Our no bake easy butterscotch haystacks recipe shaped into nests is the best Easter dessert. 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 haystacks 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!
Ingredient Notes
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 to Make Butterscotch Haystacks
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:
Time needed: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Butterscotch Haystacks
- Prepare
Melt peanut butter and bag of butterscotch chips in microwave in 30 second intervals stirring in between, until creamy. This may take 2-3 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. Use a spatula to gently coat them well.
- Set
Spoon into a muffin tin that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. If you want to make into nest shapes; use a finger or spoon to make a divot in the middle of each ones so the chocolate eggs will fit. This will make about 16 total.
- Cool
Allow to cool and harden for about an hour or so. Can put in fridge to harden faster. Then pop out of tins and add chocolate eggs on top in the middle.
Variations
You do not have to make these in the shape of birds nests, however that is the most fun. If you didn’t care about the shape you could use a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper on top (so they don’t stick). Scoop a large heaping tbsp full of the mix on and allow to cool that way so they just look like haystacks basically.
FAQ
Yes you would just use more chips instead. Instead of melting the peanut butter with the butterscotch chips you would just melt the chips alone. I suggest adding a bit of coconut oil so they don’t burn. Pour that over the chow mein noodles and voila!
If you want to prevent them from getting sticky I would transfer them (once hardened and cooled) into an airtight container and store in the fridge. If kept on the countertop the outside will get slightly warmed and when you pick them up it will make your fingers gooey, refrigerating will prevent this.
You could but they wouldn’t have quite the same look to them. You could make these with all sorts of other things including; cereal like cornflakes or pretzel sticks.
If you don’t care about shaping them into nests I would just use a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Scoop the mixture on top and allow them to cool as is that way. It would be hard to make a divot in the center without the muffin tin though unless you used round cookie cutters.
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. If you want to make them into a nest shape; use finger or spoon to make a divot in the middle of each ones so the chocolate eggs will 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
Notes
Butterscotch Haystacks No Peanut Butter (option)
You would want to melt an entire bag of butterscotch chips with 1 tsp coconut oil on the top in 30 second intervals in the microwave stirring after each session until it is smooth. This will take about 2 minutes total. Add 3.5 cups chow mein noodles into a bowl and pour the melted chips over the top following the rest of the instructions above regarding how you want them shaped.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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!
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!
These look really interesting! I’m writing a blog post on best Easter DIYs and would love to feature this- would use 1 photo and link to this tutorial- would that be OK? 🙂 Thanks!
I made these last night with my kids, and they loved them! We didn’t have butterscotch chips, so we used regular chocolate chips, and they turned out really well!!
I’m so glad you liked them! Yes you can totally swap out chips and make different ones each time!
So fun for kids! Love it!
Thanks
These sound delicious and want to make for Easter but have a child allergic to p/b. could you leave out the p/b?
I don’t see why not. The butterscotch chips should harden just by itself and look like this!
If you have a Trader Joe’s they have cookie butter OMG deliciousness!!!! Same consistency as peanut butter! But it’s pulverized Cookies!!
So cute! Thanks for allowing me to share in my Easter Roundup 🙂
Of course.
Cute,fun, great Easter activity!Voted as my favorite for Turn It Up Tuesday- !!Thanks for sharing your creation with us:)
Thanks!
These are so cute! Thanks for sharing at Turn It Up Tuesday.
Those are just so cute! You did a great job!
If you have time, come and share this post over at the Really Crafty link party that is live right now! (http://keepingitrreal.blogspot.com.es/2016/02/welcome-to-really-crafty-link-party-6.html).
These look really fun. I am going to have to try these for Easter. I love learning new recipes, especially easy kid ones. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Sitting Among Friends on Wednesdays. I look forward to seeing more posts.
Way too cute and SO easy!