No Bake Cookies with Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Oats
These easy no bake cookies with chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal are a classic; they come together in minutes and are great to make with kids. Sometimes called "preacher cookies", they are the perfect after-school treat, a must for holiday cookie trays, and the best "just because" cookie.
Why You Will Love This Recipe!
These cookies are perfect for those moments when you are desperately craving something sweet and chocolatey, but don't have a lot of time to make a full-blown batch of cookies. They are also great for the dog days of summer when the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven.
These mounds of sugary, peanut buttery, chocolate goodness are incredibly addicting (I’ve often thought these cookies taste like the icing for the Texas sheet cake I love so much). I guarantee they will on repeat at your house!
Cookie Ingredients
A short list of pantry staples is all you need for these cookies. I’ve included substitution tips in the list below:
- Unsalted Butter – If you use salted butter, omit the salt called for in the recipe. The butter in this recipe can be replaced with margarine, vegetable oil, canola oil, or coconut oil.
- Sugar – Regular granulated sugar.
- Milk – Whole or 2% milk is perfect for this recipe. You can also use non-dairy milk such as soy milk, oat milk, or almond milk.
- Cocoa Powder – Regular unsweetened cocoa powder (i.e. traditional Hershey’s cocoa) is best! If you do not have cocoa powder, you can replace it with 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips.
- Peanut Butter – Creamy peanut butter is traditional, but you can use chunky for a little crunch! You can also substitute any other nut butter (or Sunbutter), so long as it is not natural, as there will be too much oil, which will keep the cookies from setting properly. You can also eliminate the peanut butter without modifying the rest of the recipe.
- Vanilla Extract – Homemade vanilla extract or store-bought are both awesome options!
- Quick Oats – These are key to this recipe! Quick-cooking oats are smaller, so they absorb liquid more readily. They work well in this recipe because they absorb the melted mixture and give structure to the cookies; using old-fashioned oats will result in a much chewier/oatier cookie.
Add-In Ideas
Feel free to play around with different ingredients based on your preferences! Here are some ideas to try:
- Chopped nuts (pecans would be great!)
- Raisins
- Shredded coconut
How to Make No Bake Cookies
First, prep! This recipe moves fast, so having everything ready to go before starting helps everything go much more smoothly. Measure out your ingredients and line your baking sheets with parchment paper before you begin.
Now let’s go!
- COMBINE: In a medium saucepan, add the butter, sugar, milk, cocoa powder, and salt.
- BOIL: Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once at a rolling boil, boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
- STIR: Off heat, stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract, then stir in the oats.
- DROP: Using a medium cookie scoop (2 tablespoons full), drop onto prepared baking sheets.
- SET: They can set at room temperature, which takes about 30 minutes.
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Storage and Freezing Instructions
The cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
The cookies can also be frozen (in an airtight container or freezer-safe ziploc bag) for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQ
Sometimes no bake cookies are also referred to as "preacher cookies". The reason?
The story goes that these can be made so quickly that a housewife could look out her window and see the preacher coming for a visit; by the time he got to the house, the cookies could already be cooling.
If your no bake cookies are sticky and gooey, then they were not boiled quite long enough.
On the flip side, if your no bake cookies are dry and crumbly, they were boiled a tad too long. You should let the mixture come to a full rolling boil and then time exactly 1 minute from there.
However, some stoves run hotter or cooler, and things like humidity or kitchen temperature can play a role in how they set, so there may be some trial and error involved as you gauge the exact boiling time for your kitchen.
These no bake chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal cookies are as easy as they sound and a great recipe to make with kids if you have any little hands eager to help in the kitchen.
I love having quick, easy recipes on hand for a simple sweet treat, and I’m guessing that you do, too. I guarantee this is a recipe that you'll want to stash away and use time and time again.
