Summer no-heat cookies

I want to provide good, wholesome "tummy filling" food for my family.

But, it's too darn hot to have the oven on. However, if your family is like mine, they still want homemade cookies.

At least twice a month during the summer, someone in my family asks for cookies.

I know my teenagers and their multiple friends like the fast-food junk, but I prefer home cooking to the quickie-greasy food that will have them hungry again in a couple of hours.

It gets a little frustrating having my refrigerator emptied during the daily and nightly raids by hunger-crazed, starving teenagers at my house. I know they're just growing, but holy smokes at this rate they will all be 10-feet tall by Christmas!

A few days ago, my housemate and my father decided to join forces and forage for cookies. About 10 minutes later, they both came into the living room grumbling that all the cookies were gone.

I don't know about you, but I find two adult males grumbling about there being no cookies in the house to be terribly funny.

If it hadn't been so late and so incredibly hot, I could have gotten off my bottom and made a batch of Haystacks without much trouble, but I'd just got home from work so I didn't. It was much more fun sitting in my chair laughing at the grumbles.

When I mentioned making the no-bake cookies the next day, my housemate was clueless. I guess Haystacks aren't a part of Texas' cookie cuisine!

If you haven't tried them, or lost the recipe again (like I do all the time) I'm posting my grandmother's version today.

Melt a 1/2-cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, one teaspoon of butter, 1/8-teaspoon of cinnamon and a sprinkle of white pepper (black pepper if you want a little more zip) in a microwave safe bowl for about 30 seconds and stir until smooth, then add a 1.8 ounce package of peanut butter chips and microwave again on high for 30 seconds to one minute.

Add two drops of vanilla and stir the mixture until smooth.

Stir in a 3-ounce can of crunchy chow mien noodles and a 1/2-cup of honey-roasted peanuts or sunflower seeds.

Drop the mixture on wax paper using a buttered teaspoon and refrigerate in a covered container.