Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies

Sweet, crunchy, and a little bit gooey, Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies set off memories of family parties filled with sticky-fingered kids and too-full adults. Add in the fact that they are incredibly simple to prepare, and it's hard to find fault in these peanutty cookie nests. Here's everything you need to know about them.

What Are Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies?

Sometimes called Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookie Clusters or Peanut Butter Cornflake Drop Cookies, these treats feature just four ingredients (though you could easily get creative, adding butterscotch chips or a drizzle of melted chocolate, for example). Since they come together so fast, these cookies are perfect for an after-school snack or for whipping up for a cookie swap.

Do You Have to Bake Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies?

Nope! These no-bake cookies set up on your counter in a matter of minutes. Plus, there's zero chance your cookies won't set—and as long as you don't burn the sugar, there's zero chance they won't be delicious.

For more no-bake desserts, check out our No-Bake Fudgy Toffee Bars and No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.

Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies Ingredients

Odds are, you have most of the ingredients for these four-ingredient cookies in your pantry.

Sugar
Cookies wouldn't be cookies without the sweet stuff! Sugar combines with the corn syrup for a firmer cookie.

Light Corn Syrup
Corn syrup is what holds these no-bake cookies together. You can use dark corn syrup if that's what you have, but it will change the color of the finished cookies, and the flavor will be a little more caramel-y.

Chunky Peanut Butter
We use chunky peanut butter because the nut pieces give the cookies more peanut flavor, and it's easier to drop them onto the cookie sheet. That said, you can use creamy peanut butter if it's what you have on hand—the flavor will just be a bit more subtle.

Cornflakes Cereal
We use regular cornflakes. Try to crush them as little as possible as you make the cookies.

How to Make Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies

Step 1. Make the syrup

To make Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies, first combine the sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan until the mixture is just starting to bubble, then stir in the peanut butter until you have a nice, smooth mixture.

Tip: If you spray your measuring cup with cooking spray before measuring out the corn syrup and peanut butter, your ingredients will easily slide out and into your pot.

Step 2. Combine cereal and syrup

Once you have your smooth peanut butter mixture, pour it over the cornflakes, and toss it to combine.

Tip: You need to do this gently so as not to crush the cornflakes—but at the same time, work quickly because the mixture will start to set up fast.

Step 3. Spoon out cookies

Once combined, use a spoon and spatula to drop the cookies onto your prepared baking sheet. Give them a couple minutes to set, and they are ready to eat!

How to Store Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies

If you simply pile all your cookies into a storage container you're going to have one giant Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookie clump when you try to pull one out. Instead, make a layer of cookies on the bottom of your container, cover with a piece of wax paper and continue layering cookies and wax paper so they don't all stick together.

You can store your cookies on the counter for a few days if your kitchen isn't too hot—otherwise, we recommend keeping them in the refrigerator, and they'll keep for about a week.

Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies can also be frozen for a few months, though you may notice a slightly grittier texture in your frozen and thawed cookies than you would in those that were just made.