If You Like This Easy No Bake Cookie Recipe, Try These:
- No Bake Banana Split Dessert
- No Bake 5-Ingredient Granola Bars
- No Bake Butterfinger Pie
- No Bake Oreo Dessert
- No Bake Key Lime Cheesecake
Watch the Recipe Video Below:
If you make this cookie recipe and love it, remember to stop back and give it a 5-star rating - it helps others find the recipe! ❤️️
No Bake Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
- 2 cups (396 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (120 ml) whole or 2% milk
- 4 tablespoons (21 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup (135 g) peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups (267 g) quick-cooking oats
Instructions
- Add the butter, sugar, milk, cocoa powder, and salt to a 4-quart saucepan.
- Bring to a rapid boil and let boil for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat.
- Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract until smooth, then stir in the oats.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (or 2 tablespoonfuls), drop onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Let cool until set, about 30 minutes. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- Equipment: Baking sheets / Parchment paper / Cookie scoop
- Unsalted Butter - If you use salted butter, omit the salt called for in the recipe.
- Milk - Whole or 2% milk is perfect for this recipe. You can also use non-dairy milk such as soy milk, oat milk, or almond milk.
- Cocoa Powder - Regular unsweetened cocoa powder (i.e. traditional Hershey's cocoa) is best! If you do not have cocoa powder, you can replace it with 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips.
- Peanut Butter - Creamy peanut butter is traditional, but you can use chunky for a little crunch! You can also substitute any other nut butter (or Sunbutter), so long as it is not natural, as there will be too much oil, which will keep the cookies from setting properly. You can also eliminate the peanut butter without modifying the rest of the recipe.
- Quick Oats – I do not recommend substituting old-fashioned rolled oats, they do not absorb the liquid in the recipe as well.
- Add-in Ideas: Chopped nuts, raisins, and/or shredded coconut.
- Storage/Freezing Instructions: The cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The cookies can also be frozen (in an airtight container or freezer-safe ziploc bag) for up to 3 months.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
[photos by Whitney Wright]
I just tried your no bake cookie recipe and it did not turn out right. I looked up the reason for no bake cookies to not harden and I found that if you dont cook them for at least 3-4 minutes, they will not set right. They will still be edible and delicious but they will be called “chewy Charlie’s” instead. Looks like I’m having chewy Charlie’s! Haha easy mistake that a lot of people make. (Even my grandmother who has baked all of her life). Timing on the boiling is the key!
I took mine off the stove as soon as it reached the boiling point and they set fine! I DID add another 1/4 cup of oats because the mix seemed a bit runny, but once that was done they set in about an hour.
We called this recipe peanut butter delight growing up and I am so glad to have it again!!
I just made these. They taste so yummy! If I don’t stop eating them though, there not going to be any left for the Christmas party. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the recipe! I made them and they didn’t set up very well – very moist to the touch and bendy (they were hard to stack because they didn’t feel solidified). Is that how they are supposed to be? Maybe I over-boiled? Thanks!
Hi Gretta, If they feel too soft, it’s likely that you under-boiled the mixture. I hope you can still enjoy them!
These turned out great! My husband will be very happy. Thanks for sharing! Merry Christmas!
I used half a bag of real chocolate chips for mine. I just mixed the oatmeal, extra peanut butter and the chocolate chips. Then I poured the boiling hot mixture over. The chocolate melted quite fast! I love no-bake chocolate cookies, especially in the summer. This summer we’ve been having way more triple digit fahrenheit days than we used to get, and I’ve been craving these. So glad I don’t have to turn on the oven for a decent chocolate hit :)
Delish…will they hold together if I blend oats to powder form
Hi Angela, I’m not sure, I’ve never tried that. Let me know if it works!
can i substitute the peanut butter with nutella? and what about the measurement for sugar and cocoa powder if i use nutella? thanks..
Hi Nike, You could use Nutella and play around with the amounts of cocoa powder and sugar.
Great recipe. I’ve always had trouble making this type of cookie, not this recipe. I don’t know why they never turned out right, but they were always “lacking something.” I followed the recipes to the T, but for what ever reason, they were always horrible. Well, today I’m very pleased to say I gave them one more try, and they turned out perfect!!! My husband loved them, he couldn’t stay out of the kitchen. Every time I turned around he was either going in or coming out with “something in his mouth.” Thanks for the perfect recipe for the “no bake” cookie from my childhood!!! :)
So I made these with almond milk and almond butter. . .oh were they good!
