January 17th, 2008
Boiled cookies, three ways
What, you’ve never heard of boiled cookies? You can often find them at the grocery store - in our area they are just labeled "no-bake" cookies. Growing up there were three things you could count on at the holidays: sugar cookies (I’ll give that recipe out another time, it isn’t what you think), chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and boiled cookies. So I was super excited when I found out that they have boiled cookies in Hawaii! But as you might expect, theirs has a tropical twist, shredded coconut. I can’t think of anything that tastes better than chocolate and coconut, except possibly this trio of boiled cookie recipes.
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The Original: HL’s Boiled Cookies
"Wet" Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 lb oleo, margarine or butter
Place all of this in a heavy bottomed pan on the stove and slowly melt the butter, then once it’s combined bring to a boil. (Helpful hint - what you’re really doing in these recipes is making a sort of fudge, then mixing in extra yummy, chunky or chewy ingredients.) Boil three minutes and remove from heat, then add the "dry" ingredients.
"Dry" Ingredients
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (trust me, you want the nuts)
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups quick oatmeal
Mix them in well, then spread in a buttered 13×9 inch pan and cool. You are going to end up with what I consider the class, a cookie that is so sweet it’s sinful. This one is heaviest on the chocolate and great for choc-aholics.
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The First Modification: Gramma B’s "Quik" Boiled Cookies
I don’t know why Gramma B preferred this variety - I like mine dark chocolate, I suppose she was more of a milk chocolate kind of person.
"Wet" Ingredients:
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. Nestles’ Quick - the dry kind, not the syrup!
1/4 lb. butter
As before, melt in heavy bottomed saucepan, then bring to a boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes, then mix in the "dry" ingredients.
"Dry" Ingredients:
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 1/2 c. oats
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix together and either spread in a butter pan or drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper to cool. These cookies are a bit lighter on the chocolate and with more oatmeal, I also think they highlight the "peanut" flavor a bit more. Also delicious 
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The Hawaiian Remix: Chocolate Coconut Boiled Cookies
"Wet" Ingredients:
1/2 cup oleo, margarine or butter
2 cups white sugar
1/3 cup of cocoa
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Melt it together, as in the other recipes, then bring to a boil. Boil three minutes, then mix in the "dry" ingredients.
"Dry" Ingredients:
3 cups quick oatmeal
1 cup flaked coconut. Yes the stuff in bags at the grocery store is fine.
1/2 cup nuts, chopped. You could use peanuts, or go crazy and add chopped mac nuts for even more tropical flavor!
Mix it all together, and drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper. These cookies need to be refrigerated in theory - though I doubt you’ll really have them laying around very long!
Have fun tasting all three to see which you like best!
I found this 
The thing about lau lau is that most of us here on the mainland don’t have access to Ti leaves! This version uses spinach and it tastes very similar, but of course unless you have “the real thing” you will not quite match the taste. And don’t even think about doing these in a crockpot - talk about a mess.