No-Bake Trail Mix Cookies

Everything you love about traditional trail mix in cookie form! These No-Bake Trail Mix Cookies are an easy & fun treat that can get kids involved in the kitchen!

I think No-Bake Cookies are one of the best kinds of recipes to get kids started in the kitchen. You can usually just mix everything together in one bowl and nothing is required to be overly precise, perfect for little hands and busy minds. If you're like me, the hardest part is often giving up some control and accepting there might be some extra clean-up required after. As a parent, I often find myself growing and learning right alongside my kids while branching out of my comfort zone. I think kids often embody the concept of living in the moment and they are teaching me to do the same. 

Getting kids involved in the kitchen can teach so many skills while they see it as just having fun. Having them help measure or count ingredients grows math skills. What could be a more perfect example of a sequence than a recipe? Turn certain recipes into a science lesson by explaining why you add baking powder to a cake recipe. Fine motor skills can be practiced whisking ingredients in a bowl or frosting a cupcake. Creativity can flourish when a child comes up with an idea for something new to try or add to a recipe (no matter how crazy it may sound).

A sense of accomplishment and self-confidence can come from starting a recipe with separate ingredients and transforming them into a finished product that they made with their own hands. The smiles on their faces holding up their misshapen cookies is priceless, along with the memories made while spending this time together. 

What You'll Need

These No-Bake Trail Mix Cookies only require a handful of ingredients and can be customized to your liking. 

Here's what you'll need:

• Oats - quick oats work best for no-bake cookies as they are cut smaller than old-fashioned oats. If you only have old-fashioned oats, just place them in a food processor and pulse them a few times to break them up a little.  Quick oats make the cookies a little less chewy. 
• Butter - coconut oil could be used as a substitute
• Honey - adds a hint of natural sweetness to the cookies
• Crunchy peanut butter - the small pieces of peanuts mimic the peanuts found in traditional trail mix
• Raisins - dried cranberries would also work great
• M&M's - let's be honest, the best thing about trail mix is the M&M's. I am completely guilty of eating all the M&M's out of a bowl of trail mix and leaving the peanuts & raisins behind. 

How to Make No-Bake Trail Mix Cookies

Start the No-Bake Trail Mix Cookies by heating the butter, honey and peanut butter in a small saucepan until melted. Pour the mixture over a mixing bowl of oats and stir until well coated. Besides the adult assistance needed heating the peanut butter mixture, let your kiddos take the reigns for the rest of the recipe. 

Next to the bowl, add in the raisins and M&M's. Gently mix to evenly disperse them throughout the cookie dough. Then using a ¼ cup measuring cup, to drop cookie dough onto a piece of parchment paper. This measurement gives you the perfectly sized cookie and should allow you to get a dozen cookies out of this recipe. Shape the cookies into a circle and make them as rounded or flat as you prefer. Allow the cookies to set for about 15 minutes before moving them to an airtight container. No-Bake Trail Mix Cookies are best served at room temperature but they could also be stored in the refrigerator. These cookies will stay fresh for up to a week. 

These No-Bake Trail Mix Cookies will remain fairly soft once they are set. For this reason, I wouldn't recommend serving these cookies in a warm setting like an outdoor picnic. The M&M's could start to melt along with the peanut butter and could cause the cookies to fall apart. Leave the traditional trail mix for the actual trail and these cookies for a fun treat once you return!

 

Other popular cookie recipes:

Orange Cranberry Cookies

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Molasses Cookies