Sugar-Free No-Bake Cookies

"There is a peculiar burning odor in the room, like explosives.  The kitchen fills with smoke and the hot, sweet, ashy smell of scorched cookies.  The war has begun."               ~Alison Lurie Quotes

     Around 8 PM today, I decided that I would try to make B's Aunt's No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies again.  The last time I made them (and the first time making them on my own) they didn't set up properly.  We had to eat the gooey deliciousness with a spoon.  But I was determined that this time, they would be a successful fingerfood!  So I brought out the recipe from the cabinet, and started throwing the ingredients into the pot:
               1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup milk, 3 TBS cocoa powder, 1 tsp vanilla
    
     I turned up the heat, and started stirring them with a whisk (just like his Aunt showed me!)  After allowing the liquid to boil a bit, I added the peanut butter (which is probably part of why it didn't set up last time.  I added it too soon) and VOILA!  The liquid started to thicken immediately!  I threw in the oatmeal, let it cool a minute, and started spooning the mix onto the wax paper.
         Wait.  I could have sworn that when his Aunt made it there were more than six small cookies.  And weren't they a lighter brown than that?

     So I licked the spoon expecting Heaven in my mouth, and ended up with Hell instead.  Literally.  They were burnt!  How do you BURN a NO BAKE cookie?  Seriously?  Who does that?  Me.  I told B that I didn't know what went wrong.  His response: "I know what went wrong.  You went into the kitchen." 

     Since B was of absolutely no help, I called his Grandparents house to talk through what I did with his Aunt.  His Grandpa answered and told me that he was the only person home. 
     I'm pretty sure that was the first time in the history of his family that his Grandpa had the whole house to himself!
    So I talked to Grandpa for a little while, and suddenly, in the middle of our conversation about the Navy, a little lightbulb went off.  I forgot the sugar!  How do you FORGET the sugar when making cookies?  It is the main ingredient in this particular recipe!  2-1/2 cups of sugar, and I forgot to add it! 

     I will not accept defeat.  Not tonight anyway.  So I cleaned up some of the mess, and started all over again.  This time adding the sugar first. 

     We have to eat the gooey deliciousness with a spoon.  Perhaps that's just my "thing."

"Children ask better questions than adults.  "May I have a cookie?"  "Why is the sky blue?"  and "What does a cow say?" are far more likely to elicit a cheerful response than "Where's your manuscript?"  "Why haven't you called?" and "Who's your lawyer?"             ~Fran Lebowitz Quotes

Thanks for listening!


Carolina North.