Pile of no-bake peanut butter cookies on a white plate with a linen napkin, one cookie broken to show the oat texture
No-Bake Treats · Low-Calorie Desserts

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

This is the classic no-bake cookie your grandmother probably made, just rebuilt so a whole batch will not wreck your day. Swapping most of the peanut butter for PB2 keeps the flavor honest while cutting a real amount of fat, and the stovetop step takes about three minutes total.

Swapping most of the peanut butter for PB2 is what keeps these light without losing the flavor a batch of these is supposed to have. The one-minute boil on the stove matters more than it seems, it's the actual chemistry that lets the mixture set once it cools, and skipping it just leaves you with a sticky mess that never firms up.

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

Old-fashioned no-bake cookies made mostly with powdered peanut butter, so you get the classic flavor at a fraction of the calories.

Prep 10 min
Cook 3 min
Total 33 min
Yield 14 cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup PB2 or other powdered peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tbsp natural peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/3 cup allulose or granulated sugar substitute
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Instructions

  1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it nearby, you will need to work quickly once the mixture is ready.
  2. Whisk the PB2 and water together in a small bowl until smooth and paste-like, then set aside.
  3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the almond milk, allulose, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly, and let it boil for exactly 1 minute, still stirring. This short boil is what lets the cookies set once cooled, do not skip it or rush it.
  4. Remove from heat and stir in the natural peanut butter, the PB2 paste, and the vanilla extract until fully smooth.
  5. Fold in the oats until every oat is coated in the chocolate peanut butter mixture.
  6. Working quickly before the mixture cools too much, drop rounded tablespoons onto the parchment-lined sheet and flatten each slightly with the back of the spoon.
  7. Let the cookies sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 15 minutes to fully set before eating.

Nutrition (approximate, per serving)

Calories72
Fat3g
Carbs9g
Fiber2g
Sugar3g
Protein3g

Estimated from the ingredients listed above; actual values will vary with brands and swaps.

Tips & swaps

  • The 1 minute boil is the actual chemistry here, it lets the sugar substitute and cocoa form a set that holds the oats together. Boiling less leaves you with a sticky mess that never firms up.
  • PB2 is what keeps these low-calorie, swapping the whole 1/2 cup for regular peanut butter roughly triples the fat and calories per cookie.
  • If your kitchen runs warm, keep these in the fridge rather than on the counter, they soften quickly at room temperature.
  • Allulose behaves closest to real sugar for the boil-and-set step. Erythritol can crystallize as it cools and leave the cookies slightly gritty.

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