No-Bake Cookies

For a simple treat full of chocolate and nut flavors, make no-bake cookies! Rather than using flour, no-bake cookies use ingredients that don’t need to be cooked. For instance, many recipes use oats as a base.

No one knows exactly where the recipe for no-bake cookies comes from, but it’s probably fairly old. In fact, there are similar recipes that appear at different points in history.

As well, people made no-bake cookies during World War II. Since there was a ration for sugar, people couldn’t bake conventional items; so, they made cookies that didn’t require an oven.

Method

1. Prepare Baking Sheets
   

   First, line your two baking sheets with wax paper or parchment paper, and set them aside.
   

2. Boil Sugar Mixture
   

   Next, add the butter, milk, cocoa powder, and sugar to the saucepan. Then, turn the stove to medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously.

   Once the chocolate mixture reaches a full boil, cook it for 1-2 minutes, or until it reaches the soft ball stage at 235-240 degrees F. (You can check this with your candy thermometer)

   Then, take the pan off the heat immediately.
   

3. Finish Batter and Shape Cookies
   

   Now, stir the vanilla and oats into the sugar mixture until everything is combined. Then, using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
   

4. Cool Cookies and Enjoy!
   

   Once shaped, let the cookies cool down either in the refrigerator or at room temperature. And then finally you can dig in!
   

Tips and Tricks for Making the Best No-Bake Cookies

• Don’t Boil Too Long: If you boil your batter for too long, your cookies will end up very dry. To avoid this, I time my boiling for 1-2 minutes from the moment it reaches a rolling boil.


• Hit the Right Temperature: To ensure your cookies firm up properly, you need to get the sugar mixture to the right temperature. For perfect cookies, you need to reach the soft ball stage, or approximately 235-240 degrees F. And once your batter reaches that point, take it off the heat immediately.


• Cool Until Firm. Wait until the cookies cool down so that they have a chance to firm up.

No-Bake Cookie Variations

You can try many variations of no bake cookie recipes:

• Creamy Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies: If you love Reese’s candy, flavor your chocolate no-bake cookies with natural peanut butter! To do this, reduce the butter to ¼ cup and add 1 cup of peanut butter. While many people prefer creamy peanut butter, I love crunchy peanut butter! Actually, you can use any nut butter you like, such as cashew butter.


• Chocolate No Bake Cookies: For a chocolate explosion, reduce the sugar to 1½ cups and add 1 cup of chocolate chips. I love using semi-sweet chips, but you can use bittersweet or milk chocolate chips if you like.


• Coconut No Bake Cookies: Get tropical by adding shredded coconut to the no-bake cookie recipe! Simply reduce the oats to 2 cups and then add 1 cup of shredded or flaked coconut.


• Oatmeal Raisin No Bake Cookies: If you love classic oatmeal raisin cookies, reduce the oats in this recipe to 2 cups and then add a cup of raisins.


• Almond No Bake Cookies: And if you prefer nuts instead of fruit, toss in a cup of chopped almonds (while keeping the oats at 2 cups). As well, you can swap some of the butter for almond butter.

How to Store No-Bake Cookies

• In The Fridge: According to the USDA, you can store cookies on the counter for up to 3 weeks or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.


• In The Freeze: you can keep them for 8-12 months if you freeze them