My kids used to give my recipes a rating when they were little, and the no bake cookies scored suspiciously well, which I have always suspected had less to do with the cookies than with the fact that they got to help make them. That is really the argument for this whole list. A no bake cookie is a saucepan, a boil you time properly, and a spoon dropping mounds onto wax paper. These 29 no bake cookie recipes cover the classic chocolate peanut butter oatmeal drop and then keep going: copycat samoas, champagne cookie pops, avalanche clusters, truffles, protein cookies, a crock pot batch and gluten free, vegan and paleo versions. Most are done in 15 minutes plus chilling time. One tip before you start, because it is the only thing that goes wrong with these: set a timer for the boil. Perfect for a hot kitchen, a potluck, a cookie exchange or a Tuesday!
1. 4 Ingredient Paleo Vegan Chocolate Coconut Cookies
Four cups of unsweetened shredded coconut blitzed in a food processor until fine, then sugar, half a cup of coconut milk, and the dough gets rolled, pressed flat and frozen firm before being dipped in melted chocolate chips. Six minutes of actual work for 16 cookies. Wet your hands lightly before rolling and the dough stops sticking to you. They are paleo and vegan without either word appearing on the plate, which is the only way to serve that kind of thing to a room that did not ask.
Get the full tutorial at The Big Man's World.
2. No-Bake Raspberry Quinoa Cookies
Freeze dried raspberries ground to a powder in a food processor are what give these their color, and there is no food dye anywhere near them. Melted coconut oil, maple syrup and cashew butter get whisked together and poured over the raspberry powder, cooked quinoa, quick oats and shredded coconut. Thirty minutes in the freezer to set, and it makes 14. Store them in the freezer rather than the fridge, which the maker is specific about. Sea salt on top before they set is not optional as far as I am concerned.
Get the full tutorial at Simply Quinoa.
3. No Bake Champagne Cookie Pops
Half a cup of champagne gets reduced by half on the stove and cooled, then mixed into three cups of shortbread crumbs with powdered sugar and corn syrup, rolled, sticked and dipped in vanilla candy melts. Do not let the champagne boil while you reduce it. The measuring trick from the maker is a good one: pour it into a glass measuring cup to check you are actually at a quarter cup, and put it back on the heat if you are not. Makes 20 to 24.
Get the full tutorial at Life Love and Sugar.
4. No-Bake Monster Cookie Granola Bar Bites
Five ingredients in one bowl: a cup and a quarter of old fashioned oats, half a cup of creamy peanut butter, a quarter cup of honey, a third of a cup of mini M&Ms and a third of a cup of mini chocolate chips. Stir, roll into inch and a half balls, chill until solid. Twenty of them, no eggs, no flour, no white sugar. Wash your hands partway through the rolling or the mixture starts building up on your palms faster than it lands in the bowl.
Get the full tutorial at Like Mother Like Daughter.
5. No-Bake Samoa Cookies
A Girl Scout copycat built on a shortcut: a package of fudge stripe shortbread cookies is the base, so the only cooking is melting caramel bits with three tablespoons of heavy cream and folding in two cups of toasted coconut. Spread a tablespoon over each cookie, then drizzle melted chocolate across the top. Work quickly, because caramel stiffens as it cools and gets harder to spread with every cookie. Twenty to 24 from one batch, and about 30 minutes start to finish.
Get the full tutorial at The Domestic Rebel.
6. No-Bake Salted Caramel Coconut Macaroons
An 11 ounce bag of caramels melts with milk and salted butter, then four to five cups of sweetened shredded coconut go in. The instruction that matters: add the coconut gradually and stop when it is coated but not wet, because too much caramel gives you gooey cookies that never firm up. Scoop them onto parchment, cool completely, then dip the bottoms in melted chocolate and finish with sea salt. Twenty-four cookies, 15 minutes. They taste close enough to a samoa that you could argue about it.
Get the full tutorial at Life Love and Sugar.
7. No Bake Avalanche Cookies
Sixteen ounces of white almond bark melted, three quarters of a cup of peanut butter stirred in, then rice krispies, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. The clever bit is freezing half a cup of the chocolate chips first, so they hold their shape instead of melting into the mixture and turning the whole thing beige. Let the bark cool to lukewarm before the marshmallows go in for the same reason. Drop two tablespoon mounds on parchment and scatter the reserved chips fast, before they set.
Get the full tutorial at Dinner at the Zoo.
8. No-Bake Almond Joy Cookies
Six ingredients and a candy bar rebuilt: melted butter, powdered sugar, flaked sweetened coconut and a pinch of salt get rolled into balls with a single almond pressed into each. An hour in the fridge, then the bottoms get dipped in melted chocolate. Twelve to 15 cookies. They keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week, and the dough itself holds for two days before you shape it, which makes this one easy to start the night before.
Get the full tutorial at Mom's Dinner.
9. Healthy No-Bake Unicorn Cookies
Three quarters of a cup of coconut flour, two cups of cashew butter and half a cup of maple syrup, with rainbow sprinkles optional and, let us be honest, entirely the point. Five minutes of mixing, then 30 in the fridge. Coconut flour is thirsty, so the batter is adjustable in both directions: more flour if it runs thin, a splash of milk or water if it goes stiff. Paleo, vegan, gluten free and dairy free, and 16 cookies that look like a birthday party.
