How to Make No-Bakes with Old-Fashioned Oats

Want to make no-bakes, but the only oats you have are old-fashioned? Make It Like a Man! has solved that horrifyingly first-world problem: at last, a way to make no-bakes with old-fashioned oats.

"No-Bakes with Old-Fashioned Oats," from Make It Like a Man!

These no-bakes go beautifully with a lightly-sugared cup of strong black coffee.

Ingredients for fifteen or sixteen 2½-oz. cookies:

10 oz. (3 cups) old-fashioned oats, divided
14 oz. (2 cups) sugar
1 oz. (¼ cup) cocoa
0.25 oz. (1 Tbs) dry milk powder
4.25 oz. (½ cup) milk
0.25 oz. (1 Tbs) vanilla
0.25 oz. (1 Tbs) corn syrup
4 oz. (8 Tbs, or 1 stick) butter
4.5 oz. (½ cup) smooth peanut butter

How to do it:

  1. Place 2 oz. of oats (~¾-cup) in a food processor and pulse until a good portion of the oats are finely chopped, six 2-second pulses. Pour into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add remaining 8 oz. (~2¼ cups) of the oats, and set aside.

Chopping the oats isn’t required, but it will produce a more homogeneous, traditional texture. You can experiment with chopping more or less, even all or none of the oats. Note that the more you chop, the more your cooking and cooling timings will have to decrease. The opposite is also true.

  1. Leisurely whisk sugar, cocoa, milk powder, milk, vanilla, corn syrup, and butter in a medium saucepot over medium-high heat, until the butter has melted and mixture begins to boil, about 6 minutes. Stop whisking and allow the mixture to reach 217.5°F. Off heat.

Dutch process cocoa will work just as well here, and produce a darker chocolate cookie.

You need to surpass 215°F, or the cookies won’t firm up properly. You don’t need to go beyond 220°F, however. If you don’t feel like using a food thermometer, you must allow the mixture to rise up volcanically in a full-on, raging boil and keep it there for about a minute.

  1. Whisk in peanut butter, slowly at first, building up to a vigorous speed, until the peanut butter is fully incorporated; then, continue to whisk vigorously for one minute. Stir in oats.
  2. Reheat over a medium flame until the mixture thickens slightly, stirring constantly with a heat-proof silicone spatula, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to low (setting 2 of 4) and cook for 2 minutes more, continuing to stir constantly and making sure that the mixture doesn’t scorch. Off heat. Continue to stir until you’re confident that the mixture will not scorch from residual pan heat, about 1 minute.
  1. Cool the mixture in the pan, stirring thoroughly now and then with a spatula, until the mixture is stiff enough to hold its shape, while still liquid enough to spread a bit, about 10-12 minutes. Use an ice cream scoop to form cookies on a Silpat-lined, wire rack. Allow cookies to cool completely, about 25 minutes.

…although you can certainly eat them when they’re still warm and soft. For that matter, you can eat the cookies with a spoon right out of the pan as soon as the mixture is cool enough to put in your mouth. Depends on how desperate and/or undisciplined you are. No judgement. We’ve all been there, pot and spoon, unshowered, swathed in a blanket, crying over some movie on the Hallmark Channel.

Once fully cooled, store short-term in the open air. For mid-term storage, keep them in a tightly-sealed container at room temperature. For long-term storage, freeze them in a tightly sealed container.

These aren’t second-rate, work-around no-bakes. They’re actually perfect: fudgy and deeply chocolaty … not dry, but not gooey-soft. They have a rich, smooth texture. They stay mainly intact when you bite into them, with maybe the tiniest bit of crumble. They’re a bit chewier than a traditional version, but in a satisfying way.

"No-Bakes with Old-Fashioned Oats," from Make It Like a Man!

The Backstory:

Self-quarantining can be frustrating. No-bakes have been documented to have broad psychological benefits that are essential in a crisis like this.  But traditional no-bakes require quick oats. What if all you have is old-fashioned?

