Sugar-Free No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I was craving those chocolate no-bake cookies tonight but didn't want to make the traditional recipe due to the refined sugars and high butter content in them so I set out on a quick search and found this recipe at food.com.  I made some minor adjustments to this recipe but it is so flexible that you really can't go wrong with it and I totally enjoyed every bite of every cookie I ate AND best part...it seriously took 5 minutes to make these...I love quick things.

*I just made these again with a few adjustments that I think I like better.  Agave is 1.5 times sweeter than sugar so I reduced the agave amount to 3 tablespoons instead of 1/3 cup and I used 1/4 cup milk instead of 3 tablespoons.  

Image from the royalcook.blogspot.com

Sugar-Free No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

3 tablespoons milk (I used 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup agave nectar (I used 3 tablespoons instead of 1/3 cup. You can use pure maple syrup as well.)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder (I used 2)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup all natural/organic peanut butte
1/8 cup wheat germ (heaping)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground flax seeds (optional)
1 cup quick oatmeal

Directions

Heat milk, agave, and cocoa powder over high heat until boiling, stirring constantly.
Take off heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter; stir until peanut butter has melted completely.
Stir in wheat germ and oatmeal.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto wax paper or eat immediately.

*As I noted above, this recipe is VERY flexible. If you don't have wheat germ or flax seed, just use more oatmeal. The recipe above should work out just perfectly and does most of the time, but if your cookies come out crumbly, use less oatmeal next time. If they never set, use more oatmeal next time.

**Instead of flax seed and wheat germ I used unsweetened shredded coconut and chopped almonds.