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Unbaked Chocolate haystacks






                    My mom called these "Unbaked Cookies" and I'm sure most of you have
a similar recipe tucked away somewhere.
For those who've lost theirs or are interested in a slightly different version, here is mine.
They are easy to make so enlist the help of the little ones.
                                      As you can see, they are a hit with my grandchildren.
  • 3 cups oatmeal
  • 1 cup coconut
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 5 tablespoons cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

  1. Cover a large baking sheet with waxed or parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. Mix oatmeal and coconut in a large bowl and set aside.
  3. Mix sugar and cocoa together in medium sized saucepan.
  4. Add milk and butter.
  5. Bring to a boil stirring constantly.
  6. When mixture has boiled, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
  7. Immediately pour over oatmeal and coconut and mix well .
  8. Working quickly, drop by teaspoonfuls on to prepared baking sheet.
  9. Refrigerate until firm and then place in cookie tins.
  10. Keep in a cool place. Makes about 2 -2 1/2 doz. cookies.

37 comments:

  1. My sister began calling them 'Dirty Cookies' when she was quite young because she got so dirty eating them. The name has stuck in our family ever since!

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  2. I remember making these...just like eating candy! ♥

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  3. i'm gonna make these with my kids today :) thanks!

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  4. These look good, but I was going to consider using half the sugar.Would that work?

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    Replies
    1. If your using less sugar,I wouldn't cut it by half
      and it becomes a more important thing to stir while cooking
      in order for them to firm up if using less sugar

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  5. Wendy - why don't you start by trying just 1/2 cup less and see how they turn out.

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  6. I'm always confused by coconut. Sweetened? Unsweetened? Fancy? Fine??
    Help! Is there a general rule in baking, because its not just this recipe,most recipes just say coconut, then you hit the baking aisle and.....too many options!

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  7. IS there a difference between oats and oatmeal? if I can use oats do I use quick oats or regular oats? this is kinda like no bake cookies with out the peanut butter. My daughter will be thrilled to make this since she's allergic to peanut butter.

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  8. To answer some of your questions. I use fancy flaked or medium, sweetened coconut unless a recipe calls for unsweetened or fine. I also use the Quaker Quick oats to make these cookies. Hope you enjoy them.

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  9. We have a volunteer fire department meeting tomorrow night; these will be quite the hit, thank you! and, they are a trifle different from my recipe.

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  10. These are one of our favourite cookies. I almost always double the batch. And I always put them in the freezer as soon as possible because they can dry out so quickly. Freezing them keeps them nice and moist and chewy.

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  11. farts, cow plops, chocolate mountains, are what we used to call they. Top vanilla ice cream with this mixture and drop the rest into cookies.... delicious!

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  12. How long do you boil the mixture? I remember having one recipe that said 3 minutes. How long do you do it? Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Just bring it to a boil and then remove from the heat and add the dry ingredients.

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  13. I had these on my christmas table drizzled with red and green candy (molding) chocolate. They were a big hit. My recipe for them is entitled 'no-bake chocolate macaroons'. A friend passed it along, when I was a teen. Judy Martin

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  14. simple and tasty! the kind of treat that puts a large smile on your face :)

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  15. Oh Dear, big "fail" on this recipe! As I was bringing the mixture to a boil, just as it was starting to bubble it seperated!!
    Anyone know what I did wrong?

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  16. I have never made these with coconut but that sounds great! My recipe for these "hobnobs" (no idea where that name came from) includes 1/2c of peanut butter as well as 1 tsp of vanilla. I have been using 1/2c less of sugar lately and no one has noticed so I'm going to stick with that.

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  17. oh yum....I made these as a kid and mum lost the recipe. Been looking for ever for it, but only found the one with Peanut Butter in it. Good, but not the same flavor. Thanks for posting the recipe.

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  18. Yes, this is the recipe I have as well, no peanut butter in it. I have made these with coconut oil instead of butter and I believe I also did it with honey instead of the sugar. They are so yummy!!

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    Replies
    1. When substituting honey, do you use equal amount? One cup sugar = one cup honey?

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    2. Honey is sweeter than sugar I think about 4x I believe u can google it. I would sweeten to taste.

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  19. Could raisins be added to these cookies? Would I need to reduce any of the other ingredients?

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    Replies
    1. Raisons are awesome in these! We didn't reduce any of the other ingredients, just mixed them in with no problems :)

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  20. These are incredibly sweet. I used unsweeted coconut, but they still turned out tooth-achingly sweet.

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    Replies
    1. You are right! They are sweet. Especially for adults. We seem to lose our attraction to sweet things as we age. (smile) However the children love them, as I did when I was a child and as an occasional treat, they are probably healthier than a chocolate bar. I think you might be able to reduce the sugar a bit and still have them turn out.

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    2. I have been looking for this cookie. my grandma made this for me 40 years ago. but then started with the peanut butter kind. I had told my mom and aunt and uncles that she use to use coconut and they thought I was nuts.This nut is making this cookie today to share with my mom aunts and uncles a little girl don't forget this cookie.Grandma also made me choc gravy .Thank you Grandma Sanders in Elizabeth ark. for all your kindness and love.And thanks to the Mennonite girls....from the little nut that use to spend a lot time on grandmas hip.

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  21. We made these for the campers at Silver Lake Mennonite Camp in Ontario this summer. Big hit! We used ice cream scoops to make a generous snack size treat and speed up the process.

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  22. I add alphabet pretzles, sunflower seeds, flax and craisins to mine to give them some variety

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  23. Bev, Emily made your recipe last night and used walnuts in place of coconut. They brought back memories of my home ec days waaaay back. We both agreed that next time we would reduce the sugar for our own personal taste but the family enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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  24. We added sunflower and sesame seeds as well - a nice addition to the coconut :)

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  25. Cow Pies
    The yummy kind, we always had them at harvest time, did not have to use oven on hot days and travelled nicely for a good big field lunch late afternoon, then they combined till about 9 or so came in for a light supper, did it all over the next day..............unless it rained.

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  26. I just made a batch and found them crumbly...... what did I do wrong

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  27. I suspect you may have boiled them too long or waited too long to put them on the pan.
    Just bring the mixture to a boil and then remove the pot and add the dry ingredients. Immediately drop by spoonfuls. If you wait to put them on a pan, the mixture will harden and you'll have crumbles. Good luck!

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  28. I can't believe there were so many positive comments as I also found them dry and crumbly and no way you could drop them at all. Maybe I boiled it to long but seems like a really finicky recipe to get right and not be crumbly.
    Recipe says to pour over the dry ingredients and I suspect it would work better to add the dry ingredients to the heated mix instead.

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    Replies
    1. I have a recipe that says boil 3 minutes, but it is finicky. It works well to just bring it to a boil and then take it off, but I still get crumbles sometimes, especially now that I have to make them with almond milk. I always heat the wet ingredients in a big pot so that I can add the oatmeal, cocoa and coconut into the pot. (The fewer dishes to wash, the better!)

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