Common Mistakes When Making No-Bake Cookies

The concept of the no-bake cookies has been around since ancient Middle Eastern cooks created sweets using nuts, dried fruits, seeds, and sweeteners. These no-hassle treats made their way into published cookbooks during the Great Depression calling for ingredients that included dried fruit, nuts, seeds, honey, Karo, cream cheese, peanut butter, butter, or margarine. No-bake cookies are unique in that they do not contain eggs or flour, and they are not intended to rise (via Food Timeline).

No-bake cookies are also quick and easy, and a favorite among bakers and novices alike. They don't require a lot of prep, a lot of ingredients, or a lot of equipment to create the perfect, indulgent snack. Combining crispy, crunchy ingredients with sticky, gooey ingredients and then shaping that in the form of balls, logs, slices, or pressing them into a pan seems pretty easy. With no baking involved, you would think these cookies would be foolproof — but that's not always the case. There are plenty of missteps and mistakes even the best bakers can make when they are stirring up a batch of these tasty treats (via Simple Nourished Living).

What are these common mistakes? There are more than you think. For example, the snap, crackle, and pop Rice Krispie treats are a classic no-bake cookie that everyone loves. And they should be easy to make. Some Rice Krispies blended into some melted marshmallows and butter — what could be simpler? And yet sometimes, it seems like there is more dry ingredient than sticky.

Cue the very real problem of dry no-bake cookies. Recipe Lion notes that the most common reason no-bake cookies are dry is boiling the mixture for too long. If you overcook sugar, it can turn into a mess of crumbles. Instead, boil the ingredients for one to two minutes once the mixture is at a full boil, and pay attention to whether or not it starts to look crumbly so you can adjust the time accordingly. Moreover, if a recipe calls for oats, don't use rolled when it calls for quick-cooking oats. Quick-cooking oats result in a softer, less chewy texture and are more commonly used for no-bake cookies.

Other mistakes include not boiling your sugar mixture until it is thick enough to hold a cookie together. You are looking for what is affectionately termed the "softball stage" of candy making, and can be applied to making no-bake cookies as well. This stage is the specific temperature range when cooking sugary syrups which occurs between 235 and 245 F (via Spruce Eats). If you do not bring your sugary ingredients to this temperature, the mixture will be too thin and your no-bake cookies will be no more. Okay, maybe that's a little hyperbolic, but this will likely result in your no-bake cookies not setting properly and being gooey or runny. What can you do if you get a gooey mess? Don't panic and don't throw out the mixture. There's still hope. Simply try cooking it a little longer on the stovetop.

So, while we've touched upon some of the common mistakes related to how you are making your no-bake cookies, along with tricks of the trade to fix those missteps, what about the factors you can't control, like the weather? Yep, the weather can contribute to runny no-bake cookies. Is it a rainy day? Or a hot and humid summer day? Both of these products of beautiful Mother Nature can be a detriment to your no-bake cookie efforts. How? Too much moisture wreaks havoc on how your cookies set. Even if you boil the mixture just right, you can still end up with a mess. In fact, even some candy-making efforts fall victim to bad results when the weather isn't optimal. 

What can you do to fix this problem? The suggestion by the no-bake cookie problem-solving experts: boil the mixture longer and bring it to the higher end of the softball temperature spectrum. If you worry about burning your no-bake cookie mixture, and that's a real concern when you boil it longer and to a higher temperature, scratch your cookie plans and try making them on a different day.

No-bake cookies are an easy and decadent treat once you get down the tricks to make them perfect each time. They also offer you an easy and fun opportunity to spend time with your family whether they help make or simply eat these yummy, seemingly no-hassle cookies.