Get the full tutorial at The Big Man's World.
10. No Bake PB&J Cookies
The classic boiled peanut butter drop with a thumbprint of jam in the middle, and the timing is what makes it work. Sugar, milk and butter come to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, boil for one minute, then off the heat for vanilla, peanut butter and four and a half cups of quick oats. Scoop and press the indents while the dough is still warm, because you get one shot at it. Fill with a quarter to half a teaspoon of jam once they have set 10 to 15 minutes.
Get the full tutorial at Jo and Sue.
11. No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
This is the reference version, the one everybody else’s recipe is a variation on. Half a cup of butter, two cups of sugar, half a cup of milk and four tablespoons of cocoa come to a rolling boil for exactly one minute, then peanut butter, vanilla and three to three and a half cups of quick oats go in off the heat. Drop onto parchment and leave them 10 to 15 minutes. Boil too long and they crumble, too short and they never set. One minute.
Get the full tutorial at Sugar Apron.
12. Circus Animal Cookie Truffles
Frosted circus animal cookies crushed and bound into truffles, dipped in pink and white candy coating and finished with nonpareils. It is the snack that lives at the bottom of a grocery bag, turned into something that belongs on a dessert table, and the sprinkles are what sell it. I could not read the original tutorial to confirm the amounts, because the site is behind a bot challenge, so treat the method above as the shape of it and go to the source for the numbers.
Get the full tutorial at Three Snackateers.
13. White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Clusters
A pound of vanilla candy coating and a heaping half cup of peanut butter melted, then a cup of rice krispies, a cup of peanuts and a cup of mini marshmallows folded in. Use conventional peanut butter, not natural, because the oil separation in natural butter will not set. Heat the coating in 15 second bursts after the first minute and stop the moment it stirs smooth, since white chocolate scorches and seizes faster than any other kind. Twenty-four clusters.
Get the full tutorial at Averie Cooks.
14. Pretzel No Bake Cookie
The standard chocolate oatmeal drop with a cup of chopped pretzels folded in at the end, and the salt is the entire reason to make this version instead of the plain one. Butter, milk, two cups of sugar and cocoa boil for two minutes here rather than one, then peanut butter, vanilla, two and a half cups of oats and the pretzels. Chop the pretzels smaller than you think, because big shards make the cookies fall apart when you pick them up. Makes 24.
Get the full tutorial at Eating on a Dime.
15. No-Bake Nutella Cookies
Butter, two cups of sugar, cocoa, milk, salt and vanilla come to a full boil for one minute, then a whole cup of Nutella goes in off the heat, followed by two cups of quick oats and two cups of sweetened shredded coconut. The coconut is doing structural work as well as flavor, since it soaks up moisture the way extra oats would. Twenty-four large cookies. Flatten and shape them if you want them tidy, or leave the mounds rough and call it rustic.
Get the full tutorial at Inside BruCrew Life.
16. Easy No-Bake Church Window Cookies
Six ingredients and no saucepan drama. Half a cup of butter melts, chocolate chips go in off the heat until smooth, then vanilla, chopped toasted walnuts and, once the mixture has cooled enough not to melt them, a 10 ounce bag of mini colored marshmallows. The mix gets rolled into three 10 inch logs on beds of shredded coconut, chilled, then sliced. The marshmallows are the stained glass, which is where the name comes from, and slicing is when you find out it worked.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
17. Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
No cocoa in this one, which makes it the blonde version and a different cookie entirely. Butter, two cups of sugar and half a cup of cold milk boil for one minute, then half a cup of peanut butter, vanilla and three and a half cups of quick oats come in off the heat. Quick oats, not old fashioned, or the texture goes chewy and loose in a way that is not pleasant. Scoop onto parchment and leave them alone until firm. The peanut butter flavor is much louder without chocolate covering it.
Get the full tutorial at My Incredible Recipes.
18. No-Bake Caramel Cookies
Instant butterscotch pudding mix is the unexpected ingredient, and it is what makes these taste caramel rather than just sweet. Sugar, butter, salt and evaporated milk come to a full rolling boil for 30 seconds, then oats and the dry pudding go in, and once it has cooled slightly, chocolate chips and toffee chips. Freeze the chocolate chips first and stir gently, because the aim is pockets of chocolate rather than a uniformly brown dough. Thirty-six cookies from one batch.
Get the full tutorial at Pitchfork Foodie.
19. Fiddle Diddles
The name is the best thing on this page and the recipe is almost aggressively simple: half a cup of butter, half a cup of milk and two cups of sugar boiled, then three cups of rolled oats, vanilla, half a cup of sweetened shredded coconut and a pinch of salt stirred in off the heat. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper and cool completely. Twenty-four cookies, 10 minutes. No cocoa and no peanut butter, so the coconut is the whole flavor.
Get the full tutorial at Simply Stacie.
20. Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies
A cup and a half of sugar rather than two, which gives a slightly less sweet cookie, and a full cup of peanut butter to two and a half cups of quick oats. The instruction here is unusually precise and worth respecting: boil for two minutes and 30 seconds, stirring continuously, and set an actual timer. Then vanilla, peanut butter, oats, and tablespoon drops onto waxed paper. They take about 30 minutes to firm up, so walk away. Thirty-six cookies.
Get the full tutorial at Dear Crissy.
21. Vermont Maple No Bake Cookies
Maple instead of cocoa, and almond butter instead of peanut, which makes this the most grown up cookie on the list. A quarter cup of butter, half a cup of pure maple syrup and two tablespoons of milk boil for a full three minutes, then vanilla, salt, a quarter cup of almond butter and three quarters of a cup of old fashioned oats. The three minutes is the whole recipe. The mixture froths while it boils, which is normal, and the maker says to keep stirring through it. Makes a dozen.
Get the full tutorial at The Kitchen is My Playground.
22. Healthy No-Bake Samoa Cookies
Five ingredients and no refined sugar at all: eight pitted Medjool dates processed smooth with a pinch of salt and a little water, a cup of toasted coconut flakes stirred through, rolled, flattened, and a straw pushed through the middle for the hole. An hour in the freezer, then dairy free chocolate goes over the top. Soak the dates in warm water first if they have dried out, or the processor will fight you. Grain free, vegan and 12 cookies. The date caramel is the real trick.
Get the full tutorial at The Pretty Bee.
23. Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Hearts
Eggless cookie dough pressed half an inch thick, chilled 20 minutes, cut with a heart cookie cutter and dipped in milk chocolate. Sprinkles go on before the chocolate sets. It makes 25 to 30. One thing worth saying plainly: the dough contains raw flour, and raw flour carries its own risk, so heat treat it on a sheet pan at 350 for a few minutes and cool it completely if you are serving these to anyone small. The shape means this one can be Valentine’s or not, as you like.
Get the full tutorial at Mommy Musings.
24. No Bake Chocolate Protein Cookies
A cup of all natural peanut butter, half a cup of honey, half a cup of butter and a quarter cup of cocoa melted gently together, then a cup and a half of quick oats, two scoops of chocolate protein powder, salt and vanilla. Watch the pan, because honey and peanut butter catch and burn faster over heat than a sugar syrup does. Drop onto wax paper, let them harden, and store them in the refrigerator or the freezer. Fifteen minutes, and a cookie that earns its place after a run.
Get the full tutorial at Chasing Vibrance.
25. White Hot Chocolate No Bake Cookies
Butter, two cups of sugar and two thirds of a cup of whole milk boiled for one minute and 45 seconds, then vanilla, a packet of instant white chocolate pudding mix, four cups of one minute oats, three quarters of a cup of white hot chocolate powder and most of a cup of mini dehydrated marshmallows. The marshmallows live in the cocoa aisle in a flip top container. Scatter more over the top with sprinkles while the cookies are still soft. Twenty-four, and they look like snow.
Get the full tutorial at Sugar and Soul.
26. Orange Juice Balls No Bake Cookie
A 12 ounce box of vanilla wafers crushed, three quarters of a cup of powdered sugar, half a cup of chopped walnuts, three quarters of a cup of shredded coconut and half a cup of orange juice concentrate. That last one is the ingredient doing all the work, because concentrate carries the orange flavor without adding the water that would turn this to mush. Mix, roll into one inch balls, refrigerate an hour. They keep refrigerated and they freeze well, which makes them a good December project.
Get the full tutorial at Simple and Seasonal.
27. Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
Half brown sugar and half granulated, which is the detail that makes these taste richer than the standard version. Butter, whole milk, both sugars and cocoa go into a saucepan over low heat, and the maker is emphatic about not turning the heat up to hurry the butter along. Once melted, raise to medium, bring to a boil and boil exactly one minute while stirring constantly. Then peanut butter, vanilla and three cups of instant oats. Twenty-two cookies and about 19 minutes.
Get the full tutorial at Sugar Spun Run.
28. Coconut Oil No Bake Cookies
Coconut oil instead of butter, and the boil runs four minutes rather than one, which is a real difference. Three and a quarter cups of oats, half a cup of coconut oil, half a cup of peanut butter, half a cup of cashew milk, two cups of raw sugar, cocoa and salt go in the pan. Scrape the sides and the bottom while it boils. Vanilla goes in last, off the heat, and it will make the mixture bubble up, so stir it in fast. Fifteen cookies.
Get the full tutorial at Golden Barrel.
29. Crock Pot No Bake Cookies
No saucepan and no watching a boil, which removes the one thing that goes wrong with these. Sugar, powdered sugar and cocoa get mixed dry, melted butter and milk go in, and the whole lot goes into a four quart slow cooker. Then oats on top and peanut butter in the middle, and here is the part that matters: do not stir. Lid on, high for one hour and 15 minutes, until the chocolate underneath reaches a rolling boil. Stir well then, spoon out two dozen, and let them set for a few hours.
Get the full tutorial at The Country Chic Cottage.
