Rolled Oats

I saw these the other day over on Suzie the Foodie and knew right away that I had to make some! These were my favorite treats when I was a kid, and I'd never made them before. My mom always called them "Chocolate Macaroons", but most of the kids I knew called them "Haystacks". I knew my boys would love them so I went right to the kitchen and started into it. It went really quickly - less than a half an hour from the point when I decided I was going to make them, until I was done. And that included getting the ingredients out of the cupboard, measuring them, and so forth.

You do not bake these cookies - you just make up the chocolate mixture first in a pot on the stove, then mix in the dry ingredients. I tried a batch reducing the amount of sugar but they did not set up properly, so if anyone has any ideas on how to reduce the sugar without that happening, I'd love to hear it. Typically they have coconut in them, which is how my mom made them, but I wanted to do it without coconut. I've read you just use all rolled oats, but I used flaked barley instead of the coconut.

I've been making an awful lot of these lately, and have been refining the directions as I give the recipe to people. Just now I sent it to a buddy of mine who isn't much of a cook/baker - so below are probably the best directions yet.

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, raisins, anything dried)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts & seeds (any combination - hazelnuts, walnuts,
  flax seed, sesame seed, sunflower seed, etc)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons butter (or oil)
• 1 grated apple
• 1 crushed very ripe banana
• one beaten egg

If you are like me, you like traditional cookie recipes that make a huge batch — the kind of cookies that only get better the longer they manage to stay in the cookie tin.

This recipe requires your largest bowl — something I love, as it’s the perfect excuse to get out the gigantic old stoneware mixing bowl that belonged to an elderly neighbour when I was a child. It makes up to 7 dozen cookies that only get moister and chewier the longer they last.