No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These no bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies are a step above the rest! They’re so irresistible, everyone will ask for the recipe.

Much as we love no bake cookies…sometimes they taste a little flat. You know, grainy and sugary, instead of nuanced and irresistible. So we’ve got a new take: these No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are a step above the rest! These are rich and chocolaty, full of dark chocolate peanut butter flavor and sweetened just enough with sugar and maple syrup. They’re beautifully glossy in texture, and the flavor? Let us tell you: when we served them at a party, they went fast. Here are our tricks to the best ever chocolate no bake cookies!

Ingredients in the best no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies

We took the basic recipe for no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies and made them even better. Here are a few of the things that make this recipe stand out:

Sugar and maple syrup. Pure maple syrup adds a nuance in flavor, with caramel and brown sugar notes! You’ll still need sugar for the science of these cookies to work, but it’s got less than the standard recipe.
Dutch process cocoa powder. Dark cocoa powder is another key to the rich, irresistible flavor (see below).
Peanut butter. Nut butter adds a satisfying chewiness to chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies.
Old Fashioned rolled oats. Use Old Fashioned whole oats for the best texture, not quick cooking oats.
Butter. It’s required here, so they don’t immediately melt at room temp. But all you need is 4 tablespoons.
Salt and cinnamon: Cinnamon adds one more hint of intrigue!
Milk and vanilla: The milk makes just the right liquid to solid ratio, which is important here.

Can you change up ingredients?

You may be tempted to monkey with the ingredients and add your own spin. Outside of changing up the nut butter, please stick to this recipe! The specific ingredients are key to getting the cookies to set with the right texture. However, you can change up the nut butter if you have an allergy, or add toppings. Scroll down!

Find Dutch process (dark) cocoa powder

Make these no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies with Dutch process cocoa powder, and you’ll never go back! This special type of cocoa powder is easy to find at the grocery, and results in the best chocolaty, fudgy desserts. So skip the regular cocoa powder in favor of the good stuff. Here’s more about it:

Dutch process cocoa powder is a dark chocolate version of cocoa powder. It’s been treated with an alkali to make it pH neutral, which gives it a darker color and milder flavor.
Where to buy it? You should be able to find dark chocolate or Dutch process cocoa powder at your local grocery store, next to the regular cocoa powder. You can also find it online: we like Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder or Ghiradelli Dutch Process Cocoa Powder.
What else can you use it in? So many things! Try healthy chocolate pudding, mug cake, bliss bites, flourless chocolate cake or chocolate banana muffins.

Can you substitute regular cocoa powder? Yes! They’re not nearly as good, but we’ll allow it.

Dutch process vs regular cocoa powder — Dutch process cocoa powder vs regular cocoa powder

The key to chocolate no bake cookies: let it boil 1 minute!

So: we have another no bake cookies recipe called Bliss Bites that’s massively popular. But unfortunately, bliss bites don’t hold up at room temperature. You need to keep them chilled for storage, which makes them hard to bring parties or a potluck. These no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies are just right: they hold up at room temperature and have a laminated texture. Here’s how to get this effect:

Add all ingredients except oats to a saucepan and boil exactly 1 minute. The timing is important here! Go too long and the cookies will be too crumbly, not enough and they won’t laminate. It sounds weird, but it works!
Remove from the heat immediately and stir in the oats. Be exact about this, and the sugar and butter will essentially caramelize, making a coating that holds up at room temp.

Flavor variations!

We don’t recommend playing with the ingredients in these no bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies, but you can definitely swap out the nut butter if you have an allergy. And, you can add fun toppings! Here’s what to know:

Almond butter, tahini, or sunflower butter: Swap out the peanut butter for almond butter or sunflower butter if you have an allergy! The flavor is slightly different but still delicious.
Sea salt: Love sweet and salty? We highly recommend topping with flaky sea salt.
Toasted coconut + sea salt (Samoa): Do you love Samoa Girl Scout cookies as much as we do? Top these no bake cookies with toasted coconut and sea salt, and they taste very similar. You will be OBSESSED!

Storage info

Got a big batch of no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies? Here’s how long they’ll last…assuming you can keep them around!

Store refrigerated. Some people say you can store no bakes at room temp, but we prefer the stability of the fridge.
They last up to 3 weeks! They taste best the fresher they are, but ours lasted refrigerated for 1 month. So a conservative estimate for these no bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies is 3 weeks.

no bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies

This no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free (with gluten-free oats).