Classic Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why do my no bake cookies never harden? ›

Why Didn't My No-Bake Cookies Set? Likely, you didn't boil the mixture long enough. You want the butter, milk, sugar, and cocoa mixture to boil for 2-3 full minutes and reach between 190°F-200°F. If you don't boil them for long enough, they will turn out gooey and will not set.

If you've glanced at other no-bake cookie recipes then you'll see how important it is to boil the sugar mixture long enough which will help the cookies to set. Boiling too long will cause the cookies to be dry and crumbly. However, if you don't boil long enough the cookies will not set and will be runny.

Why are my cookies dry and crumbly? This is most likely a classic case of using too much flour. It's crucial to properly measure the flour in this recipe, as even 1 extra tablespoon of flour can completely change the structure of the cookies. You also might have over baked them!

Whisk it up until it's smooth, and let it cook slowly, until the sugar has dissolved. You can tell whether the sugar has liquefied just by placing a drop or two on your fingertip, then rubbing it against your thumb. If it feels gritty or grainy, it's not quite there yet. It should feel silky-smooth.

Most no-bake cookies have some sticky ingredient to hold it together. If you used something sticky like butter, peanut butter, melted marshmallows or melted chocolate I would pop them in the fridge, so they firm up. If that doesn't help, I would completely dip them in melted chocolate and let them harden in the fridge.

If you enjoy your cookies soft and chewy, chances are likely the recipe contains a common ingredient that serves a very specific purpose. No, it's not granulated sugar, nor the butter. It's not the egg, all-purpose flour, or even the vanilla extract. The simple, yet oh-so-necessary component is cornstarch.

Peanut butter

Peanut butter cookie / Main ingredient

Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers.

Wikipedia

If you use too much butter, the cookies will end up flat and greasy. And if you use too little flour, the amount of butter and sugar will be proportionally too high, meaning the cookies will spread for the aforementioned reasons.

With so much peanut butter in this cookie dough, natural peanut butter will give you a dry, crumbly cookie.

The fork marks also encourage the cookies to bake more evenly and brown evenly. If we skipped that step, these cookies would be so thick that they'd barely spread, and they may not bake all the way through.

Should you refrigerate peanut butter cookie dough before baking? ›

Chill your cookie dough! The dough is extremely soft due to the creamy peanut butter, eggs, and butter and if it's not cold going into the oven, the cookies will spread all over your baking sheet. I chilled this cookie dough for 24 hours and my cookies were soft, thick perfection.

Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They'll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven's hot air. Ever so slightly underbaking your cookies will give you softer results than cooking them the full amount the recipe says.

Not using enough fat in the dough.

A greater fat ratio (butter, margarine, shortening, etc.) to flour will result in a more tender cookie. Start by adding just a ¼ cup additional to your recipe. Melting the butter before adding it to the sugar will also up the chew factor.

Using too much flour will make your cookies too cakey, so try reducing the flour amount by two tablespoons. Avoid using cake flour instead; try a mix of all-purpose flour and bread flour for a more dense and chewy texture.

Shaping and Storing No-Bake Cookies

Scoop the finished cookie batter into spoon-sized rounds onto parchment paper, then let the cookies cool and set for 25 to 30 minutes. You can enjoy them right away, or store for up to five days in an airtight container at room temperature.

They cool.

The action doesn't stop when your cookies come out of the oven. As they cool, the liquified sugars cool and harden, producing crisp bottoms and edges, and the air inside cools, causing the cookie to deflate slightly.

It is important to note that, most of the time, a cookie isn't completely done cooking until up to 20 minutes after it comes out of the oven: as it cools it firms up, sets, and finishes baking.