Chocolate Hazelnut No-Bake Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts
• 2-1/3 cups quick oatmeal
• 1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1-1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup chocolate hazelnut spread
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Line baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper. Place the oats and chopped toasted hazelnuts in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Combine the condensed milk and chocolate chips in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate hazelnut spread and vanilla, and stir until completely incorporated. Add the oats and chopped hazelnuts to the chocolate mixture and mix until the oats are fully coated with chocolate.

Drop the mixture (2 Tbsp for each cookie) onto the lined baking sheets. Let the cookies set until cooled and hardened.

While these cookies are certainly sweet (travel-friendly) treats, they do offer some nutritional benefits thanks to all those oats and the hazelnuts. Before the kids go off fishing, kayaking, or hiking, have them eat a few cookies. They’ll be happy to! My only word of caution is watch how you pack these. Instead of piling them up in a big container like your average cookie, you’ll need to arrange these cookies in layers. In fact, I never take the cookies off the parchment paper (where you place them to set). I layer the cookies (on the paper) on top of each other, and that prevents them from sticking to one another…which is bound to happen in the summer!