The aroma of cocoa and peanut butter bubbling in an iron skillet can be a magical memory. These sweets are more than just what a sweet tooth wants; it’s a memory that connects to generations past. Sharon Tucker first made the treasured cookies as a child with her grandmother, Ottie Bentley. Those moments became one of the fondest times with her grandmother, spent in shared time in the kitchen.
“I was born in Michigan, and the first time that we moved, when we moved to Alabama, it was the first cookie that I made with my grandma. And I have been cooking them ever since,” Tucker said. “I have her original recipe.”
The boiled cookies became the staple of every family gathering.
“Every family thing we have ever been to always has boiled cookies,” she said. “These days, either I make them or one of my aunts makes them. But they are definitely a family favorite.”
Tucker’s beloved grandmother was renowned for her exceptional kitchen skills and dedication to preparing homemade meals.
“Everything was always homemade. She made biscuits every day, sometimes three times a day. My side of that family, we’ve been wonderful cooks, cooked from the garden, cooked from the freezer,” Tucker recalled.
The boiled cookie recipe embodies simplicity and practicality, made from ingredients most people already have in their kitchens.
“It has butter, oats, vanilla, milk, cocoa, sugar, peanut butter and a dash of salt. And if you like nuts, sometimes I put nuts in it,” Tucker said.
She carries on her grandmother’s tradition of cooking the cookies in an iron skillet. “That’s the way Grandmother always did hers. And you put your butter and sugar together, and then, as your butter melts, add your cocoa. You then have to boil it. That’s why they’re called boiled cookies, taking anywhere from one-and-a-half to two minutes. That part’s really crucial.”
It’s a delicate balance and one that Tucker had carefully perfected — even adjusting timing when she switched to a gas stove.
“If you don’t cook them long enough, they’re runny. If you cook them for too long, they become hard and flaky,” she said. “So it’s a fine line to perfection.” After boiling, the process moves quickly. “You pull them off the stove, you add your peanut butter and you add your oats. You stir them, and then you just scoop them up by a spoonful and put them on wax paper. And then you let them sit, and then when they settle, they’re ready to eat,” she said. The whole process takes no more than 15 minutes.
Boiled cookies are just one piece of a rich culinary legacy passed down from Ottie Bentley.
“That was the first cookie I made with her when I was 7 years old,” Tucker said. “And it’s just probably the most famous and most well-known thing that Grandmother made because everybody loved them. When I talked to my aunt, she said, ‘Do you make yours in an iron skillet like Mother did?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Tucker still makes them precisely the way Ottie did.
