No-Bake Cookies – The Easy Way
Want delicious, chocolatey, gluten and refined sugar-free no-bake cookies in 30 minutes? Me, too.
Problem: Hot Day at Home & No Ice Cream
It was 100’F outside yesterday afternoon, and my kids had a hankering for a cold treat. They were horrified to find out that we were totally out of any kind of ice cream, ice cream bars, popsicles – even our fresh fruit was room temperature!
Solution: 30-Minute No-Bake Cookies
Yes, you can have super chocolatey, peanut buttery cookies without using the oven or stovetop.
What makes this recipe work
- The fat is solid at room temperature. You can use any fat – coconut oil, butter, lard – but it must be solid at room temperature (72’F). If you try to use an oil like avocado or olive, the cookies will not firm up. It will be very messy.
- Maple syrup and other liquid sweeteners work better because they don’t have the grit that granulated sugars do. If you only have granulated sugar (brown or white), it can still work – just melt it with the fat before moving on in the recipe.
- No stove required. Most No Bake Cookie recipes require melting butter, etc. in a saucepan over a stovetop burner. In my opinion, it defeats the purpose of “no-bake” cookies if you have to fire up the stovetop. So, this recipe just uses a microwave instead.
- Good Quality Ingredients. I’m no snob when it comes to brands or whether ingredients are organic or not. That being said, good quality Dutch-processed cocoa powder will definitely give a deeper chocolate flavor than your regular Hershey’s milk chocolate cocoa powder.
- Few Ingredients. Here are the six I used. My daughter likes to roll her no-bakes in flaked coconut (not shown here), which is technically seven ingredients.
No-Bake Cookies – The Easy Way
- Total Time: 30 Minutes
- Yield: 12 – 36 cookies 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
No bake cookies are perfect for a chocolate fix, without the oven! The recipe has just six ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes. And – bonus – there’s no stove involved.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned oats)
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- unsweetened coconut flakes for rolling (optional)
Instructions
- Grab a cookie sheet and line it with either wax paper or parchment paper. You’ll put the shaped cookies on this non-stick surface for cooling.
- In a medium or large microwavable mixing bowl, melt the coconut oil. If it’s really hot outside, just set the bowl outside (covered) for 15 minutes.
- To the melted oil, add the cocoa powder and syrup. Stir to combine.
- Stir in the oats, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix until well-combined.
- Using a spoon – or clean hands (my preference) – roll the dough into golf ball-sized (or marble, or baseball – it’s up to you).
- Place each ball on the prepared pan directly, or roll each one in flaked coconut and then put it on the pan.
- Refrigerate for 20 minutes, if you can wait that long, and then enjoy.
Notes
Ingredient notes:
- If you don’t have maple syrup – honey, brown rice syrup, agave, and other liquid sweeteners will work. If you want to use granulated sugar, that will work too – just melt it with the oil in step 2.
- My cocoa powder is super dark, so our cookies are almost black. If your powder is lighter in color, so will your cookies be.
- Chunky or creamy peanut butter, natural or not – they will all work. If you don’t want added sugar (other than what you add), watch the label of your PB.
Nutrition information is based on a batch of 24 cookies.
- Prep Time: 30 Minutes
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: No Cook
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 116
- Fat: 7.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 11 g
- Protein: 3.2 g
Are You Still Reading?
No need – go enjoy your No-Bakes! If you have feedback or questions, I would love to hear it in the comments. Happy not baking!
