Our easy no bake butterscotch haystacks nests are the perfect dessert for Easter time or year round. Made with peanut butter, butterscotch chips and cute chocolate eggs. You can shape these crunchy chow mein noodles in any shape you love.
Have you ever made Easter butterscotch haystack nests for dessert? They are a really delicious peanut butter and butterscotch treat that only takes a few minutes to make and no baking is necessary!
You can jazz them up with little add ins depending on what you like. This time we made them into little nests for Easter. A quick easy dessert for your get together this year. Easter nests are really easy to make!
All you need are 3 ingredients to make the basic blend. But then we used these fun chocolate egg candies you find at Easter time so they’d look like bird nests but Halloween Haystacks are great too.
Butterscotch Haystacks with Peanut Butter Ingredients
First you’ll need a muffin pan. It makes them similarly sized and a great way to store them when you’re done. I found all of the ingredients online this time. I have picked them up in the grocery store as well.
For the crunchiness you are going to use a can of La Choy Crunchy chow mein noodles. They don’t have much of a flavor so it is easy to transform from something usually served on top of dinner to a dessert.
You will want some creamy peanut butter (better than chunky for the texture) for a rich flavor.
Can you make butterscotch haystacks nut-free?
You could in the sense that sunflower butter would work as well. I will say that there will be a slight difference in the flavor of course and it may take a bit longer to harden because it is not quite as thick as peanut butter but a great substitute.
Then for the sweetness what is typically used are Butterscotch morsels or chips they may be called. They are with the chocolate chips, just a different flavor.
Can you make haystacks without butterscotch?
Yes! You totally can use any type of chips you want. You are going to melt it with the peanut butter to coat the crispy Chinese noodles so it doesn’t matter. Using semi-sweet chocolate chips would be another great combination of the two. Make a few and see which is your favorite!
In this case to make into nests we added a few candy chocolate eggs or M&Ms work great with a bunch of colors too. Of course if you aren’t making these for a Spring holiday you can just put large dollops on wax paper or parchment paper. Allow them to cool to room temperature until hardened and enjoy that way too.
How many calories in a butterscotch haystack?
All in moderation friends when it comes to holiday treats right? Nutritional facts will vary depending on how large your pieces are of course but the size cooled in a muffin tin has about 300 calories in them.
It is a no bake dessert which I love. It’s also easy for the kids to help you with this easy Easter dessert. We even use the same concept but made mummy haystacks for Halloween that were a real hit!
There is a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post but here is a quick step by step for you to begin with:
How to Make No-Bake Haystacks
Time needed: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Butterscotch Haystacks
- Prepare
Melt peanut butter and bag of butterscotch chips in microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals stirring in between times, until creamy. May take 2-3 30 second intervals. Alternatively you could melt the butterscotch chips and PB using a double boiler.
- Mix
Add the chow mein crunchy noodles to a large bowl and stir in the peanut butter mixture on top. Mix well.
- Set
Spoon into muffin tin that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, should make 16 total. Use finger or spoon to make a divot in the middle of each ones so eggs fit.
- Cool
Allow to cool and harden for about an hour or so. Can put in fridge to harden faster. Pop out of tins and add chocolate eggs. Can easily half this recipe and make just 8 if desired.
Butterscotch Haystacks Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 4 cup chow mein noodles, crunchy, in bag
- 1 cup peanut butter, creamy
- 1 bag butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Melt peanut butter and butterscotch chips in microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals stirring in between times, until creamy. May take 2-3 30 second intervals.
- Add crunchy noodles to a bowl and pour peanut butter mixture on top. Mix well.
- Spoon into muffin tin that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, should make 16 total. Use finger or spoon to make a divot in the middle of each ones so eggs fit.
- Allow to cool and harden for about an hour or so. Can put in fridge to harden faster.
- Pop out of tins and add Easter mini chocolate eggs. Can easily half this recipe and make just 8 if desired.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
It’s a favorite, and making them into “nests” is always a hit! I hope you enjoy our Easter nests haystacks recipe. Check out some other easy recipe ideas on my blog and if you’re cooking with kids you should Try how to make ice cream at home in a bag! Our strawberry cake in a mug recipe is great and just takes 2 ingredients
Other peanut butter recipes you’ll love
If you want to use the rest of your jar, try making the best ever peanut butter cookie brownies. A batch of peanut butter chicken is amazing for dinner too. For another fun holiday idea, make our Crockpot peanut clusters. Sprinkle on the colors for Easter and they’ll be a huge hit too!
Super easy and fun recipe to make! Our kids loved it!
Oh good!
These turned out great! They were tasty, easy to make, and super cute. Thank you!
Such a fun sweet treat for Easter! 🙂 And I am loving the butterscotch flavor happening here.
I always love a no bake recipe! These cookies were a hit with the whole fam!
Oh yay
I love to make haystacks and these are so cute for Easter.
Looks so good! I know my family will love these.
These are adorable! Can’t wait to make them with my son for easter.
I am planning these for my grandsons dinosaur party on Saturday “dinosaur eggs”. How far in advance can I make them and they still be fresh enough? Do they need to be refrigerated?
I wouldn’t make them more than a day or so before personally. I would keep in the muffin tin and cover tightly with plastic wrap to maintain their shape and keep away from warm areas or they will melt.
These were easy to make and so cute! However, they melted in your hands and were very messy. They should probably be kept refrigerated and eaten cold.
Ours never melted in our hands like you’re stating, just a bit on fingers. Could be due to type of peanut butter you used. If it is very loose in the jar it wouldn’t hold up as well I would imagine but haven’t had this result so just guessing.
Thank you however I don’t see a link to the recipe you used on my site to create these.
My daughter has celiac do you think you could make these with Gluten free pretzel sticks?
As long as she can have all the other ingredients I think you could easily substitute stick pretzels broken in half instead for sure! Let me know how it works!
Yup pretzels work really well