One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making several batches of no-bake chocolate/oatmeal/peanut butter cookies a week or two before Christmas and distributed them to all the hungry little elves who are slaving away trying to make Christmas good for everyone. They are always a crowd-pleaser at pot-lucks too. I don’t know what they are called, but I inherited the recipe from a sister-in-law back in the eighties so we refer to them as her cookies, but you could call them Santa’s favorites.
I don’t make them any other time of year, just at Christmas, although with the chocolate they would be suitable for Valentine’s Day too. It’s hard to justify the calories, but they do contain some good-for-you ingredients, like oatmeal (for lowering cholesterol), milk (source of calcium), peanut butter (for protein) and cocoa (source of antioxidants), even if there is a fair bit of sugar in the recipe. I find good old-fashioned grocery store Fry’s cocoa works best, as the one year I tried a fancy imported French brand, they were way too chocolaty, so I needed to add less. (Note: some versions of this recipe only use 1/4 cup cocoa but I’ve always used 1/3 cup of Fry’s, so you could adjust to your taste if you have a richer cocoa.)
Recipe:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
2 cups white sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
3 cups oatmeal (rolled minute oats)
2 tsp (10ml) vanilla
Mix sugar and cocoa in a pan. Add butter and milk and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. When it starts to boil, boil 1 to 1 1/2 minutes exactly. This is a full boil, not just a few bubbles. Do not under boil as the mixture will not set properly after you add the other ingredients.
As the chocolate mixture has to be boiled in a pan on the stove, these cookies are not suitable for kids to make. Santa’s little helpers could help measure the ingredients though.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, peanut butter and rolled oats in that order. I use Crunchy peanut butter as that’s what I buy, but Smooth is okay too.
Once you have added the peanut butter to the boiling chocolate mixture and whisked it through, and then added the oatmeal, you have to work quickly to scoop out the mixture before it sets. Drop by teaspoon onto wax paper or non-stick baking pans. Let cool thoroughly. Makes 24 cookies. Keep them in an airtight container. If they dry out too much after a few days, you can zap them in the microwave for ten seconds to make them moist again.
Some batches turn out drier than others, depending if I have let it boil too long, but it doesn’t affect the overall taste. It’s all good. They can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge, or frozen for later.
I usually keep a batch in the freezer and defrost when needed, even it it’s just one cookie as a treat with a cup of tea before bed. Heating them up in the microwave for about ten seconds makes them even better as there’s nothing like a warm chocolate cookie. Don’t forget to leave some out for Santa!
thehomeplaceweb 
I was just today looking for a chocolate cookie recipe. This one looks perfect! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
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You and your kids will love it!
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So the trick is to not boil it too long, right?
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Yes, but better to over boil it then under, as if you don’t boil it long enough the mixture won’t stick together, and I mean a full boil, not just a few bubbles. If you overboil it, the cookies will be a bit drier, but still taste good.
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They look and sound yummy. Your advice about bringing the mixture to a full boil is good: I had to scrape the white chocolate ‘ganache’ off the gingersnap base last night as it simply wasn’t setting and reboiled it WELL – what a difference that makes! I like your Christmas mug and plate.
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Thanks Anne – I edited the post to add that. I bought the mug and plate at two different stores several years apart!
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They look delicious Joni! Love the reasoning behind their healthiness! I will remember that as I devour mine! 😂🤣😂
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I’ve already devoured one batch and have to make another!
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Diane, I’ve been googling this recipe online and many sites use 1/4 cup cocoa powder, but my SIL’s recipe says 1/3 and that’s what I’ve always used, but now I’m wondering if she wrote it down wrong, and I’ve been making the extra chocolately version for years! I’ve always wondered why mine turned out different than hers, but thought it was the crunchy peanut butter.
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Are they drier with more cocoa?
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Yes I think that might be why mine are always drier than my sister-in-laws, which seem moister but less peanut butter flavour.
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One of my followers said she puts 1/2 cup of cocoa in, so maybe 1/3 is still okay, and I think it depends on what brand you are using. As I mentioned that fancy French Imported stuff was way too much.
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I have been making these for years. Everyone loves them! We always have called them no-bake cookies. I tend to make them a lot during the summer because I don’t have to turn the oven on and heat up the house. Recently I started using Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa. Oh So Delicious!
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Ruth how much cocoa do you put in?
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My recipe is a bit different – 1 stick butter, 3/4 cup peanut butter and 1/2 cup cocoa. The other ingredient amount are the same as yours.
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Sounds very chocolatey!
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They sound delish. Have you ever made them without the cocoa? I’m allergic to chocolate.
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Oh no, allergic to chocolate!!! It’s one of my favorite food groups! I don’t know how it would turn out, with just the oatmeal and peanut butter, but I suspect the chocolate/sugar mixture is what makes them stick together?
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They look delicious Joni and very festive and fancy on either side of the Christmas teacup and saucer. I like the idea of microwaving one at a time just before bed too!
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I had to make a second batch yesterday as they went fast, but it’s nice to freeze some and just take one out when I’m craving chocolate. They’re so sweet usually I don’t want more than one.
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The perfect treat … I got some treats for myself for Christmas and then was pretty wound up from work and went into most of them … I’m not getting more – I put the rest of them away so they were not as handy. wat
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So glad for my cookie sampler, J…we are nibbling on them happily today. They are definitely rich! Keep the recipes and tips flowing…
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Glad you liked them! They are definitely a once a year treat.
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One of my favorite cookies!!! Your cookies look delicious!
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Oh my gosh, yeeesss! I’d forgotten all about these cookies! I LOVED these as a kid. Thank you so much for reminding me of them! Must make!
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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy them.
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I’m sure I will. If I can manage to do it right. Been a long time!
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