These No Bake Sugar Cookies are packed with chewy oats and have the best vanilla flavor because they’re made with instant pudding! Leave the oven off, all you need is a few minutes on the stove to stir up this delicious mixture.
These no-bake sugar cookies without flour or eggs are so tasty and very easy to make. With carefully selected ingredients, you’ll be able to make this vanilla-flavored version of the classic no-bake oat cookies on the stovetop, in about 10 minutes!
You’ll need to be patient while the cookies harden and set up though, so plan to wait about an hour before digging in.
Sugar cookie no-bake cookies are similar to the chocolate oat no-bake cookies you may remember, or these peanut butter no bake cookies. We also have a delicious recipe for peanut butter no-bake cookies with cornflakes that you can try!
This recipe is peanut-free, unlike many of the others, so it’s a good choice for school lunches or kids’ birthday parties.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- A Great Hot Weather Recipe. Nobody wants to turn on the oven when it’s scorching outside, but sometimes you still want to make homemade cookies in the summer. No-bake cookies are a great option.
- Kids Love These. With or without the fun rainbow sprinkles, these sweet and chewy cookies are a kid favorite. Kids also love helping to make these, so get them in the kitchen with you to help measure and stir.
- Classic Sugar Cookie Flavor. We’re adding instant pudding, powdered milk, and vanilla extract to the mixture so that these no-bake cookies have the flavor of classic sugar cookies.
- Allergy Friendly. These cookies are egg-free, flourless, peanut-free, tree nut free, and can be made gluten-free with some careful ingredient choices.
Key Ingredients For No Bake Cookies
Complete list of ingredients with quantities and instructions is located in the recipe card below
- Salted Butter: Some people make this recipe with margarine, but butter just tastes better!
- Granulated Sugar: To sweeten the cookies and help them set up.
- Whole Milk: Milk is what dissolves the sugar and other ingredients and creates a thick syrup to hold the oats together. Whole milk is best, but you can also use lower fat milk or your favorite non-dairy milk here.
- Vanilla Extract: This is a must for making delicious sugar cookies.
- Quick Oats: There are different kinds of oats used for baking, and for this recipe you want to use 1-Minute oats, NOT instant oats or rolled oats. Quick 1-minute oats are the perfect texture for this recipe.
- Powdered Milk: Look for this in the baking aisle of your grocery store. You can also use powdered, unsweetened coffee creamer (like Coffeemate) too. This adds an additional layer of creamy flavor to the cookies and helps to thicken the mixture.
- Instant Cheesecake Pudding Mix: The cheesecake flavor gives these cookies the best sugar cookie taste, but vanilla pudding mix can be used instead. Be sure to use instant pudding, not the cook-and-serve type, and note that you only need the powder, not prepared pudding.
- Sprinkles: These are optional, but a fun topping for the cookies. Switch up the colors to suit the occasion.
How to Make No Bake Sugar Cookies
- Get Ready: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside while you mix up the cookies.
- Make a Syrup: Add butter, sugar, and milk to a large saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat.
- Add the Rest of the Ingredients: As soon as you are done cooking the milk and sugar mixture, stir in the vanilla extract, oats, powdered milk, and dry pudding mix. Stir until well combined.
- Scoop! Use a medium cookie scoop, or a spoon, to portion out the mixture into 24 cookies. You can press down on them slightly if you like, or just leave them as they are. If desired, add sprinkles.
- Wait: The cookies need to cool and harden in order to set. Leave them at room temperature for at least an hour, or until they are firm.
No Bake Cookie Tips
- Make These Gluten Free by using certified gluten-free oats and using Jell-O Instant Vanilla pudding instead of the cheesecake flavor (that one does have barley in it). Check the ingredients in your sprinkles as well.
- It’s important to use quick oats (the ones that say they’ll cook in 1 minute) for this recipe. Instant oats will become mushy, and old-fashioned oats will be too firm and chewy.
- Watch the weather. It’s harder to make these cookies on a rainy or humid day. Moisture in the air keeps the cookies from setting properly. If it happens to start raining while you’re in the middle of making these, pop them in the fridge to set instead of leaving them on the counter.
- Try other flavors. Vanilla or cheesecake pudding gives these cookies a flavor like traditional sugar cookies, but any flavor can be used.
- Buy the right pudding. Be sure to use Instant pudding, and not the kind you need to cook. I have not tested this recipe using sugar-free versions of instant pudding, so I can’t say if they will work or not.
More Easy Cookie Recipes
- Condensed Milk Cookies
- Oreo Stuffed Cookies
- Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
- Rice Krispie Cookies
- Birthday Cake Cookies
FAQs
Once the cookies are set and cooled, pop them in a ziplock bag or an airtight container. Keep them at room temperature for 1 week, in the fridge for 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Generally, the reason for unset no-bake cookies is that you didn’t boil the syrup mixture long enough. Be sure to bring it to a full boil, and cook it at a boil for 1 full minute.
If the cookies are dry, it’s generally because you cooked the syrup mixture too long. A timer is super helpful when making this recipe!
I find that the instant-style oats give the perfect texture, but if all you have is old-fashioned rolled oats, you can use those too. The cookies will just be more chewy that way.
You are going to love how simple it is to make these vanilla no-bake sugar cookies! Feel free to double the recipe so everything can have a few.
No Bake Sugar Cokies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup salted butter
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups quick cooking oats aka,1-minute oats
- ¼ cup powdered milk or powdered coffee creamer
- 1 3.4-ounce box instant vanilla or cheesecake flavored pudding unprepared
- sprinkles
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside while you mix up the cookies.
- Add butter, sugar, and milk to a large saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat.
- Quickly stir in in the vanilla extract, oats, powdered milk, and dry pudding mix. Stir until well combined.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, drop the mixture onto the parchment lined pan. You can press down on them slightly, or leave them as they are. If desired, sprinkle the cookies with rainbow sprinkles.
- Allow the no bake cookies to cool and set for at least an hour, or until they are firm.
Notes
- It’s important to use quick oats (the ones that say they’ll cook in 1 minute) for this recipe. Instant oats will become mushy, and old-fashioned oats will be too firm and chewy.
- Make These Gluten Free by using certified gluten-free oats and using Jell-O Instant Vanilla pudding instead of the cheesecake flavor (that one does have barley in it). Check the ingredients in your sprinkles as well.
- Watch the weather. It’s harder to make these cookies on a rainy or humid day. Moisture in the air keeps the cookies from setting properly. If it happens to start raining while you’re in the middle of making these, pop them in the fridge to set instead of leaving them on the counter.
- Try other flavors. Vanilla or cheesecake pudding gives these cookies a flavor like traditional sugar cookies, but any flavor can be used.
- Buy the right pudding. Be sure to use Instant pudding, and not the kind you need to cook. I have not tested this recipe using sugar-free versions of instant pudding, so I can’t say if they will work or not.
- To store: Add the cookies to a ziplock bag or airtight container. They’ll stay fresh for up to a week at room temperature and up to 2 weeks in the fridge. You can freeze them for up to 2 months as well.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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