No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword no-bake-peanut-butter-cookies, no-bake-peanut-butter-cookies-with-oatmeal

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Cooling Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 117kcal

Line two sheet pans with wax paper. Set aside.
In a Dutch oven or large saucepan on the stove, combine sugar, milk and butter over medium-high heat.
Bring to a rolling boil then lower the heat to medium-low. Boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly. (You can use the timer on your microwave to watch the time.)
Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until the peanut butter melts completely.
Quickly stir in the oats, stirring until evenly coated. (If the mixture seems runny add a few more oats.
Drop mounds of batter using a tablespoon or a small cookie scoop (1 1/2 Tbsp scoop) onto the waxed paper lined sheet pan. Use the back of a spoon to gently flatten the centers.
Let cool until set, then enjoy.

Creamy Peanut Butter: You could use chunky peanut butter in place of creamy peanut butter, using the same amount. I don't recommend using natural peanut butter for this recipe.
Peanut Butter Substitution: You could swap out the peanut butter with almond butter, sunflower seed butter, cookie butter or an alternate nut butter that suits your taste.
Sugar: You could swap out 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and use 1/2 cup of light brown sugar.
Chocolate Chips: You could add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips to the oat mixture.
Glaze: You may opt to dip these cookies in warm chocolate or drizzle the tops with a simple ganache. When doing so, make sure the cookies are completely cool before handling them too much.
Cocoa Powder: If you'd like to make the chocolate version of these cookies, see my recipe for no bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies.
Work Quickly: The peanut butter-oatmeal mixture begins to set up fast making it imperative that you work quickly dividing the oatmeal dough once the remaining ingredients are added to the warm peanut butter mixture.
Troubleshooting: If the mixture becomes to stiff too quickly add milk in small increments, like 2-3 tablespoons at a time to loosen it up. Likewise, if it's too thin, add a few more oats and stir like crazy to combine.