Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

I was under a cookie curse for about a month before my wedding.

No matter what recipe I tried to make in those few weeks, they were epic fails.  I burned one batch.  Another batch spread way too much to form one big jumbled mega-cookie.  My Silpat slipped and I dropped a different batch on my open oven door before I could bake them.  The oven door was hot so they immediately started cooking and it took like 20 minutes to scrape off and clean up.  Point being - there was some serious bad cookie juju going on.  The thing is... up until that point, I had NEVER screwed up cookies.  Some of these were tried and true recipes I've made a million times before.  I chalk it up to wedding brain and trying to focus on a million other things, but to this day I have not figured it out. 

The greatest part of these particular cookies?  No baking!  They're fast, there is no oven involved (perfect for summer if you don't want to heat up your house) and they're gluten free.  These come together in about 20 minutes total and are totally foolproof.  Take that, bad cookie juju.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies:
Heavily adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
Makes about 30 cookies


1 stick butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups quick cooking oats
peanut butter chips

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder over medium heat.  Bring to a boil while whisking smooth, and let boil for about a minute.  Remove from heat.  Stir in peanut butter and vanilla extract, and stir until the peanut butter melts.  Add the oats and stir to coat.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto wax covered baking sheets.  Individually press peanut butter chips into the tops of the cookies, if desired.  Let cookies cool on baking sheets until they are set.