Easy No Bake Cookies Recipe

Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on Preppy Kitchen, we're making some delicious, super easy, no-bake cookies. So let's get started. First off, grab two baking sheets and line them with parchment paper. This recipe is a blur. It's super fast, but once they're done, you've gotta portion them out quickly. Set that aside. Now, in a medium pot, I'm gonna combine my ingredients, starting with one and a half cups or 300 grams of granulated sugar. I think of these cookies as a southern treat. Sometimes they're called preacher cookies because the story is a traveling preacher was approaching and the housewife had to prepare something really quickly, so she whipped these up. They're also called cow pies or cow patties or mud balls, I think, so lots of different names. They are not the most beautiful cookies in the world, but they are so satisfying to eat with that nice chew from the oatmeal and that peanut butter chocolate flavor. Delicious. I also want a quarter cup or 25 grams of cocoa powder, half a cup of milk, I don't like that one. This one. Give this a mix and the scale's done. If you haven't had no-bake cookies before, they are perfectly sweet chocolate cookies and the substance of them comes from the quick oats. They cook right in the pot, you portion them out, let them cool, and they're good to go. They make an excellent, like, grab-and-go snack. Okay, nice and mixed. To this pot, I'm adding half a cup or 113 grams of unsalted butter. The temperature doesn't really matter, but if your butter's room temperature, it'll come together more quickly. I'm also gonna measure out the oats. I want two and a half cups or 250 grams of quick oats. That's the correct amount. These quick oats cook really quickly, so they're perfect for this recipe that cooks in a pot in a few minutes. If you only have rolled oats on hand, you could use those, but the cookies will be more chewy. If you want, you can take your rolled oats and just pulse them in a food processor a few times to break them up, and it'll be a little bit better. I also measured out 200 grams or 3 quarters of a cup of smooth peanut butter. This is ready and set aside. It's nice to have everything mixed out so once things are hot and ready to go, you're not desperately scrambling for a measuring cup or looking for ingredients. Everything is there and measured out already. Time to put this over medium heat. We're gonna be stirring occasionally, and I'll show you what that looks like. My mixture's over medium heat, and I'm stirring it until the butter melts. Once it melts, stir occasionally until it comes to a boil. However, once it comes to a boil, set a 60 second timer on, stop stirring it, and just let it boil away. We need the heat to increase so that it'll set properly. 60 seconds, mind you, so have a timer at hand. This step is raising the temperature but also dissolving the sugar so it has a really nice texture. If you don't let this boil for a full minute, the cookies will be too loose and they won't set. If you boil it for too long, they'll set too quickly and have a less pleasant texture. By the way, if you like my videos, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. There's two new recipes every week. All right, this came to a boil now, so I'm starting my timer, letting it boil unbothered for that full minute so don't bother stirring. And just like that, 60 seconds have passed, so I'm taking it off heat. All right, time to stir in your oats and your peanut butter and two teaspoons of vanilla. Give this a really good stir to distribute that peanut butter and make sure that all the oats are whetted. If you wanna make these a little bit extra special, you could add up to 3 1⁄4 of a cup of mix-ins. Could be chocolate chips, those could be toasted nuts, anything your heart desires. This will set pretty quickly, so two tablespoon-sized scoops go right onto that lined baking sheet and work with alacrity because this will set fairly quickly. It looks all nice and loosey-goosey and wet now, but just you wait. You can freeze your no-bake cookies for up to three months or keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for five days. And if they're frozen, have them between parchment paper layers so they don't get stuck. If you want them to look a little bit more perfect, you can grab a round cookie cutter and corral them up, but that's optional. Starting to thicken up already. And this smells delicious. I'm really tempted to have a bite now, but they are scalding hot and would burn me, so I'm not doing that. Our no-bake cookies need to set for about 20 minutes before we can enjoy them. My cookies set up pretty quickly, they smell amazing, and they are definitely ready to enjoy. Peanut butter, chocolate, oats come together for such a pleasing cookie. I hope you get a chance to make this recipe, and if you like my videos, hit that subscribe button and check out my no-bake playlist.