Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal No Bake Cookies Recipe
These easy Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal No Bake Cookies remind me of a Mounds bar in cookies form with some healthy oatmeal added in for good measure and a bit more texture too!
This time of year brings all kinds of goodness like these Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal No Bake Cookies. They take me back to years gone by. I remember my mother making them in a flash (this is actually her recipe), and grabbing one for each hand before heading out to play with my cousins. They are so very quick to make. And they disappear even quicker! And if you’re fond of Mounds candy bars, I think you’ll like these very, very much.
A little bit of stove top time is required for melting, then everything gets mixed together then dropped in tasty little mounds to firm up. These no-flour sweet and nutty treats are great for sharing as edible gifts. Once they firm up, these little goodies package well and would make any chocolate coconut loving recipients happy.
On a recent Princes Cruises, there were little treats like this offered daily in one of my favorite spots on the ship: The International Cafe. Tarts, brownies, cookies and other decadent sweets were there tempting me each day when I went for a pick me up with a hot tea of mocha. Even though these no bake cookies aren’t as fancy, they remind me of those goodies. I think they would fit right in nicely to the selection. They are just as decadent, and are great with a cup of coffee.
I’m not a gluten-free expert, but I do think these no bake cookies qualify as such. I’m pretty sure oatmeal is acceptable, but confirm that this gluten-free and do some double checking. And if anyone out there IS an expert, please let me know in the comments below and I will make note of it right here.
Happy treat making!
If you’re looking for more goodies to make check out these:
- Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookies Recipe
- Pistachio Chocolate Bark Recipe
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles Recipe
Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal No Bake Cookies Recipe
Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal No Bake Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 stick butter, salted
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Line baking sheets with wax paper.
- In a large bowl combine oats and coconut. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan bring butter, sugar, cocoa, milk, and salt to a boil. Continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract.
- Pour mixture over oats and coconut and stir to combine well.
- Using a spoon drop by 1 1/2-2 tablespoons mounds of desired size on lined baking sheets. Cool and eat.
(Disclaimer: Princess Cruises hosted me and a guest on a cruise. They covered all costs associated with the trip.)
Originally published December 15, 2014. Updated May 29, 2018.
I’m tickled that you’re here! Like you, I wear many hats, and live to tell about it. This space is a place for sharing food, home, garden, travel and lifestyle tidbits, with some fun always thrown in for good measure.
These cookies look delicious, and no bake too! 🙂
Yay for no-bake! I’m gathering as many no-bake recipes I can find for the next couple of weeks. Let me know if you have any good ones to share.
You are so tempting me! I love Mounds. Yum!
We are a Mounds loving family. Well, except for Hank. But that just means more for us!
I’m all about no bake recipes this time of year! I can’t wait to make these!
Me too, Tori! No bake rocks!
For those who are either Celiac or gluten sensitive try using gluten free oatmeal such as Bob’s Red Mill in place of old fashioned oats. This recipe looks great and I’ll be trying it GF style soon!
Thanks for that tip, Nancy!
Thank you, NANCY LAWYER! It’s like you were in my head. I was going to just make them and eat them as is, knowing that I would probably get sick, but you came to the rescue. Did not know that gluten-free oats exist.
Hi!
These will definitely take me to my happy place!
But can you please tell me what ‘sweetened coconut’ is?
Also, could you replace some of the oats with peanuts or sunflower seeds etc?
Many thanks Amy! Greetings from Australia!
Sweetened shredded coconut is shredded coconut that has had sugar added. Honestly, these cookies are sweet enough that plain shredded coconut will be perfectly fine. As far as substituting some of the oats with peanuts or sunflower seeds, I think that would be a fantastic idea. I’d just add a little at a time at the end. The melted chocolate mixture needs to be able to hold everything together.
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OMG! I have looked for this recipe for years. I found many that were close but none exactly like my Mother’s. This one is looks exactly, minus the raisins that she used to add! I will be making these this weekend!! Thank you!!
I’m so glad you found it! I’ll have to try it with raisins or maybe dried cherries next time around. Enjoy!
A stick of butter …..how much is a stick of butter ….. And to say this is gluten free lol you would need to use gluten free oats as pats are obviosuky gluten….
A stick of butter is equal to 4 ounces in weight or 8 tablespoons. And yes, oats are naturally gluten free. Of course, anyone that is gluten intolerant or that has celiac disease should look for oatmeal that specifically states on the packaging that it is indeed gluten free as oats may be contaminated during harvesting and/or processing.
Can I use quick oats instead of old fashioned?
The texture will be a bit different, but yes, you can use them.
Are there any other granulated sweeteners that are capable of being boiled? I loved these as a kid but am sugar free now…
I don’t know enough about dates to know if they can boil that long, but I eat Larabars which are sweetened COMPLETELY by dates. Maybe Amy knows if this would work???
I do not know if dates would work as I haven’t used them in this recipe before.
May I add that I would like a recipe of this cookie WITHOUT the oats. I’m wondering what other food could bind this all together & help it become firm. I thought if I added pecans, or some other nut that was ground up fine that it would make for a good cookie, but I do realize that nuts won’t absorb the chocolate mixture. Is it necessary for it to be absorbed, though?
I’m not sure of a substitute for the oats. You mentioned ground nuts, which could be a good starting place. Pecan meal or perhaps almond meal? But without having tried it I’m not sure of the results. If you do get around to testing it, please let me know how it turns out.
Ok; thanks for getting back to me so promptly! You work late! I will let you know because I do plan to try nuts. Maybe I will try both the dates and the nuts together. I would need to figure out a good sugar to date ratio first, though. Will get back to you. Happy New Year!