This resapie my mom dad and my grandmothers and my brothers in joy. That a miracle.
These are cookies, which I made 20 years ago (when I was a child ;) ) very often. The recipe is exactly the same except peanut butter – we didn’t have it in Poland in 90’s at all. I made them yesterday and they’re definetely better WITH PB :)
That’s an awesome thing to do as a kid.
I always had trouble with No Bake Cookies. They either would not setup or were too dry and crumbly. So I have scoured the internet for tips and tricks. I read that if you use beet sugar (most off brands) instead of pure cane sugar (c&h) it does not react the same way. Also there is different water content between butter, lite margine and shorting. I made them yesterday (not sure what kind of sugar I had in the container) and they did not setup to a firm cookie. Everyone at work liked them though. Today I made sure to only use C&H sugar. They setup perfectly, but were too dry and crumbly. I think I boiled them a bit too long. To remedy this I put the dry ones in the food processer and crumbled them up. I cooked more butter and sugar on the stove and added the crumbled cookies. I cooked them until I could see that they had melted again. I added more oats and cooked another minute. This time they were too soft. So I added more oats to absorbe some of the moisture. (Tip:Both butter and sugar contain water). They didn’t setup as hard as I wanted so I put them in the freezer for a littly while. Now they’re perfect!
Begin with these tips until you have the hang of it, then you can start to play around with the recipe.
Tips I learned on the internet:
Always use a heavy bottom pan.
Start out with butter or regular margine.
Always use pure cane sugar.
Bring to a full roiling boil. Then time it for one full minute.
I have used almond milk with good results.
If they are too dry, you cooked them too long. Try to remelt them and add a little more milk. You can also drop a couple of the dry ones in a blender and make a milkshake. Yum!
If they are too gooey and did not setup add them back to the pan and cook a little longer adding more oats to absorbe some of the moisture.
You can always put them in the freezer to harden. They will still be gooey in the middle. I’d rather have them not setup all the way than too dry. Hope some of this helps you win at making No Bake Cookies.
I just made these for my son’s upcoming birthday party. They are delicious! Such an easy and yummy recipe! I’m going to freeze them and I hope they taste just as good at the party!
Thank you so much for this recipe….even though I have never been a fan of these cookies my husband and daughter LOVE them, I would cringe everytime they made their way into the shopping cart… but when you posted this recipe I knew I had make these for them! I whipped up a batch last weekend and the family LOVED then, epecially with the smaller oat texture. Within the week they were gone! Last night while watching TV it was brought up just how much they were wishing that they had some of these cookies to snack on while watching TV and the conversation went on about how much they loved your recipe….I chucked to think how I was probably going to be making this cookie often! Your recipes are always so family-worthy! Joseph is lucky to have you as his mom!
there are many different kind of oats for this recipe do you use the Quaker Oats Quick 1-Minute Oats?
Hi Sam, Yes, I used Quaker Oats quick-cooking oats.
I made them for DAV (Disabled American Veteran) where my grandma goes to drop off sweets for their bake sale and everybody loved them. They sold all (about 60) within 5 min. Definitely my new go to sweet recipe. Thank you
These are were favorite of mine ever since I was little. My mom used to call them ‘boiled cookies’. I love them when they’re still warm – in fact, sometimes I’ll sprinkle a few drops of water on one, wrap it in a paper towel and pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. Tastes like it just came out of the saucepan!! So delicious!!
My mom made these all the time when I was growing up and I think they were the first cookie I ever “baked” after I moved out. Definitely boil for a full minute. If you do it for less, the sugar will make them grainy and if you do it longer, they will have a chalky texture.
We made these vegan by subbing butter with a flaxseed spread, and milk for almond milk.We also added some cinnamon…only because we ran out of sugar and had to sub our cinnamon sugar! They set beautifully and were so yummy!
