Turn off the oven and make these No Bake Cookies that are made with oats, peanut butter and cocoa. These cookies are great during the summer when you want to keep things cool, and they are also great for cooking with kids.

Keep it cool! These No Bake Cookies are the perfect cookie for when you don’t want to turn the oven on. Some other great no bake desserts are these No Bake Haystacks, this Classic No Bake Cheesecake, these No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Balls, or these Caramel Rice Krispie Treats

How about a little bit of nostalgia for you today?

I feel like everyone has a story about no bake cookies. Or a grandma or great aunt or someone who made them all the time.

I actually don’t remember ever having these delicious cookies as a kid, believe it or not. Maybe I just don’t remember, but I think I made them for the first time after I left home. And they are one of my husband’s favorite cookies, so they have become a regular occurrence at our house now!

What You’ll Need

I love these cookies because I usually have everything on hand, so they are easy to make when you are craving cookies but don’t want to go to the store.

Here are the ingredients:

Sugar – I use regular granulated sugar.
Milk – I use 2% because that’s what we always have, but any milk should work here. I’m guessing that even almond milk or coconut milk would sub in just fine.
Butter – We always have unsalted on hand, but you can use salted and just leave out the salt later in the recipe. My original recipe called for shortening, which works, but the butter is so much better.
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – I have tried these with more and with less cocoa powder, but 1/4 cup is perfect for me.
Peanut Butter – I like to use a regular peanut butter (like Jif) because I often have issues when I try to sub in natural peanut butter. But feel free to experiment with natural peanut butter if that is what you have.
Vanilla – Add this once the mixture comes off of the heat so that it doesn’t all just evaporate away.
Salt – I always like to emphasize the importance of salt in a sweet recipe. It helps to balance and enhance flavors and to give some depth to the flavors.
Quick Cooking Oats – Quick oats will give you a better cookie than using regular old fashioned oats. Regular oats will be a lot harder to chew.

How to Make No Bake Cookies

COOK: Combine the sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa powder. Bring it to a boil. Once it at a rolling boil, set a timer for 90 seconds.

COMBINE: After the 90 seconds, remove the pan from the heat and add the peanut butter, salt and vanilla. Stir it all until the peanut butter is melted.

POUR & FORM: Pour that into your oats and mix it all together. Drop the batter onto waxed paper using a cookie scoop (or a spoon) and let them sit until they are set up.

Tips and Tricks

Want to make them nut free? The original recipe I had posted here had coconut instead of peanut butter. To make the coconut version, leave out the peanut butter. Add 1 cup of sweetened, shredded coconut to the oats. The rest of the ingredients are the same.
If your cookies are too soft and not setting up, they weren’t boiled long enough. If they are hard and crumbly, it was boiled too long. I have found that 90 seconds works pretty much every time, but humidity can affect the final cookie.
Store the cookies in an airtight container. I have found that these will last longer than normal baked cookies.
I like to use creamy peanut butter, but crunchy peanut butter would work as well and give you a bit of crunch.
Have all of your ingredients ready. You’ll need to scoop the mixture once it comes of the stove as it will start to set up pretty quickly. If you take to long to scoop it into cookies, they will lose their texture and may end up crumbly.

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No Bake Cookies

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

Author: Deborah Harroun
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 30 cookies 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: Stove Top
Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

Description

Scale

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick cooking oats

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter and cocoa powder. Place over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, bring the mixture to a boil. When the mixture is at a full boil, cook for 90 seconds.
Remove from the heat and add the peanut butter, vanilla and salt. Stir until fully combined.
Place the oats in a large bowl and pour the hot mixture in. Stir to combine.
Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, drop the mixture onto a piece of wax paper. I use a medium cookie scoop, about 2 tablespoons for each cookie.
Let the cookies sit until set up.

Recipe Notes:

For a no peanut butter coconut version, omit the peanut butter and add 1 cup of sweetened, shredded coconut with the oats. The original version posted here was the coconut version, but also used 2 cups of sugar and shortening instead of butter.

Start timing when the mixture is at a full boil. This is the trick to get them to set up correctly. Too little time and they will be too soft, and if boiled too long they will be dry and crumbly.

Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should be used as a general guide.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 cookie
Calories: 130
Sugar: 12 g
Sodium: 60 mg
Fat: 6 g
Saturated Fat: 3 g
Unsaturated Fat: 1 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrates: 19 g
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 2 g
Cholesterol: 8 mg

Keywords: no bake cookies, mud pies, chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies, oatmeal, peanut butter