Friends of HKS: Guest Blogger Series

Lindsay is a self-professed homebody from Portland, Oregon. 

She lives with her husband and a very fluffy feline, and is obsessed with homemade bread, books, paper, and yarn. She likes to read, write and make things.

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Hello HKS readers! I’m Lindsay Jewell from A Wooden Nest, and I’m excited to be here today to share one of my favorite Christmas gift recipes.

As you know, we are right in the midst of the holiday season, and many of you have traditions you look forward to upholding every year around this time. My family is no different, and if you know me, it’s no surprise that most of our happiest traditions revolve around food.

For example, when I was a little girl, my mom would prepare homemade cookie plates en masse for our extended family. It may seem like a simple gesture, but everyone eagerly received their plate of goodies from under the Christmas tree. And while various cookies and candies came and went, there was one particular cookie recipe that the family requested every year: Mountain Bar Cookies.

When I was a kid, these Mountain Bar Cookies were such a mystery to me. There was something magical about watching my mom transform a single gloopy mass of chocolate, peanut butter and oatmeal into delicious, solid confections. Now that I’m older, the science behind these cookies isn’t such a secret anymore, but the taste never ceases to amaze me.

Now that I’ve officially appointed myself as the one to carry on the Mountain Bar cookie tradition, I make them every Christmas for my friends and family. And although I’ve replaced some of my mom’s ingredients for more natural substitutes (butter instead of margarine, and natural peanut butter instead of the overly processed stuff), the cookies are more delicious now than ever, and always highly anticipated.

So if you are looking for something delicious to share with your friends and family this year, try this recipe for Mountain Bar Cookies. They take very little time to prepare, and use simple, whole ingredients. But beware, once you make these, you’ll be asked to provide them every Christmas from here on out. And that’s not so bad:

Mountain-Bar Cookies
Makes 3-4 dozen.

• 2 cups cane sugar
• 1/2 cup salted butter
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup natural chunky peanut butter
• 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lay out a long strip of wax paper on your counter-top or table.

Over low heat, place in a large saucepan the sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa powder. Once the butter has melted, increase the heat to medium-high and stir constantly until the mixture just begins to boil. Remove from heat and mix in the peanut butter and vanilla. Once the peanut butter has melted, add the oats and fold into the mixture until well incorporated.

Begin dropping the warm mixture onto the sheet of wax paper in heaping teaspoons. Allow the cookies to cool and set on the wax paper for several hours. Once hardened (they will 

have a matte finish), remove from the wax paper and serve.

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You can read more from

 Lindsay over on her 

incredibly beautiful blog, A Wooden Nest.