This is a quick and easy way to make some tasty cookies right on the stove! I’m not sure where my mom got the original recipes, but we’ve been making them for years.

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups quick oats

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk in a large saucepan. Mix well and bring to a full, rolling boil. Boil 1 minute and remove from heat.

Add peanut butter and vanilla and stir well. Add quick oats, stirring to coat all of the oats. Drop on to wax paper. These can cool on the counter top or in the refrigerator.

I purchased the book “No-Bake Cookies” because I wanted to find my mom’s old recipes for no-bake cookies. The book, while it had tons of other great recipes, did not include any recipes that came close to the no-bake cookies I love. When I was growing up, I used to make Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies because it was one of the only things in my mom’s cookbook that didn’t involve using the oven, just one big pot on the stove top.

Occasionally, my mom would make a different version of the no-bake cookies. These extra special cookies were butterscotch, not chocolate. Again, this recipe was not in my new “No-Bake Cookies” cookbook, and I was quite disappointed. I’ve searched all the cooking websites several times trying to find a recipe that could produce similar cookies, always with no results.

As luck would have it, my mom still has her old hand-written cookbook. I found two recipes that I had thought were gone forever: Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies and Butterscotch Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies. Now that I have these recipes, I plan on stashing them securely in between the pages of my own cookbook and here online.

Here’s a stronger variation on the original Mocha Spice Fudge from Nestle Tollhouse.

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup (5 fl oz) evaporated milk
2 tbsp of instant espresso granules (available at most specialty foods stores)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups (9 oz pkg) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Line a 9×9 inch pan with foil.

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, instant espresso, butter and salt in a medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Mix well and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in morsels, marshmallows, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar and nutmeg. Pour into prepared pan. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan, remove foil and cut into pieces.

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup (5 fl oz) evaporated milk
3 tbsp instant coffee granules or 1 heaping tbsp of instant espresso granules
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups (9 oz pkg) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Line a 9×9 inch pan with foil.

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, instant coffee or espresso, butter and salt in a medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Mix well and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in morsels, marshmallows, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour into prepared pan. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan, remove foil and cut into pieces.

A great holiday recipe from Nestle Toll House:

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup (5 fl oz) evaporated milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups (9 oz pkg) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 cup crushed peppermint hard candy

Tip: Candy canes tend to be easier to smash into piece than the round starbright candies.

Line a 9×9 inch pan with foil.

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in a medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Mix well and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in morsels, marshmallows, vanilla and peppermint extracts. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle crushed peppermint candy on top, pressing lightly to set. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan, remove foil and cut into pieces.