Gluten-Free No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a tried and true favorite recipe in our house. I remember making this no-bake cookie recipe when I was a kid. I felt like such a baker even at a young age. The joke was really on me since this really took zero baking skills. I still remember serving my family these cookies and thinking I was going to be the next Betty Crocker.

There are lots of recipe variations for these cookies but I tend to stick to the basics or at least to what I have in my pantry. The ingredients are just butter, sugar, gluten-free oats, peanut butter, milk, vanilla, and cacao.

Now that I am an adult I still love to make this recipe but I have made a few changes to adapt to my taste buds.

The original recipe called for cocoa powder. I now prefer cacao powder. The taste is pretty similar between the two but the cacao is processed at a much lower heat and I dig that. Here is an article on the difference just in case you are curious. The original recipe called for white sugar. I now use coconut sugar. I think the flavor of coconut sugar is amazing. The last substitution I now do as an adult with this recipe is I use plant-based milk. Of course, if you want you can use regular white sugar, cow’s milk, and cocoa and the recipe will still come out delicious. Your call 🙂

Gluten-Free No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Judy Malone

These no-bake cookies are a classic and will bring you back to your childhood with one bite.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Course Dessert

Servings 15 cookies

Equipment

• Stove Top pan
• Parchment paper
• Medium glass or ceramic bowl

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup coconut sugar see recipe notes for an alternative to coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup plant-based milk
• 1/4 cup butter See recipe notes for an alternative to butter
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1.5 cups quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup cacao

Instructions

 

• Place your quick-cooking oats, peanut butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl and set aside. It is best to use a ceramic or glass bowl.
• Place your butter, sugar, milk and cacao in your saucepan over medium to low heat.
• Stir the mixture often. Slowly increase your heat to medium and bring to a boil. Allow your mixture to boil for one minute.
• Remove the pan from the heat and pour the hot mixture over your oats, peanut butter, and vanilla.
• Mix everything till it is well combined. Your mixture will get thicker as you stir it. If it is too thick you can add a tiny bit more plant-based milk. If it is too thin you can add a small amount of oats to the mixture.
• With a spoon drop the desired amount of the mixture onto parchment paper and let it cool for 5 minutes. I like to come back after 5 minutes and roll the mixture into little balls with my hands and then give them a little squish down with my palm, but this is up to you. You can use a teaspoon and just drop the mixture onto the parchment paper and leave to set up. The cookies will need about an hour to properly set up. If you are in a hurry to eat them like I always am, you can put a few in the freezer 🙂
• After the cookies have set up then transfer them to a container and keep them in the refridgerator.

Recipe Notes

If you would like to make these cookies with less sugar you can swap out the coconut sugar for 1/4 cup of maple syrup.  You can also swap out the butter for 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil.  You might need to play around with the texture  and add in more oats or plant-based milk to get the cookies to drop good on the parchment paper. 

Keyword no-bake cookie

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