These easy No Bake Butterscotch Cookies are one of my favorite no bake cookie recipes, especially since they’re made with butterscotch chips. These oatmeal butterscotch no bake cookies come together in about 30 minutes and are made with a handful of ingredients.
Best No Bake Butterscotch Cookie Recipe
No-bake cookies are one of those dessert recipes to always have in your back pocket.
For a last minute dessert or cookie exchange, you can whip up a batch of no bake oatmeal cookies in no time at all. And the best part? They’re always a hit.
While peanut butter and chocolate are the most common no bake cookies, as a tried and true butterscotch lover, these butterscotch no bake cookies are my current obsession. The addictive butterscotch flavor is what truly makes these cookies a great recipe.
Whatever you call them—no bake oatmeal scotchies, no bake butterscotch cookies, oatmeal butterscotch cookies—this is the perfect treat for any sweet tooth.
Why We Love This No Bake Butterscotch Cookie Recipe:
- Easy: No bake desserts in general are typically really easy, and no bake cookies specifically are really simple to make. They only require a few ingredients, they’re made on the stove, and they cool and harden in just a few minutes.
- Flavor: I love the flavor of butterscotch. It has a very sweet, brown sugar and caramel-like flavor. It’s a rich flavor that feels perfect for the holiday season. It makes for such delicious cookies.
- Edible Gifts: Another reason I love no bake treats is because they are such a perfect thing to include in a cookie tin. No bake recipes, like these butterscotch cookies, chocolate fudge, and oreo bark, last a long time and travel well.
If you’re an oatmeal cookie lover like me, these recipes should be next on your list: Oatmeal Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pancakes, and Chocolate Covered Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
Ingredients:
This no bake cookie recipe is made with 9 ingredients, but they are all pantry staples.
- Unsalted Butter: I prefer unsalted butter in baking, because I prefer to control the salt content.
- Butterscotch Chips (also known as butterscotch morsels)
- Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Milk: 2% or whole milk works best, but you can use skim or even non-dairy milk.
- Salt
- Vanilla Extract
- Oats: You can use either rolled oats (old-fashioned oats) or quick oats. I give more details below on what the difference is between the two and how it affects the texture of the cookies. What you see in these photos is quick oats (the cookies are made with quick oats. The actual oats in the background are rolled oats–they’re prettier in photos than quick oats).
- Ground Cinnamon: This is optional, but the cinnamon really pairs well with the butterscotch flavor. It enhances the deep and rich flavors.
How To Make No Bake Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies:
This simple recipe is a great way to have a sweet treat without having to turn on your oven. This is a basic overview of how to make these cookies—scroll down to the recipe card for more details.
- Step 1: Melt unsalted butter in a medium saucepan with brown sugar, white sugar, and milk, stirring constantly. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. After boiling for 60 seconds, remove from the heat.
- Step 2: Add 1 cup butterscotch chips to the mixture, stirring until the butterscotch has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Step 3: Once you have melted the butterscotch chips, add in the salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and oats. Mix until combined.
- Step 4: The mixture hardens quickly, so you do want to scoop the cookies quickly.
- Step 5: Using two spoons or a cookie scoop, scoop out the cookie mixture and place on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Step 6: Let the no bake butterscotch oatmeal cookies set before eating. They can remain at room temperature, or you can place them in the fridge to harden quicker.
Should I Use Old Fashioned Oats or Quick Oats?
- Old fashioned oats, also known as rolled oats, are thicker and chewier. If you use rolled oats in these butterscotch no bake cookies, the texture of these cookies will be chewy, and they won’t stick together as well as with quick oats. Old-fashioned oats don’t absorb the liquid as much, which is what makes them chewy.
- If you use quick oats, these butterscotch cookies will be almost candy like in flavor and texture. I prefer to use quick oats, as I prefer the texture of quick oats to old fashioned oats.
- Lastly, if you only have rolled oats, you can pulse the oats in a food processor until they are finer in texture and like quick oats.
Do You Need To Refrigerate No Bake Cookies?
- If you want to speed up the process, you can put them in the fridge to set up. However, you do not have to refrigerate no-bake butterscotch cookies. They will set up at room temperature in about 15-20 minutes.
Can You Freeze No-Bake Cookies?
- Yes, you can! Once the cookies have set, flash freeze the butterscotch cookies for about 1-2 hours. Then, place the cookies in a freezer bag or airtight container and freeze.
Storage Tips:
- Store these oat butterscotch cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature, or store them in the fridge. They taste great at room temperature and cold.
Other No Bake Dessert Favorites:
- No Bake Pistachio Pudding Cream Pie
- No Bake S’mores Tart
- No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Trifles
- No Bake Mint Chocolate Pie
- No Bake Strawberry Marshmallow Pie
Final Tips & Tricks:
- Parchment Paper: Use parchment paper on your cookie sheets. Parchment paper will keep these butterscotch no bake cookies from sticking as they cool. You could also use wax paper, but sometimes the cookies stick to the wax paper.
- Cookie Scoop: No bake cookies harden quickly, so you do have to work quickly to scoop out the cookies and place them on your sheet pan. You can use two spoons, but I suggest using a cookie scoop. Everything is the same size and you can scoop quickly.
- Cupcake Liners: Or, if you would prefer, scoop the cookies into a lined cupcake tin/muffin tin. They’ll settle into perfect circles.
- Variations: You can substitute the milk in this recipe with almond milk or another non-dairy milk, if you prefer. I find that 2% or whole milk works the best, but dairy-free milk will work too. Additionally, you can add in some shredded coconut or even rice kripsies cereal if you want some extra flavor and texture.
- Boil: Make sure the mixture comes to a rolling boil, and make sure you let it boil for a full minute, otherwise the cookies won’t set up properly.
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups quick oats*
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.**
- In a medium sized saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and milk.
- Bring the mixture to a rolling boil on medium-high heat, stirring frequently.
- Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute without stirring. Then, remove from the heat.
Add in the butterscotch chips, mixing until the butterscotch has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Next, add in cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract, and quick oats. Stir until combined.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (or two spoons), drop the cookies onto your cookie sheets.
- Allow the cookies to set before serving, about 15-20 minutes at room temperature.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature (you can also store in the fridge, if you prefer).
*Quick oats are the oats I recommend in this recipe, as they yield a very tender, candy-like cookie that is perfectly sweet.
*You can use old-fashioned oats, but the cookies will be chewier, as the rolled oats are thicker and won’t absorb the butterscotch liquid the same way as quick oats.
*Finally, if you only have old-fashioned oats, you can pulse them in a food processor until they are a bit finer and resemble quick oats.
**You can also scoop these cookies into muffin cups (lined with muffin liners), which will yield perfectly shaped cookies.
Other Butterscotch Recipes To Try Next:
Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookie Bars
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