Nutella & Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

On Sunday, my church hosted a huge Summer Picnic & Pig Roast. Like a good church girl, I volunteered to bring a dessert, thinking I'd make it Saturday morning/afternoon since all we had planned that day was to have lunch with my Dad for his bday.

Of course, by the time I woke up and stopped vegging out on the couch, I didn't have the time to bake anything before I got ready for the bday lunch.

And, of course, after lunch J and I hung out with my dad for a while {which was nice, and I'm glad we did}, then came home and went out on the boat.

It was about 9:00 Saturday night when I decided it was probably time to make a dessert. {Who has some serious time management problems? Surely, not I!}

My next problem: what do I make?? Cookies? Brownies? Banana muffins? How about I just don't bring anything? Decisions, decisions...

A half hour later Eventually I decided on No-Bake Cookies. But not just any No-Bakes, Nutella No-Bakes! I love Nutella and I saw a recipe on Pinterest and decided it was time to try it.

Unfortunately, I didn't have cocoa powder or wax paper, so obviously a trip to the grocery store (at 9:30 at night) was a must.

I got out of there in record time, even managing to pick up a few random things we needed at home, and I didn't even get stopped at any of the lights on my drive back.

Everything was going swimmingly, and was almost to my street, until I realized that I had forgotten the wax paper.

I've never made No-Bakes before, so I decided that I didn't have the prior knowledge or experience needed to decide that wax paper wasn't necessary. So, I turned the car around and went back to Meijer. Awesome. 

It was 10:30 when I started making the cookies.

After looking at a few different recipes for regular and Nutella No Bake Cookies, I decided that I'd just modify the recipe that I had already printed last summer and never used.

This isn't my own original recipe... I honestly don't know where the original recipe came from, but from what I researched, the recipe is basically the same everywhere.  

How'd they turn out? 

DELICIOUS! AMAZING! PERFECT! 

They were so good that I only had four (yes, 4!) left after the picnic. Not even kidding, soon as I noticed this fact, I grabbed my tupperware and removed it from the dessert table. I was not about to get denied the last 4 cookies.

Seriously, if you like Nutella, chocolate, and/or peanut butter, on their own or in a combo, you need to try these cookies. They're also super easy to make and you only have to clean one pot... No mixing
 bowls. No beaters. No cookie sheets. Doing dishes is my least favorite chore, so this is awesome. :)

Sorry the picture sucks... My bad!

Nutella Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

Total Time: Less than 1 hour

Makes approx. 24ish, 2" cookies

Ingredients:

2 c. sugar 

4 Tbsp. cocoa powder -- I used Nestle Tollhouse

1 stick butter

1/2 c. milk -- I used 1/2%
a pinch of salt (optional) 

1 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. peanut butter -- I used smooth peanut butter

1/2 c. Nutella hazelnut spread

3 c. oatmeal -- I used old-fashioned, but you could also use quick-oats

Directions:

1. Prep two medium-large cookie sheets by covering them with a sheet of waxed paper.

2. In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, bring to a boil the milk, butter, cocoa, and sugar, mixing well. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute, and turn to low heat.

3. Add salt, vanilla, peanut butter and Nutella. Stir.

4. Add oats, 1 cup at a time, stirring well. Once the mixture is well blended, turn off heat. It gets pretty thick toward the end.. Just keep stirring!

5. Drop the mixture by the teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheets covered in wax paper. Refrigerate for about 20-30 minutes to cool and harden. Remove cookies from the wax paper using a spatula. Cover and store in the refrigerator.

6. If you want regular no-bakes, just use 1 cup peanut butter. You could do 3/4 c. pb and 1/4 c. Nutella if you wanted a more peanutty taste. Or, if you prefer more Nutella, do 1/4 c. peanut butter and 3/4 c. Nutella.

If you're looking for a healthier option, you could probably use a sugar substitute and applesauce or Greek yogurt in place of the butter. I'm not sure if the amount of each ingredient would change, though, so I'd do some research first.

The only negative is that Nutella can be a little bit on the expensive side... but, I had a $1 off coupon and it was on sale when I bought it, so I say it was totally worth it. :). I'm sure you could also use a different brand of chocolate hazelnut butter, like Jif or Hershey's.