How long do no-bake cookies take to set?

I made a batch of No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies and they did not set. I ended up with clumps of gooey mess.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Although most no-bake cookie recipes are pretty easy, it’s important to follow the recipe, specifically for ingredient amounts and cooking time. When a recipe says ‘boil’ it means the mixture should bubble for the recommended amount of time. Because we’re so used to boiling food and then simmering it, many no-bake cookies fail if you turn the heat to a simmer before it’s simmered long enough.

Another reason for failure of no-bake recipes is when ingredients are left out but other ingredients are not added. It’s about volume. For example, if a recipe calls for 8 ounces of milk, but you only have 4, your mixture will be too dry to curdle and may end up as a crumbly mess. The missing 4 ounces of fluid must be made up with another fluid, such as water or juice.

It’s perfectly okay to reduce or avoid ingredients you don’t like, but unless you also reduce the same proportions with the other ingredients, you can run into problems. So if you want to reduce the amount of oatmeal by 1/2 cup, try making up the volume with 1/2 cup of cereal and your cookies will be fine.

Not allowing your cookies to be set for the recommended amount of time can also lead to failure. Even though you’ve made a fabulous batch of cookies, if they don’t have enough time to set firmly, they’ll fall apart. Some cookies can be ready to eat in as little as 30 minutes, while others require an hour or two before they’re ready to eat. It’s hard to put cookies down when they look good enough to eat, however, it’s the difference between eating a perfect cookie and having a handful of crumbs.