Black & Orange Cookies

Or brown and orange cookies.

Some people call these cookies monkey poop or cat poo. In our house, we call them "those chocolate things that you cook on the stove with the peanut butter and oatmeal."

Black & Orange Cookies is catchier, don't you think?

To make:

2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup milk (I use 1%)
1 stick butter

Combine in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring mixture to boil. Continue to boil, stirring, for one minute. Remove from heat and add:

1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
2 cups oats (See - they have oats. They're totally healthy.)

Combine well and drop by teaspoons onto wax paper or parchment paper or silpat. The mixture will be soft and wet (like monkey poo!) and will set up in a few minutes.

For Halloween, I used orange candy melts.


Craft stores and large discount stores carry them. They are orange-colored, not orange-flavored.

Put about 1/2 cup in a microwave-safe bowl.


Heat in the microwave until melted. You know your microwave best; mine took about a minute at half power, stopping every 20 seconds or so to stir well.

Ladle the melted candy in a zip-top bag and snip the very end of one corner. Drizzle the candy onto cookies and let sit.



If kids will be at the Thanksgiving table, these would make a good dessert as long as they can eat peanut butter. Kids may prefer monkey poo cookies to pumpkin pie. You could drizzle cookies with red, yellow, and orange candy melts for a fall look. Or top with sprinkles while the cookies are still wet. Go crazy with it.