Mama Borja's No-bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

My mom originally got the recipe for these from the American missionaries who had founded the community church that we had attended in the Philippines. I have fond memories of that missionary couple and of growing up in that church :) I also have very fond memories of these cookies, which my mom made all throughout our elementary school days in the Philippines! She would get the househelpers to help her produce them: using polvoron moulds to shape them into small ovals and circles, and arranging them into layers inside tupperwares, separated with wax paper. We would get them as baon (packed snacks) either on the drive home or to Kong-kong's house after school—they would get sticky from the heat, but would retain their coolness inside from being in the fridge overnight. They were glorious.

My mom didn't bring any of her polvoron moulds to Canada, so she stopped making these for a long time after we immigrated. I recently realized, though, that most no-bake cookies didn't call for moulds anyway, so I should just try making them with spoons haha! So around the beginning of quarantine I messaged my mom to ask her for the recipe, and she sent the following images:

If you can read the numbers on the right, that's a whopping 150 pesos (USD 3.08) for the entire ingredient list!!!

I think my mom wrote this in 2002 right before we moved to Canada. Her handwriting is the prettiest! ♥

I ended up successfully making a large batch of these to pass to my brother and my cousin (both of whom had just moved into the area). They were so good that my cousin almost finished all of his before going home haha! These are so easy and so tasty; I highly, highly recommend them :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ cup peanut butter (either creamy or chunky)
• 3 ½ cups uncooked oats or toasted pinipig

Instructions:

1. Mix together sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan and cook for 1.5 to 2 minutes or until well-blended.
   
2. Add cocoa, vanilla and peanut butter and cook together.
   
3. Finally, add the oats and stir well.
   
4. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper, and use polvoron molds or tablespoons to form rounded cookies onto parchment-lined cookie sheet. When cool, cover the cookies and refrigerate to harden. Transfer to airtight containers (using wax or parchment paper to separate cookie layers) and refrigerate.