Nutella No Bake Cookies

I've been going through baking withdrawal.  We've been in Korea for three weeks which means I've been living in a hotel which, luckily, has a cook top and a microwave in it, but unluckily, has no oven or mixing bowls or spatulas or any of the things that bring me calm when I'm stressed.  Am I the only person who thinks folding ingredients together with a spatula is like meditation?

Maybe.

Anyway, I couldn't take it anymore and decided that I had to make some kind of treat or I was going to cave into myself from pent up stress and anxiety.

Or I was just craving sugar that didn't come from a package of Oreos or Iced Animal Crackers.

Regardless, after searching through my Pinterest board called "Indulgent Yummies" I decided that No Bake Cookies were something I could pull off with limited ingredients and equipment.

I didn't want to make regular old No Bake Cookies so I did a quick Pinterest search on other people's boards and found this recipe for Nutella No Bake Cookies.  Nutella + Peanut Butter + Sugar + Oatmeal = Yes Please!

Now, when I say limited equipment, I mean it.  I didn't have any measuring cups or spoons or a spatula so I used the coffee mug in the room, a random spoon and my eyeballs.  Close enough - as long as the ratios of the ingredients are right these will turn out fine - they're very forgiving.

If you haven't made No Bake Cookies before, they're pretty darn easy.  You boil together butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder for exactly 1 minute.  I don't know what the magic is that happens in that 1 minute but it's pretty specific and likely has to do with science.  After it boils, peanut butter and/or Nutella is mixed in and then oatmeal is mixed in.  That mixture is simply dropped on a piece of waxed paper and as it cools it hardens into a cookie.  No baking required.  Obviously.

No Bake Cookies are one of my brother-in-law's favorite cookies and I think he would like these just as well.  They are definitely less peanut buttery more chocolatey than the traditional recipe which just uses peanut butter and not Nutella.  I also think using the dark chocolate cocoa powder that I like made them even more chocolatey.  

The only problem with these cookies is that they're really good and I don't have any method by which to share them.  In fact, I don't even have a method by which to store them - therefore they are sitting in a skillet with the lid on them which does not help stop me from eating six of them every day because I can smell them when I walk by.

Nutella No Bake Cookies
Adapted from Shugary Sweets

Ingredients
2 cups Granulated Sugar
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
1/2 cup Milk (I used Almond Milk)
1/2 cup Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
pinch of Salt
1/4 cup Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Nutella
3 1/2 cup Quick Oatmeal
Instructions
Over medium heat, cook sugar, cocoa, milk and butter until it comes to a full boil.  Boil one minute and remove from the heat.  Stir in the vanilla, salt, peanut butter, and Nutella until the peanut butter and Nutella are melted.  Stir in the oatmeal until combined.  Drop onto wax paper and cool (I use about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie).

Enjoy!
Julie