Updated! This recipe for chocolate no bake cookies was an entry in the March Recipe Madness Contest we hosted a few years ago for So Delicious. It was created and submitted by Maria Gentry as a sweet, 8-ingredient or less recipe. We’ve updated Maria’s instructions for clarity and added a less sweet option based on our own trials.
Maria says, “These chocolate no bake cookies are super easy to make and so yummy!” Her recipe reminds me of the No Bake Oatmeal Cookies recipe at Gluten Free on a Shoestring, but with a peanut butter chocolate twist.
Special Diet Notes: Chocolate No Bake Cookies
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, optionally peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian, and optionally top food allergy-friendly.
Vegan Chocolate No Bake Cookies
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These fast cookies are kid-friendly, deliciously sweet, and take just minutes to make!
Author: Maria Gentry
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil
- 2 cups organic sugar (see Sugar Note below)
- ½ cup unsweetened dairy-free milk beverage
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter or sunflower seed butter (for peanut-free)
- 3½ cups quick-cooking oats (use certified gluten-free, if needed)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Put the sugar, coconut oil, milk beverage and cocoa powder in a 4-quart saucepan and whisk until no lumps remain.
- Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the peanut or seed butter, oats, and vanilla until combined.
- Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto wax paper.
- Let cool until set. Enjoy!
Notes
Sugar Note: This recipe is a riff on traditional chocolate no bake cookies, which are notoriously sweet! If you find the original too sweet, reduce the sugar by 25% (1½ cups). If you go lower, they will be more crumbly.
More No Bake Cookie Recipes
Salted Chocolate Chunk No Bake Cookies (vegan, gluten-free & soy-free)
No Bake Power Cookies (vegan, gluten-free & allergy-friendly)
Pure Strawberry Macaroons – No Bake Option (vegan, gluten-free, paleo & allergy-friendly)
47 Comments
1st time making no-bakes and I love them! My Basketball Team loves them!
Thanks for the recipe
That’s wonderful! So happy to hear they were enjoyed by all!
Unable to pin this recipe. The correct picture posts, but the wrong recipe.
Wow, that is an interesting development. I checked, and it looks like an issue with the share buttons. It’s happening on all posts! Thank you for the heads up Tammy – I’ll see if we can’t get to the bottom of this.
ooh! i tried these using coconut instead of oats and it worked really good!!! and my dad could eat them!
That’s fantastic Ginny! I’m so glad it worked out.
these are super delicious but i was wondering if i could use coconut instead of oats, my dad cant eat grains. love the recipe!!!
I want to say yes, but the oats do absorb more moisture than coconut, and coconut can release some oils. I’d keep that in mind. I might personally add some almond meal (or ground cashews), which absorbs moisture.
thanks! it actually did work, and they were really tasty!!
I don’t know if this info will still help you out, but these cookies actually have their basis in candy. Decreasing the oil a bit might help, but you also might need to keep it at a simmer for longer than indicated. Have a glass of cool water at hand–before you remove the pan from heat, give it a quick stir with a teaspoon. Then, dunk it tip down into the pot and raise it back out (you aren’t scooping here!) and drizzle a little bit into the glass of water. The chocolate mixture should stick to itself and make a gummy sort of soft ball in the water. If the chocolate mix separates out or seems to dissolve when it hits the water, you need to cook it longer. 🙂
Some of the cookies came out beautifully and shiny while others (the ones towards the end of the batch) are more crumbly and not shiny. Any thoughts or ideas?
It’s possible that the dough was drying out too quickly. Is it dry where you are at? High altitude or perhaps even winter weather could do this.
These are INSANELY delicious and make a great treat, I’m just giving everyone a heads up that if you make 12 cookies out of this batch, each cookie will be about 571 calories, 60.3 grams of carbs, 34.4 grams of fat, and 12.8 grams of protein. I was shocked and but I still enjoy them. Tastes so good to be so bad
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed them and thanks for the extra note Mazze.
