My very favorite cookie, for as long as I can remember, has been the chocolate missouri cookie. These soft chewy gooey no-bake treats are packed with three of my favorite cookie flavors — chocolate, peanut butter and oatmeal. They are so simple to prepare, yet taste like pure heaven.
My grandmother, Elsie Flanagan
Although this is a recipe that my grandma used to make, and passed down to my mom, I don’t actually associate these cookies with either my grandma or my mom.
When I think of warm gooey chewy chocolate missouri cookies, I think of my Aunt Reen. Because Aunt Reen is the one who always baked these for all of us kids when our extended family got together.
We kids would stand around the stove watching Aunt Reen make these, and then burn our mouths because we couldn’t stand waiting for the cookies to cool, so we would pick them up and eat them while still hot.
My Aunt Maureen “Reen”
Mom recently explained to me that it was Grandma who first made them for us, and then my mom. But, since Aunt Reen loved baking so much — and didn’t do much cooking — Mom turned over the cookie-making duties to Aunt Reen for all of over family functions. I was surprised to have just found this bit of family culinary history out after 41 years!
Mom doesn’t know who passed the recipe down to Grandma… if it was her mother, an older sister, a friend, or if she simply clipped it from a magazine. And since Grandma passed away in 1992, I will never know.
For me, it’s just never Christmas without my favorite childhood cookies. So, although I really don’t do much baking at all — even during the holidays — I have always made these cookies at Christmas time. And this year, I passed on the tradition to our 12 year old son Hunter, who made them — along with his Christmas candies — as gifts for his friends and his sister’s friends.
Hunter has now mastered the art of Grandma’s Chocolate Missouri Cookies.
Oh, and yeah…I still have trouble waiting for the cookies to actually cool before eating them.
Start with milk, butter, sugar and cocoa.
Have on hand vanilla, oats and peanut butter.
Combine sugar, cocoa, milk and butter in a medium sauce pan.
Cook at a rolling boil for 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
Add the vanilla.
Add the peanut butter, and oats.
Mix well.
Drop by the spoonful on waxed paper to cool until firm.
Can you see why it’s so hard to wait for these to cool? I still burn my mouth every time, out of impatience, because they are so darn good!
And there you have it…perfect cookies!
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons cocoa
- ½ cup milk
- ½ stick butter or margarine (1/4 cup)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- ½ cup crunchy peanut butter
- 3cups quick cooking oats
- Combine sugar, cocoa, milk and butter in a medium sauce pan. Cook at a rolling boil for 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
- Add the vanilla, peanut butter, and oats.
- Mix well and drop by the spoonful on waxed paper to cool until firm.
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Article by Colleen Greene
I am a librarian, web developer & strategist, and educator, who is into cooking, hiking, quilting and stitching, genealogy and local history.
Colleen has written 180 articles for The Taste Place.
