in protein...so as long as I limit myself to a couple of cookies a day, I don't feel guilty about eating them.

No refined sugars here. These little babies are honey sweetened.  They're also gluten-free (just make sure you're using certified GF oats that are guaranteed not to be cross-contaminated with gluten during processing/packaging), if that's a concern for you.

Check out the nutrition facts on recipage, here.  And without further ado, here's the PB lovers dream come true:

Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

by Raye

Prep Time: 1 minute

Cook Time: 3 minutes

Keywords: stove top snack dessert gluten-free vegetarian oatmeal peanut butter

6050324

Ingredients (5 dozen small cookies)

• 1/2 c. refined coconut oil
• 2/3 c. honey
• 1-1/2 c. natural peanut butter (ingredients are peanuts only or peanuts and salt)
• 4-1/2 c. old fashioned (rolled) oats

Instructions

• In a medium saucepan, heat coconut oil and honey over medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
• Stir in peanut butter until it melts and the mixture becomes smooth. Add oats.
• Scoop by spoonfuls onto a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.
• Because of the coconut oil, keep these cookies chilled until ready to serve and store in the refrigerator.
• A serving size is 3 cookies.

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