I made these exactly as written with the lowest amt of sugar variation (i used natural peanut butter). They did not set unless kept on the freezer. Any ideas? Decrease the oil? Thanks
Hi Allison, the high sugar does help it set up. And the coconut oil is what helps it set up in the freezer. If your home is at a warm temp, then they won’t set up at room temperature. I would just keep them in the refrigerator or freezer. You can add more oil if you want them to be firmer (but they will still need to be kept cool). It’s typical for no bake cookies to be soft, but if you reduce the sugar, they will be a little softer.
Made these. Added coconut flakes and used semi sweet choclate chips and instead of the coconut sugar I used light brown sugar and just half of the sugested amount. Came out amazing.
That’s wonderful, and thank you so much for sharing your changes with us Keira!
The humidity can effect how it sets. Today it is raining, so I just added some time to the boiling part. The coconut oil you use can also make a difference. Some oils have a harder set than others. I think you will be happy if you use a harder set coconut oil and boil it for a longer time. Try 2 minutes.. I haven’t found that it makes much difference if the peanut butter is natural or not as long as it has been stirred very well before being added.
These are wonderful! Tastes like the original.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe Stephanie 🙂
Has anyone tried these without the nut or seed butter? We can’t use either or of any kind for that matter. I can just try it but just thought I’d ask first. Thanks!
Sorry for my delay! Coconut butter might work well.
Hi! I’m not sure what I did wrong… It doesn’t hold together. I followed all the receipe except I put half the sugar (it’s just enough sweet that way for me) and I put xylithol instead of white sugar (like I always do in my receipes). Any ideas? Oh, and I used vegetable margarine instead of coconut oil and natural peanut butter.
Hi Marie-Eve, this is a no bake recipe with very few ingredients, so changing up the ingredients as you did will have a dramatic effect. Sugar is actually key to the stickiness in no bakes, so reducing it that much and swapping it for a dryer sweetener will make the dough less cohesive. Also, coconut oil sets up much more solidly than margarine when chilled. I recommend trying the recipe as written for the best results!
Hi Alisa! I’m trying not to fangirl behind you and your yummy recipes but honestly I believe you’re a food genius! Looking forward to chocolate cookies today. Thank you!
I hope you enjoy them Sylvia!
Stunning! I’ve using coconut oil quite a bit lately so I’m pleased to see you’ve used that. Can’t wait to try this recipe, I’ve enjoyed having a catchup.
I hope you do get the chance to enjoy it Paul!
I’ve got quite a list of intolerances so I made these with So Delicious Chocolate Coconut milk, almond butter, and almond extract (in place of vanilla). They turned out great!
I’m not used to alot of white sugar now so I might try again with coconut or maple sugar as I do like how sweet they are! I may also use a cup or half a cup of rolled oats as my quick oats were really broken down after mixing.
Thanks for sharing your modifications Tara and so happy they worked out well for you!
Rice or soy milk in place of almond milk? Which do you think would be best?
I would say soymilk, but both should work fine.
I subbed shortening for coconut oil, old fashioned oats for quick, sunbutter/pumpkin butter blend for peanut butter. Then I topped with citron flake salt.
Thank you for sharing your variation Laura – it sounds delicious!
Way too much sugar in this recipe! My cookies came out too sweet! What kind of sugar did you use?
Hi Tara, this recipe is a riff on traditional no bakes – a recipe that is very sweet! Many like them this way. You can reduce the sugar by up to half though, without problems, if preferred. I’ve made them that way myself.
Is it possible to use coconut sugar instead?
Yes, the taste will be a little different, a little less sweet (which isn’t a bad thing), and the texture might be affected a little.
They were delicious!
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed this no bake cookies recipe Christine.
Hi I’m wondering if you can recommend a substitute for vanilla I’m allergic. Lemon too.
Hi Therese, you can use another extract flavor (there are quite a few!) or simply omit it. Vanilla is a flavor enhancement but doesn’t make or break a recipe.
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Can’t wait to try