You could go to the grocery story, but I implore you to remember that grocery shopping, although necessary, is risky. Keep it to a minimum, without hoarding. On my last shopping trip, I was stunned to realize how many things I had to touch to get in and out of a grocery store. Dismayed to have to come to grips with the fact that even one other person in any aisle made it almost impossible to maintain social distancing. Outraged to find that, in attempting to negotiate the aisles, there were people who seemed oblivious to or uninterested in accommodating others by keeping to the edge of the aisle and instead defiantly (rudely and idiotically) occupied the dead center of it.

While standing near a refrigeration unit, so close to it so that others could easily pass me by with more than a safe distance, some guy came up to me and leaned in so close that he could’ve whispered in my ear. He proceeded to handle at least five items on shelves right in front of me – not exactly checking their labels, but apparently just picking them up and putting them down, or just nudging them. I thought WTF very loudly and politely stormed off, as is my Midwestern way.  

So what I’m saying is: don’t go shopping just for the oats, and don’t go from store to store looking for oats … I can already tell you, they’re gone. You’re going to have to work with that you have, and if you have any culinary sense at all, that means old-fashioned (although it could also mean steel-cut, but in that case, you’re no-baked doomed).

UPDATE (4/22/2020): you can’t depend on being able to find what you’re looking for in the grocery during the pandemic. That’s why I made these cookies with old-fashioned oats instead of instant. However, I recently was unable to find my tried-and-true Quaker oats, and brought home a store brand. (I know … horrifying.) But oats are oats, right? Wrong. These store-bought old-fashioned oats absorb water as if they were instant oats! They won’t work in this recipe. They will work in a traditional recipe. Go figure.

"No-Bakes with Old-Fashioned Oats," from Make It Like a Man!
Did the Cookie Monster, or Audrey II appear in this cookie configuration? Or is it just me?
How to Make No-Bakes with Old-Fashioned Oats

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! Thank you, Kesor. This post wasn’t solicited in any way, nor was it written in exchange for anything. In doing research for this post, I found Fine Cooking, and Ricardo to be useful.

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33 thoughts on “How to Make No-Bakes with Old-Fashioned Oats

  1. Fantastic recipe, Jeff. Especially good since I (and probably most everyone else) have all the ingredients in the house. I have never made a no-bake cookie, but maybe it’s about time. I love your reference to “horrifyingly first-world problems.“ It’s nice to have problems like these when all else is going wacko in the world!

    • Oh, David, if you’ve never made these, maybe you shouldn’t make them. They have so much comfort food power, and all the ingredients are almost always in your kitchen. In a moment of weakenss, you’ll be eating a potful with a spoon.

  2. You’re so right about everything in this post! Truly a horrifyingly first world problem – I’ve been chuckling at that since I read it! Also, there are no rolled oats in the stores. What have we come to? So many people with all the beans and rice and oats. I have virtually none. But I do love a good no-bake and so happy you’ve solved this issue for us! I do have all the other ingredients. Hopefully soon(ish) the oats will return!
    Laura recently posted…Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Tahini Brownies

  3. Well I am quite desperate, and I am certainly undisciplined. That means these cookies will never make it into the formation stage. And you know what? I’m ok with it. I also hear ya on the grocery shopping. We are limiting our trips to the store, and yesterday Laura told me she’s jealous I got to go out. I told her, “Yeah, it’s nice to get out…until you get to the store and see people and go ‘oh s**t’.” Glad to hear that you guys are following the social distancing thing. It seems to be working? Maybe?? In the meantime, I’m off to eat a batch of these cookies with no shame.
    David @ Spiced recently posted…12 Make This & That Ground Beef Recipes

  4. Love oatmeal, chocolate and love peanut butter, so these should make me very happy!
    Jeff, you are right i have been looking for gluten free oats in the grocery store from last two weeks and they are not there. Probably things will calm down in a week or so as some people have already hoarded and they won’t buy anymore.
    I am bookmarking this!
    Balvinder recently posted…Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

    • The thing is, it’s uneven: some stores might have some, while others don’t. But now is not the time to go from store to store, so you just have to live with what you can find! My mom used to make these cookies when I was a kid, and when she was out of oats, she’d experiement with things like corn flakes or puffed rice. Not quite as good, but better than nothing.