Don’t know how I missed these on here all these years!! I’m going to make a vegan version with Earth Balance & soy milk to bring to work – I have both a vegan & a gluten-free colleague so these would be perfect! I like to bring in baked goods and end up having to buy something both of them can enjoy. This will be easier. Thanks!!
We actually used to get these in our school lunches “back in the day”. They also had coconut in them which I always add. They were called “fudgies”. Yum!!
Who remembers the childrens cookbook called Pickle in the Middle? This recipe tastes exactly like the no-bake cookies from that book. Great memories!
I miss these cookies. I adapted this recipe with some additional ingredients to help my milk supply last winter when my son was a newborn–way easier than other “nursing cookie” recipes I found online. I think they helped, but I could no longer justify having them around the house as my son got older. I think I need to make a batch today, though, for nostalgia’s sake.
Another great recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker. I whipped up this recipe last night and am already receiving compliments this morning. Thanks again!!!
These look scrupmtious :)
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
I love these things.
These look delish! Thanks for sharing- I’m always up for something chocolatey and new.
and for a real treat add toasted almonds or pecans to this! my kids love them that way!!
These definitely make an appearance every year around the holidays!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
I am SO happy to see these and that YOU did all the work of fine-tuning the recipe. Believe it or not these “No Bake” Cookies would appear every so often on our tray in the school cafeteria. Unfortunately they weren’t there every day. I know for sure we had them in the high school years (this would have been the late 70s) but I don’t remember them in either elementary or middle school. This was the closest we got to having dessert with our school lunches. Lunches were MUCH healtheir in the 60s and 70s from what I’ve seen in the past 20 years in our public schools. A child could NOT buy pizza every day and when we did have pizza it had been made in a sheet pan, cut into squares and seemed to have corn meal as part of the crust. There were NO choices of toppings, it was ALWAYS served with corn and a slice of butter bread. I imagine most people reading your blog don’t remember the days when EVERY meal, no matter where you were, included some sort of bread and butter on the table. Now back to these “No Bake” Cookies.
I suppose they figured they were considered fairly healthy containing the large amount of oatmeal and peanut butter. Anyway, I’ve always loved them. Even with having Celiac Disease and supposing to eat gluten free I make and eat these fairly often for myself AND to give away at times. Oatmeal for celiacs is an “iffy” area. Technically oats are SUPPOSE to be gluten free but most of the time oats are not recommended due to possible cross contamination that occurs in the processing facilities. I seem to do well on things with oatmeal but I cannot guarantee these will work for all gluten sensitive people out there. If you have a guaranteed source for oats against any contamination from wheat flour, etc., then here is a gluten free recipe otherwise. When I make these I not only snack on them, I’ll often grab a handful to eat for a quick breakfast. When I have them in the evening I always seem to want a nice big glass of ice-cold milk with them. By coincidence, today and tomorrow I’m working on another “care package” to send out not only to my nephew at college but I also want to do baking and kitchen gifts to some other folks I didn’t get to do for at Christmas this past year. When I see these cookies I think “childhood” despite the fact it’s something my mother never made. Her no-bake treat was potato candy. That’s something you rarely see anymore today but which I want to whip up a batch of this evening for the care package. *WARNING* with potato candy. It is VERY sweet and overall tends to satisfy the younger taste buds than for the older, more refined palate. There is another warning with that recipe, make sure you have PLENTY of confectioner’s sugar on hand and despite my mother telling me EVERY time not to do so, but I did it anyway, don’t use a big potato. You do NOT want to use one of those great big giant russet baking potatoes. Naturally as a kid I wanted as much as possible made and more than once we ended up having to run to the market for more 10X Sugar. If using a larger potato you’ll end up making enough candy for your entire county. Well….at least it will feel that way.
I have more different versions of the recipe for the No-Bake Cookies than I can count and they all only vary by small things. They might include the amount of peanut butter, with or without nuts, what type of nut, how much milk, all of those sorts of things. I’ve never paid much attention when making them, I just grabbed one of them, but I do know some have set better than others and I’ve liked the flavor of some better than others. I’ve never taken the time, or spent the money or ingredients, to do the research or testing of what I like best. I’m just going to trust your work and make this my go-to version.