These turned out great!! I had a craving for marshmallow, so I used only 1 cup of sugar and 4 heaping handfuls of mini marshmallows. Didnt have any cocoa powder, so I used 4 pouches of hot chocolate mix (came to almost half cup). Next time I might get fancy and toast the coconut a bit. (I’m sure with these subs though, there’s much more sugar than what you came up with.) Anyhoo, they were super yum and so much flavor! Delish! 🙂
I always cut the sugar to about 1 1/4 c. This recipe is way too sweet. The cookies are so much better. You have to boil about 3 monutrs. I’ve been making these over 50 years.
My grandmother and I used to make these all the time, as I’ve gotten older I’ve made one small adjustment to the recipe. I use half granulated sugar and have powdered sugar. I’ve found that it keeps them softer for prolonged storage.
i’ve made these with rice crispies when I have no oats, add 2/3 cup peanut butter, and always use 3 cups quick oats which I toast to get rid of that gluey, uncooked oat taste which bothers me, but NEVER my husband who sucks these down. If the coconut is too sweet you can put it in a strainer and rinse off most of the sugar/glucose on the outside. I do this for indian food because I cannot find shredded unsweetened coconut-no health food stores anywhere around here. Just let the washed coconut drain well, then squeese it in paper towels, spread out on a dry paper towel, and leave to dry, the use. Great toasted before stirring in, too
Forgot to say,; When they reach a rolling boil I leave it boil 1-1/2 to 2 minutes, remove from heat, THEN stir in the peanutbutter, (if using), stirring to melt, and 2teaspoons vanilla extract. ????
I don,t know what I,m doing wrong I ,ve made these so many times and they don’t turn out. I boil for 2 or 5 min it does,t matter they turn out soft and and don,t sisk together.
I’ve been making these cookies for 46 years and if I don’t pay close attention to the boil, they don’t set up. I wait until the mixture has reached a full, rolling boil, then count out 60 seconds. Some oatmeal is drier than others, so I hold a little back, then add gradually to get the right consistency, which should be a fairly stiff. We prefer whole rolled oats (they’re prettier!) and these cookies are also great with chopped pecans. Hope this helps!
Made these cookies today and they were awesome
I tried this receip, it turned out awesome! Sooooo Good!
My mother made these every christmas, her secret was to let them firm up in the freezer.
I have been making these for years with this exact recipe…the best part is no peanut butter!! For those that have problems with these setting up, I put them in the refrigerator. Works every time!
I know these by another name, Chocolate Macaroons .The recipe is exactly the same. These are really good
Yummy recipe. My Mom made a version of these (back in the 60’s & 70’s) and called them Minute Miracles. I added pecans and mini-marshmallows to half the batch. Delicious!
I learned this recipe from my Mom many decades ago.
I have made so so many batches over the years. Used to have to make double batches so we could actually have some left by the time they set up.
Never had a problem with them setting up.
Used evaporated milk. Mixed milk, sugar and vanilla together and then put butter(or margarine) in in one solid block. Then stirred only the milk/sugar portion without disturbing the butter. Once the butter was melted it was ready to pour into the oatmeal, coconut and cocoa powder, then spoon onto wax paper.
Can I make these in advance for a birthday party and freeze it until the day arrives when I need it?
While I have never frozen these, I have friends who do freeze no bake cookies like these. I would recommend giving it a test run first if it’s for a party.
Tastes yummy! Highly recommend lining baking sheet with parchment instead of wax paper. I was able to get them off wax paper after refrigerating overnight. I also added 3/4c almonds to make them more like an almond joy. Next time will swap out some of the butter for coconut oil to intensify coconut flavor. Thank you for the wonderful, tasty recipe!
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I used quick cooking oats and timed them got 1 mon once they came to a boil, they ate sticky and aren’t hard like usual . What did I do wrong
You don’t cook the oats! You pour the boiling mixture over the oats and coconut in a bowl.
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Can I use choc chips instead of cocoa?
Melted chocolate chips should work, I’m just not sure how much melted chocolate chips you will need as I haven’t made it that way before.
My mother and I used to make these when I was little and I have searched for the right version for years! They were all either too dry or had peanut butter (yuck!) I made these last night (with quick oats) and they are perfect! (I did add a little flavored coffee creamer, just for fun). Thank you!
Can I make without milk???
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Attempted to make these yesterday. They ended up in the trash because they didn’t harden at all. Followed the instructions almost exactly, except, only used one cup of sugar. Tried again today to ensure I let it boil for exactly two minutes before pouring over oats and coconut. Check. Not hardening. These will probably end up in the trash, too. They do taste just like the ones my mom used to make for me as a kid. They just refuse to harden. I have no idea what I am doing wrong when the only difference is that I use less sugar than the recipe calls for.
Seriously? My guess is since you’re not following the recipe, it’s not going to work. Not really a stretch to come to that conclusion.
I made these last night and they hardened fine. They were, however, disgusting & inedible by my family: way way way too sweet! (I even used unsweetened coconut because using pre-sweetened seemed like a recipe for instant diabetes.) so while I can appreciate your plan to reduce the ridiculous amount of sugar, it clearly makes sense that it would throw the recipe. Sugar hardens after it’s been cooked, so if you eliminate half of the material that is supposed to harden… well, you’ve got two batches of the answer.
Well, Claudia – I did make another batch with less sugar. I am not really that into giving my family diabetes. Since you’re not shy about sounding like a pompous know-it-all with too much unrestricted access to the internet, I have to ask: Did you really not comprehend that the amount of sugar the recipe calls for would produce a product much too sweet for a sensible person to consume? I see that self-control isn’t your forte.
FYI: I found that boiling the ingredients for six minutes more than the recipe calls for, resolved the issue.