3-Ingredient No-Bake Cookies

I know I mention this all the time but I have the hardest time cooking in Russia. I can never find the ingredients I need when I go to the store, and sometimes I just don't have the right equipment in my house. This is especially the case with desserts. No matter what I do my desserts never seem to turn out right. For the past few months I've been scouring Pinterest for ideas. I would come across no-bake cookies, but they always called for that one ingredient I could never find: peanut butter. In December I managed to find peanut butter but forgot about my desire to make those no-bake cookies. A few weeks ago I resumed my search for a recipe that I could follow. All the no-bake recipes called for ingredients like cocoa powder. I felt defeated. Then, I found it. The three-ingredient no-bake cookie of my dreams. One that called for honey and not a stick of butter. There is no short supply of honey in Bashkortostan.

S’mores Krispy Treat

I have been absolutely terrible with keeping up with my blogging. I just haven’t had the motivation to turn on my computer. But hopefully I can get back in the swing of things. I have a ton of ideas for blog posts, I just haven’t gotten around to them.

Anyways, one thing I love about summer is s’mores. I haven’t made them this year because we just haven’t had a fire at our house, not that that has stopped me from making one on the grill, in the microwave, or even on a candle. I go to great lengths for my s’mores. The other day I made a s’mores krispy treat (like a rice krispy treat, but s’morey).

What you will need:

• 1 (10 oz) bag marshmallows
• 1 box (12 oz) Golden Graham cereal
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
• 6 Tbsp butter
• non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large non-stick pot on medium heat.
2. While butter is melting spray a 9x9 or 11x7 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Once butter is melted, add marshmallows to butter and stir together until marshmallows are melted completely and look creamy. HINT: Spray your spoon with non-stick cooking spray to keep your marshmallow mixture from sticking to the spoon.
4. Turn off heat and stir in cereal.
5. Stir in chocolate chips. They will have a tendency of melting, especially if you make it on a hot day like I did.
6. Spread mixture into your into your pre-greased pan.
7. Put in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to cool.
8. Cut into bars and enjoy!

Unfortunately, the next day my dad broke the glass pan and ended up throwing it away so my enjoyment was short lived. Probably a good thing for my waste line.

Matcha Green Tea Donuts

Don’t let the name scare you. I never make donuts because they seem like too much work. And matcha? I’m better off just drinking tea with some Hostess donuts. This was such a simple recipe.

Donuts
What you need:

• Vegetable Oil
• Pop ‘n Bake Buttermilk Biscuits (Yes, the one in the tube. I used Pillsbury)

Directions:

1. Pour enough vegetable oil into a deep frying pan that will allow the donuts to float and keep them off the bottom. Heat oil to 375 F, or as long as the oil bubbles when the dough is put in than you’re good!
2. Take the biscuits out of the tube. Take a bottle cap and place it in the center of the donut. Push down and twist enough so that the center comes out. Save the center of the donut to use as donut holes!
3. Make sure the oil isn’t on high or else you’ll burn your donuts (I may or may not have burned my donuts). I turned the burner to Medium. Place the donuts in the oil. Cook on one side for about 30 seconds.
4. Using a slotted spoon or tongs turn over the donuts and fry for an additional 30 seconds, or at least until you think they are baked all the way through.
5. Place them on a paper towel covered plate.

Glaze
What you need:

• 1 1/2-2  teaspoon Matcha Green Tea Powder*
• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1/4 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Place Matcha Green Tea Powder and powdered sugar in a bowl.
2. Pour in boiling water and whisk ingredients together until smooth.
3. Dip donuts into glaze. Make sure to keep them on a plate or newspaper. The glaze will slide off and get messy, so you want something that will be easy to clean.
4. Done!

I don’t even want to admit how many I ate. They were so good. The next day the Matcha green tea taste really came out.

*The Matcha green tea is really hard to find if you don’t want to order online. SOME Starbucks MAY sell it, but I wouldn’t take your chances. You may be able to find it if you have a local Asian Supermarket, Whole Foods, or World Foods market (like Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati). My hometown has none of those, so I was really at a lost. I ended up finding it at Heinen’s, a local fine foods grocery store, but it was not easy!