Not Your Mama's No-Bakes

As I kid my favorite cookie ever was a no-bake. In fact, even as an adult, they are hands-down my favorite sweet treat. I hardly ever make them because they are so loaded with sugar, but a few times a year I bust out some peanut butter, chocolate and oats action. And now that I think about  it, these cookies must be where I got my obsession with all things chocolate and peanut butter - those two flavors are pure perfection on my taste buds.

That being said, this recipe stemmed from another recipe I saw the other day - kale chocolate clusters. I realized I had been missing out on a whole area of kale appreciation. I still have a few bags of frozen kale from last summer and I should use them up before my summer CSA starts up. Originally I was going to replicate these cluster cookies, but I didn't have dried cranberries. Then it came to me - No-Bakes!! Thus, my sneaky chef version of my favorite cookie, was born.


Not Your Mama's No-Bakes

1C white sugar
1 C dark brown sugar
1/2 C milk
1/2 C butter
3 T cocoa
1 t maple flavoring
2/3 C peanut butter
2 C quick-cooking oats
1/2 C frozen kale (mine had been boiled for 3 minutes then frozen)
1/2 C shredded coconut

In large pot melt butter with sugars, milk cocoa and maple flavoring. Whisk and bring to a boil. Boil this mixture hard for exactly two minutes, no longer! Remove from heat and stir in oats and peanut butter. Quickly process kale in food processor until minced. Mix into cookies with coconut until well incorporated. Drop onto wax paper and let harden. Devour.