(Slightly) Grownup No Bakes

Comfort food continues to be a trend in restaurants, though in these leaner times I'm surprised that they haven't swung farther away from things that you really can make yourself. My middle-of-the-road deli/bakery employer has a "truffled mac and cheese" that consists of a simple 4-(non-fancy)-cheese sauce enriched by a very, very small amount of white truffle oil, and it is delicious, for the record. Just goes to show you how simple it is to reproduce restaurant taste with a few secret ingredients, but that's for another post.

One of my favorite nostalgic recipes is the Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookie, which is really more of a candy. I love that it is a confection I can make without a candy thermometer, since candymaking gives me fits. The original recipe calls for margarine and jif-style creamy peanut butter, which contains, in addition to peanuts: sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, fully hydrogenated vegetable oil (read: bad fat), salt, and mono- and diglycerides. This is a good list of stuff I try to avoid. So! What to do every 28 days or so when the chocolate craving comes around? Revamp the recipe with whole foods and a kick of spice, of course.

The original is here, for purists. My revamp doesn't replicate the taste or texture precisely; my version takes longer to set up and is a bit grainy but I suspect that's what comes of using real dairy, so that's ok with me. Advice from folks with more pastry experience would be much appreciated!

Grown-Up Chocolate No Bakes
2 c. sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. milk (any fat content, I use skim)
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/3 c. smoothly ground 100% almond butter (or sub peanut butter)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. whole rolled oatmeal (whiz the oats in a blender if you like the texture of using instant oats)

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, chili powder, salt, and cocoa powder, then add butter and milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a rolling boil. Continue to boil and stir one minute. Turn heat to low and stir in almond butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Fold in oats and drop by heaping teaspoons onto wax paper or foil; cool completely and store (ha!) in an airtight container.