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No-bake Nutella cookies

Too hot to cook but craving a sweet treat? Keep the oven off and try stirring up these no-bake cookies

No-bake Nutella cookies are easy to mix up for fudgy treat.

The Pastry Chef's Baking

July 28, 2016

I鈥檝e mentioned often enough that I don鈥檛 do well in heat. So it鈥檚 a good thing I live in a moderate climate. But we do get our heat waves and when that happens, the last thing I want to do is turn on my oven. Yet oddly enough, I don鈥檛 really do a lot of no-bake cookies or desserts. I鈥檓 a baker, I like to bake. That means putting stuff in the oven and having them come out better than when they went in. 鈥淣o bake鈥 defies all that and I had a certain amount of prejudice against it.

I say 鈥渉ad鈥 because, as mentioned in an earlier post, I am teachable and willing to change my mind with the right recipe. Which this proved to be. This cookie couldn鈥檛 have been easier to put together 鈥 you boil some ingredients, stir until smooth, add oats and coconut then shape into cookies. Let set and there you go. But it wasn鈥檛 just the ease of making it over my stovetop and not having to turn on the oven. It was that these had the consistency of fudge. Yes, fudge, the bane of my dessert-making existence because I can never get it to come out right.

Turns out I should鈥檝e just been making no-bake cookies and substituting them for fudge. Who knew? And why didn鈥檛 they tell me? Okay, these aren鈥檛 exactly like fudge, unless you make your fudge with oats. But still, they鈥檒l do in a pinch if you want something rich, chocolaty and super easy to make. Even if you鈥檙e not a coconut lover, you actually can鈥檛 taste the coconut in this cookie; the flavor gets drowned out by the chocolate and Nutella. I suspect the coconut is just there for filling and to give the cookie some structure and texture.

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The only issue I had is I used whole oats and they were a tougher, chewier texture than creamy, dreamy fudge would allow. It wasn鈥檛 too bad but next time I would probably add the oats while the mixture was in its final boil and give it a chance to soften up a tad. Otherwise, this is a good cookie in the no-bake category. A category that before this only held Rice Krispie Treats in my dessert repertoire. I just doubled my no-bake assets, ha.

No-bake Nutella cookies
From

8 tablespoons butter
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup Nutella
2 cups quick oats
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1. Place the butter, sugar, cocoa, milk, salt and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until melted and smooth. Bring to a boil; boil 1 minute while stirring constantly.

2. Remove pan from heat and stir in nutella until smooth and creamy. Add the oats and coconut and stir until combined and coated.

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3. Drop by large spoonfuls onto parchment paper. Flatten and shape, if desired. Let set until completely cooled. Store in a sealed container.

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