Classic Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why did my no bake cookies not 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.

DROP: Using a medium cookie scoop (2 tablespoons full), drop onto prepared baking sheets. SET: They can set at room temperature, which takes about 30 minutes.

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

There's such a thing as too underbaked

Slightly underbaked cookies yield chewier results, but you definitely don't want to end up with raw cookie dough either. To prevent this from happening, Southern Living recommends letting your cookies cool right on the baking pan instead of on a separate cooling rack.

Too much peanut butter leads to dry cookies

The protein in peanut butter may also be to blame — it typically adds structure to baked goods but can also retain water, leading to a dry consistency.

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.

What happens if you don't flatten peanut butter cookies? ›

If you don't flatten the cookies first, then the fork does double duty – it performs both functions. One very subtle result of creating the pattern is that the little tips of dough bake up crisper than the rest of the cookie, giving you both a bit of additional texture and deeper taste where the dough is more baked.

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.

If you don't cream butter and sugar long enough, it will still be gritty and dense, which may result in grainy cookies that don't puff or spread. Meanwhile, if you cream butter and sugar for too long, it will introduce too much air, causing your cookies to potentially puff excessively and become cakey while baking.

Using the wrong type of flour (or just too much flour).

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.

Cookies will flatten if there is a bit of much fat in the dough, usually butter or shortening. Try adding more flour or oats or something else that will add to the firmness of your dough.

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.

Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly. The lack of moisture makes the cookies hard and dry, which makes them difficult to enjoy.