One of the kids favorite cookie recipes for me to make, are No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. These are also known as: Preacher Cookies, No Bake Sunbutter Cookies, No Bake Oatmeal Cookies, No Bake Chocolate Cookies, No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies, No Bake Nutella Cookies, and infamously (probably only to us) as Poop Cookies. Why that? Because of the oatmeal in these cookies that helps with constipation. One of the kids has suffered from chronic constipation his entire life, and we have to work diligently to ensure he gets plenty of fiber. He knows these cookies help him, so when his tummy is hurting, he’ll ask me to make him some poop cookies to help him out. I realize that is probably way TOO much information for many of you here to find a cookie recipe, but I am including it in hopes that it might help some other mom out there with a child suffering from similar issues. It should also serving as a warning, that you should exercise restraint when eating these, and limit yourself to one or two, particularly if you don’t eat as much fiber in your daily diet as you should 
This particular recipe can be tricky, sometimes the cookies don’t want to set right. I have found that by using specific name brand ingredients, SALTED butter (not margarine), and paying careful attention to the timing, I have better luck getting these to turn out right. I prefer to use:
- Domino Sugar - I buy the big bag at Sam’s Club.
- JIF Peanut Butter (can substitute for Sunbutter, Nutella, Peanut Free Planet has links to other peanut alternatives for those allergic, etc. Chunky tends to make the cookies drier though!)
- Quaker Quick Cooking Oats
- Hershey’s Cocoa
- Watkins Vanilla Extract - I by mine at Amazon. When I was little my mom used this, she knew someone who sold it, I think, but I don’t know anyone who does, so this is where I get mine. I’ve heard it’s available in some stores now, too.
- Hood 2% Milk
- SALTED Butter (NOT Margarine)
- 1 Stick Butter (1/2 cup) NOT Margarine
- 2 cups Sugar
- ½ cup Milk
- 4 Tbsp Cocoa
- ½ cup Peanut butter (or Nutella, Sunbutter, etc)
- 2 Tsp Vanilla (Extract ok)
- 3 Cups Quick Cooking Oats
- Add the 1st 4 ingredients to a saucepan starting at medium heat to let the ingredients dissolve into liquids. Increase the heat until it is at a rolling boil.
- Keep at a rolling boil for a full minute.
- Remove from heat and add peanut butter (or substitution) and vanilla.
- Stir well until dissolved and then stir in the oats.
- Drop by heaping tablespoons onto wax paper, and let them sit until they are cool and set.
- *Note: Sometimes the recipe won’t turn out right for people. For me, it was always when I used margarine or unsalted butter, or chunky peanut butter. You may have to make adjustments for altitude, humidity, etc. but using regular salted butter, boiling for a full minute and using creamy peanut butter (or substitution) should help!
Here are links to the products I used in case you need additional information or want to see exactly what it looks like:
My girlfriend’s oven is broken and she is pregnant – she’ll love this recipe!
These happen to be our families fav cookie
We make these all the time. They are SO easy!
Oh my! That sounds delicious! And I love no-bake! So much easier!
Those look so good! I’m such a newbie with cooking, though, that I assume “no bake” means no cooking involved at all. I feel kind of silly about that, lol! I said to myself “hey, she’s using a pot on a stove, doesn’t that count as baking?” Of course, it means it doesn’t go in the oven…right?
Yes, no bake means they don’t go in the oven, no cook would mean no oven or stovetop;) You’re just heating the main 4 ingredients enough to melt them and then bring them to a boil long enough that they’ll set and not be tacky.
I tried these today, they were delicious but turned out a little dry. We only had unsalted butter (I didn’t think to maybe just add a little salt!)…and I may have accidentally left it on the heat too long. They’re still good but next time I’ll just make sure to use all of the right ingredients. And, is there a difference between rolled and quick oats?
It should be ok if you just add a little salt, but I haven’t tried it. I generally keep both types of butter on hand because I try to use un-salted whenever possible, but many recipes just turn out better with the salted.
These can be soooo finicky, especially with timing, but sometimes you do everything right and they have a mind of their own anyway! Sometimes I think the humidity in your house can affect them too. One time the boys were sick when I made them, and we had a humidifier and vaporizer going in the house. My cookies were so sticky that they just wouldn’t ever set. The kids used spoons to scrape them off the wax paper to eat them. I’d used all the right ingredients, timing, etc. Aaron needed their ‘help’, so I went to the store, bought fresh ingredients and made a second batch that did the same thing. So that’s the only difference (humidity) that I could think of to cause them to turn out that way!
Rolled oats are generally bigger and require more cooking time than quick oats. You can chop them up smaller to help speed the cooking time, if you’re cooking them.
I used rolled oats. I have both on hand but couldn’t reach the quick oats (they’re on the very highest shelf, of course)..and was too lazy to grab a chair. Oh well, they’ll still get eaten (by tomorrow probably!)
Oh, these look good. I was looking for an oatmeal cookie recipe to do with my toddler. She can help me mix these up and I can do the rest, maybe.
I’ve been making and loving this recipe since I was a teenager, but my version didn’t include vanilla extract. I’ll have to try that next time.