Maguyver No-Bake cookies

My husband wanted cookies last night but there was one problem. It's incredibly hot here in the summer I wasn't about to turn on the oven. So I had heard of "no bake" or "ice box" cookies before, are they different? I'll have to investigate. Anyway, I found a particularly popular recipe at allrecipes.com and set to work. Here is that original recipe:

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
• 3 cups quick cooking oats

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, cocoa, milk and margarine. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, salt, peanut butter and oats.
2. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Allow cookies to cool for at least 1 hour. Store in an airtight container.

SUBMITTED BY: bybet2

My train of thought went as such...

"Two cups sugar!? Thats way too much, I'll add one cup... hmm no cocoa powder. But I do have hot chocolate mix! I have butter... vanilla... peanut butter? Hmm, all I have is almond butter. I think I'll add some coconut too."

Despite my absolute inability to properly follow a recipe these cookies turned out fantastic. My husband really liked them and so did I. I've been out of baking cocoa for quite some time but I keep subtituting hot chocolate mix or Ovaltine and it's hasn't blown up in my face yet. The coconut was especially delicious.

Almond Milk

I've recently delved into recreating Medieval recipes. Almond milk was a widely used substitute for cow and sheep milk which spoiled quickly. Not to mention nearly impossible if you didn't have livestock; buying animal milk was possible, but it was expensive and was often watered down.

I started by blanching the almonds, this process involves boiling them in a pot of water for no more than 90 seconds. Then I removed them immediately from heat, strained them, and doused the almonds in cold water. This allowed the brown top skin to loosen and it could be peeled quite easily. I can imagine this being a mindless process one would have done while sitting with others and gossiping or telling stories. I watched a movie, personally, but it was almost 1am so my options were limited.

Unfortunately my Medieval recipe book seems to have failed me because the next step asked me to put the almonds in a blender and liquefy. Now I'm not an authority of Medieval history but I'm fairly certain this wasn't the original method. In any case, I chopped the almonds finely, let them sit in the blender overnight in 2 cups-ish of filtered water and blended them in the morning. I think I could have blended them for longer than I did, approximately 10 seconds, but I have (and always have had) a terrible aversion to very loud noises. Happy Fourth of July, by the way. Once this was done, I strained the frothy liquid through a sieve and was surprised at how much it looked like milk!

It has an odd taste, very almondy but not savory nor sweet. It's the perfect base, however, you can add honey and cinnamon or garlic and rosemary depending on the recipe. I rendered a successful 1 Cup and 1/4 Almond milk, unfortunately I don't know what to do with it.