When I first arrived in India I had with me a wonderful cookbook called “The More With Less Cookbook.” It was incredible. It had a great many recipes for simple meals with simple ingredients you could make from scratch. I used that cookbook often during that first year as I learned how to work without an American Supermarket. One of my favorite recipes was for peanut butter oatmeal cookies. I could find all of the ingredients, even if peanut butter were ridiculously expensive, and made them often. I started to improvise on the recipe and add ingredients to make them more interesting. But, alas, during one of our many moves, I lost my cookbook. What was a recipe-following girl to do?
Well, thankfully, I’ve never been much of a recipe-following girl. I can remember cooking with my Grandma Lucille -- my Mom’s Mom. She would get frustrated with me because I didn’t know just how to measure and sift and add ingredients to be perfectly precise to the recipe. I would pour in flour and pack it down too tightly. I would level off the teaspoon of baking soda with less-than-accurate knife strokes. And, horror of horrors, I NEVER SIFTED!!!!
So, I learned that my baking would come out less-than-perfect. I truly thought that if I added a few more grains of sugar than the recipe called for, my cake would go flat. Enter India. For the first 3 1/2 years, I didn’t have measuring cups or spoons. FOR REAL! I soon learned that any glass or bowl that looked about a cup would do for a cup. I also learned that I didn’t need a half cup or third cup measuring cup, but could fill up that glass or bowl about half full or a third full and it would do. I learned that small spoons were about a teaspoon and large ones were about a tablespoon. I made many, many recipes with these haphazard, willy-nilly methods. Almost all of them came out well. And, if they didn’t, it probably had more to do with the ingredients being different here or the power going out in the middle of the baking process.
So, fast forward to losing my cookbook. I decided I’d just have to figure it out. I couldn’t very well miss out on making my family’s favorite cookies just because I lost the recipe. Nowadays, I make them at least once a month and am always improvising. My friends here always love them and I can always give away extras and many people ask me for the recipe. Well, that’s hard. There isn’t really one. But, I’ve decided to give it a go. If you’d like to try your hand at baking like most of the world -- meaning without recipes or measuring utensils -- then this recipe is for you! (Except that in this part of the world, most people don’t even have an oven and, therefore, don’t bake at all.) Just memorize the idea of it and play around. It is fun and will be delicious.
EVERYTHING WORKS COOKIES:
All you really need is a jar of peanut butter. How big, you may ask? Well, take your pick. That’s the beauty of this recipe. Smooth or chunky, you may ask? Again, take your pick. Highly processed or natural? Are you sensing a trend? Take your pick. If you really want to go crazy, use almond butter, cashew butter, coconut butter, and see what happens!!!
So, you have your jar of peanut butter. Don’t throw it away after you’ve emptied it because now the recipe goes like this:
1 jar peanut butter -- then use the same jar to fill up,
1 jar rolled oats -- quick or not-so-quick . . . take your pick
1/2 jar sugar -- any kind except powdered since it would mess with the consistency
1 jar milk
Cream this all together. Then add:
Some baking powder -- depending on how big your jar of peanut butter is. Maybe about a large spoonful for a pint.
Some salt -- about a small spoonful depending
Finally add about a jar of flour -- again, any kind will do. White, whole-wheat, chickpea, soy, get creative!
Now, you have another choice. Are you going to make drop cookies or bar cookies? They’ll both work. Put it in the oven for a while and then take them out.
Really. I don’t have any other idea than that. I’m guessing it would work well to bake them at 350 for about 10 minutes for drop cookies or 20 minutes for bar cookies. Just try it out and err on the side of undercooked. Since there’s no egg, it won’t hurt you to have them a bit gooey on the inside.
Now, this might be a bit of a shock for people who have always followed detailed recipes from cookbooks and cooking sites. Take a deep breath. You can do this!!
If you’re looking for a bigger challenge, try to make them vegan with almond or soy or coconut milk. Add other things to them: nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips, coconut shavings, little candies, etc. I’ve also made them PBJ cookies by spreading jelly over the top of bars or making dents in drop cookies and adding a dollop of my favorite jam or sauce. You can also add butter to make them less thick and just tasty or take away sugar or use honey instead. You can even add bananas, applesauce, pearsauce, or other fruit sauces instead of sugar and take out a bit of milk or add a bit of flour for consistency. If you like having breakfast bars around or healthy hiking snacks, make these with less sugar, more nuts and dried fruits, a bit more flour and shape them into logs instead of cookies on the cookie sheet. Or, if you don’t want them so healthy, drizzle chocolate or icing on top of them.
