These no bake peanut butter cookies are an easy treat. They don’t require any flour, eggs, butter or oil. They take only about 10 minutes to prepare and don’t need to be cooked or baked.
a stack of no bake peanut butter cookies.

I love making no bake cookies, especially this time of year when the weather is so warm. These cookies are great for a snack or dessert and are so easy to make.

Ingredients

  • Peanut Butter
  • Maple Syrup
  • Quick Oats

Peanut Butter: This recipe uses natural unsweetened peanut butter. This is the runny kind of peanut butter that you need to stir before using and there should not be any added oils in the ingredient list. The ingredients should just be peanuts and salt. Peanut butter can be substituted with natural almond butter or natural sunflower seed butter.

Maple Syrup: The cookies are sweetened with pure maple syrup. The maple syrup also thickens and firms up the peanut butter. You can use other liquid sweeteners but the outcome may vary. Some pancake syrups will also firm and thicken up the dough. However, honey will not thicken or firm up the dough at all, so I don’t recommend using honey.

Quick Oats: The oats help firm up the dough and provide texture for the cookies. I don’t recommend using rolled oats because you don’t have enough liquid in the dough to soften whole oats. If you don’t want any chewiness, you can use oat flour. Your cookie dough will look much smoother (the cookies below are made with oat flour), but I preferred the texture of the quick oats.
no bake cookies lined up.

How to Make No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

First, you mix the peanut butter and maple syrup until the dough thickens. Then you stir in the oats. Cookies are then scooped onto a cookie sheet and placed into the fridge to set.

Texture and Taste

These cookies are not baked or cooked so they don’t have the same texture as traditional peanut butter cookies. They are more similar to energy bars but in a cookie form.

They are full of peanut butter flavor and are lightly sweetened, but not super sweet. You can add mix-ins like chocolate chips if you want a sweeter cookie. You can use salted or unsalted peanut butter, but I recommend using one with salt because that little bit of salt adds more flavor to the cookies and enhances the sweetness from the syrup.
a stack of five peanut butter cookies.

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4.84 from 6 votes

3 Ingredient No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

These easy peanut butter cookies don't require any baking or cooking. They are just 3 ingredients and don't require any flour, butter or eggs.
Servings: 8 cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (128 g) natural unsweetened peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup (59 ml) maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup (20 g) quick oats

Instructions
 

  • Line a small cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • Add peanut butter and maple syrup to a large mixing bowl. Stir until maple syrup is completely incorporated into the peanut butter. Continue to stir until the dough becomes thick and starts to firm up (like a cookie dough consistency). Stir in the quick oats until fully incorporated. If your cookie dough isn't thick enough, you can add 1-2 tbsp more of oats until it reaches your desired consistency. If you feel like your dough is not sweet enough, you can also add 1 tbsp more of maple syrup. You can also add in other sweet mix-ins.
  • Using a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop, scoop out dough and place onto the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them at least 1 inch apart. Press dough balls with the palm of your hand until they form a thick round disk. Use the back of a fork to make criss-cross pattern on surface of cookies. Place cookies into fridge to set. Cookies are ready when they are firm enough to hold. Store uneaten cookies in the fridge.

Notes

  • If you have questions regarding ingredient substitutions, please see post for more details. 
  • Make sure to use natural peanut butter. This recipe will not work with regular peanut butter. There should not be any added oils in the ingredient list. 
  • This recipe works best with maple syrup. See post regarding other syrups.
  • These cookies are lightly sweetened. For more sweetness, you can mix in chocolate chips or other sweet add-ins.
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 137kcal, Carbohydrates: 12g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Sodium: 23mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 7g, NET CARBS: 11
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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