My mom was making these when I was just a toddler. I'm 43 now!
Try using half rolled oats and half quick oats. Delicious! The peanut butter ensures that it sets up and doesn't get too hard in case it's under or over cooked.

So Yummy! I make these with Cappuccino instead of cocoa and I leave out the vanilla, but they are so delicious!

This is the recipe I've ALWAYS used when making no-bakes. Ive been told many times that they are the best people have ever had! Quick, easy, and amazing!

I am so glad this recipe was posted! I was just sitting here and thinking of these cookies that my mom use to make when I was a kid!!! I never got the recipe from her and she passed away 4 months ago! THANK YOU for letting me share this wonderful memory I had with my mom with my kids! LOVE these cookies! Just plain without the Peanut Butter is how my mom always made them and how I will do them for my kids too! ;)

To me, 2 cups of sugar seems like way way too much for only 3 cups of oats. But I think this is a great easy recipe to experiment with that you can easily make lower sugar and healthier. It is great that it is made with oats that are good for you and high fiber to begins with, but you can add even more fiber and/or substitute any crushed up cereal you want!

Last night I made a variation: 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 cup "maple" syrup (the cheap corn syrup kind, instead of 2 c sugar), 1/3 cup water (instead of milk), 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 medium jar of banana-flavored peanut butter we weren't eating (probably more than 1/2 cup, maybe 1 cup worth), 3 cups of frosted shredded wheat cereal crushed up, and at the end also added 1/8 cup flax seeds and 1/8 cup oat bran. I heated everything except the cereal flax and oats on low heat for maybe over 5 minutes, and it did boil a little bit, and when PB evenly mixed in, added the rest of the solid ingredients. It turned out fine and tasty and still plenty sweet so I will probably try to keep lowering the sugar some more (also there is sugar in the PB and the cereal also). They "set" fine (I put them in the fridge overnight but was pretty solid right after making; so this alteration works to begin with. It is not sticky and is shiny. I ended up not putting into cookies but instead put the whole batch into one small tub container, and took it to work to eat with a spoon as the chocolate/sweet cravings hit! I will make this again, probably with some honey I need to use up instead of the syrup, and the rest of the PB, and maybe more oat bran. And after that maybe try to make again with just stevia dissolved in the water instead of any other sugar at all. These are a good way to get your oats/fiber/chocolate (and PB is good for you too), I just want to lower the carbs/sugar as much as possible while still keeping sweet enough to be good.

Also remember Peanut Butter is mostly fat, so if you want to leave out butter entirely I think it would work too, just heat the PB with the sugar and maybe use more than 1/2 cup PB. This recipe is very forgiving and easy to modify imo.

ALSO, the total final volume is very small, only about 2-3 cups worth, so 1 batch is NOT going to make a lot of cookies... if you need a lot for an event or bake sale, for sure make a double/triple batch or more.

This is one of the best recipes ever. I used to make it for my son as he was growing up. He loved them, and so did I.
I am now diabetic, 67 yrs old, and will substitute sugar for the diabetic sugar, and want to use an organic Sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter. Should be great!
I always cook this for 3 minutes before adding the peanut butter.

I have had this with raisins added. Tastes very good.

For a LOWER-FAT version, I made these tonight with powdered peanut butter--replace the regular peanut butter in the recipe with 1/3 cup powdered PB (this is a fairly new product for our neck-of-the-woods, and you can find this in the "health market" section of grocery stores, or occasionally in the PB section). The taste was FANtastic, just like the old-fashioned kind, only less fat.

This a great BIG hit with my family...They Love them, easy to make and quick to dissapear.

i use regular oats :)

For another healthy fat, i used 1/4 cup 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil Extra Light. As for the Oats... I never buy the quick cooking... i take the regular oats and pulse them for a second or two in a blender/processor, or what have you. You end up being able to use a little more oats then and at the end I throw in a little handful of unblended Oats so the cookies have some showing! DELICIOUS and eaten very quickly in my house!! You can even add walnuts... i haven't done coconut...but they would be good too! The only time they did not hold well together was when i left out the additional 2 tablespooons oil....

When I was in high school many years ago I got this recipe in Child care class as a treat for the children. My best friend and I used to make them all the time. Then I lost the recipe. I thought it was gone forever. lol So glad I found it. Now I have two grandsons and can make them for them.

I like to use the whole oats, someone had said you can't but I always do, I don't like peanut butter so I substitute Nutella and it is yummy.

i love this and my family love them we have mad them 3 time for my dad for work because he love it so much

I've always made these without the peanut butter and then cut the oatmeal to 2 cups and add 1 cup coconut. SO GOOD!!!