The trick is to have fun. Or you wouldn’t be eating cookies, you’d be eating kale and turnips. Settle down, kale-lovers, I have nothing against those veggies, in fact, I like them, but cookies . . . well, they’re cookies. I hope you enjoy testing out your inner rebel baker!
In my Mom's kitchen, about a year ago. Ready to get my bake on. This is serious business, folks!!!
Well, thankfully, I’ve never been much of a recipe-following girl. I can remember cooking with my Grandma Lucille -- my Mom’s Mom. She would get frustrated with me because I didn’t know just how to measure and sift and add ingredients to be perfectly precise to the recipe. I would pour in flour and pack it down too tightly. I would level off the teaspoon of baking soda with less-than-accurate knife strokes. And, horror of horrors, I NEVER SIFTED!!!!
So, I learned that my baking would come out less-than-perfect. I truly thought that if I added a few more grains of sugar than the recipe called for, my cake would go flat. Enter India. For the first 3 1/2 years, I didn’t have measuring cups or spoons. FOR REAL! I soon learned that any glass or bowl that looked about a cup would do for a cup. I also learned that I didn’t need a half cup or third cup measuring cup, but could fill up that glass or bowl about half full or a third full and it would do. I learned that small spoons were about a teaspoon and large ones were about a tablespoon. I made many, many recipes with these haphazard, willy-nilly methods. Almost all of them came out well. And, if they didn’t, it probably had more to do with the ingredients being different here or the power going out in the middle of the baking process.
So, fast forward to losing my cookbook. I decided I’d just have to figure it out. I couldn’t very well miss out on making my family’s favorite cookies just because I lost the recipe. Nowadays, I make them at least once a month and am always improvising. My friends here always love them and I can always give away extras and many people ask me for the recipe. Well, that’s hard. There isn’t really one. But, I’ve decided to give it a go. If you’d like to try your hand at baking like most of the world -- meaning without recipes or measuring utensils -- then this recipe is for you! (Except that in this part of the world, most people don’t even have an oven and, therefore, don’t bake at all.) Just memorize the idea of it and play around. It is fun and will be delicious.
EVERYTHING WORKS COOKIES:
All you really need is a jar of peanut butter. How big, you may ask? Well, take your pick. That’s the beauty of this recipe. Smooth or chunky, you may ask? Again, take your pick. Highly processed or natural? Are you sensing a trend? Take your pick. If you really want to go crazy, use almond butter, cashew butter, coconut butter, and see what happens!!!
So, you have your jar of peanut butter. Don’t throw it away after you’ve emptied it because now the recipe goes like this:
1 jar peanut butter -- then use the same jar to fill up,
1 jar rolled oats -- quick or not-so-quick . . . take your pick
1/2 jar sugar -- any kind except powdered since it would mess with the consistency
1 jar milk
Cream this all together. Then add:
Some baking powder -- depending on how big your jar of peanut butter is. Maybe about a large spoonful for a pint.
Some salt -- about a small spoonful depending
Finally add about a jar of flour -- again, any kind will do. White, whole-wheat, chickpea, soy, get creative!
Now, you have another choice. Are you going to make drop cookies or bar cookies? They’ll both work. Put it in the oven for a while and then take them out.
Really. I don’t have any other idea than that. I’m guessing it would work well to bake them at 350 for about 10 minutes for drop cookies or 20 minutes for bar cookies. Just try it out and err on the side of undercooked. Since there’s no egg, it won’t hurt you to have them a bit gooey on the inside.
Now, this might be a bit of a shock for people who have always followed detailed recipes from cookbooks and cooking sites. Take a deep breath. You can do this!!
If you’re looking for a bigger challenge, try to make them vegan with almond or soy or coconut milk. Add other things to them: nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips, coconut shavings, little candies, etc. I’ve also made them PBJ cookies by spreading jelly over the top of bars or making dents in drop cookies and adding a dollop of my favorite jam or sauce. You can also add butter to make them less thick and just tasty or take away sugar or use honey instead. You can even add bananas, applesauce, pearsauce, or other fruit sauces instead of sugar and take out a bit of milk or add a bit of flour for consistency. If you like having breakfast bars around or healthy hiking snacks, make these with less sugar, more nuts and dried fruits, a bit more flour and shape them into logs instead of cookies on the cookie sheet. Or, if you don’t want them so healthy, drizzle chocolate or icing on top of them.
The trick is to have fun. Or you wouldn’t be eating cookies, you’d be eating kale and turnips. Settle down, kale-lovers, I have nothing against those veggies, in fact, I like them, but cookies . . . well, they’re cookies. I hope you enjoy testing out your inner rebel baker!
In my Mom's kitchen, about a year ago. Ready to get my bake on. This is serious business, folks!!!
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