  5. Definitely cookie monster! I saw a stupid woman do the same thing when we were out for the first time since our return, i was screaming at her in my head.
    I have everything for this tasty treat, once we’ve finished off the Stroopwafels, I will make these!
    Eva Taylor recently posted…Eggs in Purgatory Indian-style

  6. If they bring me some psychological benefits (or not!), I’m making them. So, I have everything except the powdered milk and corn syrup. Wondering if I can just omit. Thoughts? ~Valentina

    • Yes, you can omit those things. The only thing that is crucial: the temperature must solidly exceed 215 degrees F for a briefly-sustained period. Otherwise, the cookies won’t firm up. On the other hand, once you exceed 220, the cookies become increasingly dry – not prohibitively so, but I’m a perfectionist. There’s a sweet spot over 215 and just shy of 220, where you get something firm, yet melt-in-your-mouth creamy. I feel like the dried milk will help thicken the mixture and give me a bit of firming-up insurance, since I’m trying to aim very close to a “too low” temperature.

      Another issue that you could encounter with lower temperatures is that the sugar may paritally crystalize once the cookies are cool … again, not in a prohibitive way – it’s just that they could have more of a sandy feel instead of a creamy one. The corn syrup is insurance against that.

      In the end, if you stop living on the edge like I do, and just heat to 220, you shouldn’t need either the milk powder or the corn syrup.

      • Ha! Love living on the edge. 🙂 I really appreciate all of this info with the details for success. I’ll report back when I try them. Thanks so much!

        • Thanks! I’m not really sure that they’re anything special, but they have powerful comfort-food properties, and I grew up with them. I love them.

  7. It was almost three weeks ago that I first came across the ‘mad house’ shopping at supermarkets- long lines and empty shelves. Up until that point, everything was ‘normal.’ I’m considering joining Instacart to do my shopping for me, but there’s nothing like picking out the groceries myself! I’m glad I already have Old Fashioned Oats in my pantry- will definitely have to try your no-bake cookies, especially since they contain peanut butter (oh wait- I need to go buy some)!

    • I know what you mean! I’ve really cut down on the shopping, and I feel like I should put on a hazmat suit every time I go!

  8. I made these last week! These are SO GOOOOOD!!! and I made mine with chocolate chips and without the corn syrup and they turned out amazing! Great recipe Jeff 🙂

    • Awesome! So, did you add chocolate chips to the cookie, or melt them into the mix instead of cocoa?

  9. These remind me of chocolate crispies I used to make with my mum Jeff! Yum. And I absolutely hear you about grocery shopping. There’s arrows pointing the way round our local store and the majority of people observe the fact you must only move from one arrow to the next to be safely social distanced. But there are others completely oblivious, zig zagging about in their own worlds. I find it hard to keep myself together when I really just want to give them a piece of my mind. Or stab them. 🙂
    Neil recently posted…Quick Healthy Kidney Bean Burgers

  10. These look so delicious and comforting! No milk powder and corn syrup currently in my pantry, but otherwise I have all the ingredients. I bet my kids would enjoy these as well, and they’re maybe kinda healthy? with the oats? Or that’s what I’ll tell myself when I’m spooning the mixture out of the saucepan. 😀

    • Yes, you just keep telling yourself that. 🙂 They’re packed with butter, peanut butter, and sugar. Yes, also oats. Check the comments, though – you can get by without the powdered milk and syrup.

    • I had to stop “not baking” these, because I was pigging out on them!

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