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Butterscotch peanut butter Easter haystacks with cute chocolate mini eggs are perfect for Easter. Combining sweet butterscotch with tasty peanut butter and more, these chow mein noodle nests are quick, easy and a lot of fun to make. So if you’re wondering how to make these adorable haystacks, you will definitely love the simplicity of these no bake treats.
These gorgeous 5-ingredient Easter nest treats are a simple and traditional recipe, contrasting different textures and ingredients for an amazing flavor experience.
You might also like to make Easter cocktails, this delicious pizza giana rustica (traditional Italian Easter fare) or some sweet Easter cookies.
Why You’ll Love It
Easy: All you need are 5 ingredients and these sweet haystacks with peanut butter and butterscotch chips are so quick and straightforward to prepare.
Colorful: If you’re making sweet treats for Easter, you will want to use colorful ingredients such as mini chocolate eggs. These chow mein noodle snacks are certainly eye-catching.
No baking involved: You do have to melt some of the ingredients but you don’t need to put the oven on to make these simple yet wonderful Easter Sunday treats.
Chow Mein Noodle Nests Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Butterscotch chips: For a rich butterscotch flavor.
Butter: Salted or unsalted is fine. If using unsalted, add a little salt.
Peanut butter: Your choice of smooth or crunchy.
Candy-coated chocolate eggs: These are everywhere around Easter time!
Chow mein noodles: Not just for making stir fries! You might be thinking that is a strange ingredient to use in sweet no-bake treats. But they’re perfect. The noodles offer crunch as well as a neutral flavor. They also resemble bird nests so your traditional haystack recipe will look very much like little nests.
How to Make Haystacks for Easter
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Melt the butter and butterscotch chips: The first step in this Easter butterscotch peanut butter haystacks recipe is to melt the butter in a pan. Mix in the butterscotch chips and let those melt too.
Add the peanut butter: Take the pan off the heat and mix in the peanut butter. Let the mixture cool a little then stir in the noodles. You probably won’t need all of them so just add some at a time.
Assemble the chow mein noodle haystacks and let them set: Now spoon this mixture on to wax paper-lined baking sheets and add a few chocolate mini eggs on top of each one. These Easter nest treats then need about half an hour in the refrigerator to set and then you can serve them.
Substitutions and Variations
Butterscotch chips: You might like to swap some of the butterscotch chips for milk or white chocolate chips or use your favorite crunchy breakfast cereal instead of chow mein noodles.
Chow mein noodles: Mini Wheats or All-Bran cereal would work for chocolate peanut butter Easter haystacks, but they wouldn’t look as much like a real bird’s nest than the noodles. Another substitution for the chow mein noodles would be broken pretzels since they would also have a nest-like look. Or you could use some noodles and some pretzels to get both flavors and textures in there.
Optional add-ins: Include some mini marshmallows, taking inspiration from confetti squares. You can have fun and make these Easter egg peanut butter haystacks your own.
Serving Suggestions
With savory food: Enjoy spring appetizers or these chicken salad sandwiches.
With other sweet treats: Pair these sweet bites with lemon cupcakes and spring pretzel bites. Chewy coffee cookies are also delicious.
How to Store Easter Haystacks
Store: If you want to make this traditional haystack recipe ahead of time, you absolutely can. They will stay fresh for a couple of weeks in an airtight container, either in the refrigerator or at room temperature. The outside will soften a bit if the temperature is warm, so I recommend keeping them refrigerated unless you keep your kitchen cold.
Freeze: Don’t freeze these, otherwise the noodles will thaw out soggy.
Top Tips
Wax paper: Use wax paper to line your baking sheet, as you don’t want these to stick.
Make them realistic: Push the chocolate mini eggs down a bit so they look like real eggs inside a nest. You don’t just want them precariously balanced on top.
Noodle alternatives: If you don’t want to use noodles, just substitute pretzels, All-Bran cereal or something like that instead.
Traditional Easter Haystacks Recipe FAQs
Now you know how to make haystacks with noodles, you might be wondering whether they’re safe to eat raw. The answer is yes, they are absolutely safe. Actually, ‘raw’ ramen or chow mein noodles aren’t raw at all. They are cooked before they’re dried. This means they are perfectly safe to eat, and they add a beautiful crunch to these Easter butterscotch peanut butter haystacks without adding a savory flavor. They’re neutral-tasting, which means they will work in both sweet and savory recipes.
First of all, if you don’t want to use the noodles, choose a breakfast cereal that resembles bird nests. Also, the shape should be rounded, so you have the choice of using parchment paper-lined baking sheets or you can use a muffin tin and put each of the Easter nest treats in a muffin cup.
Easter Butterscotch Peanut Butter Haystacks Recipe
Easter Haystacks
Equipment
- Pot Large
- Cookie Scoop ¼-Cup
Ingredients
- ¼ Cup salted butter, or unsalted with a pinch of salt
- 11 Ounces butterscotch chips, 1 bag
- 1 Cup peanut butter, any kind
- 14 Ounces chow mein noodles, 1 bag
- candy-coated chocolate eggs, I used 3 per nest
Instructions
- Line baking sheets with wax paper.
- Melt butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Stir in butterscotch chips until fully melted, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Allow to cool slightly (about 3 to 5 minutes).
- Remove about 2 tablespoons of the peanut butter and butterscotch mixture and set aside.
- Carefully stir in chow mein noodles into the remaining mixture. Add half a bag to start and then add a little at a time, until evenly coated. (You might not need the entire bag)
- Using a ¼-cup cookie scoop or measuring cup, spoon chow mein mixture onto prepared baking sheets.
- Use the set aside peanut butter and butterscotch mixture to help adhere candy coated chocolate eggs securely by dipping them into mixture and pushing them into the centre of the nests (2 to 3 per nest).
- Finally, refrigerate them for half an hour or until set.
Notes
Make them realistic: Push the chocolate mini eggs down a bit so they look like real eggs inside a nest. You don’t just want them precariously balanced on top.
Noodle alternatives: If you don’t want to use noodles, just substitute pretzels, All-Bran cereal or something like that instead.
Nutrition
Easter peanut butter butterscotch haystacks are so cute and absolutely perfect for kids. They are no-bake treats that you can make a week or so ahead of time if you like. This peanut butter haystack recipe with chocolate mini eggs and crunchy chow main noodles is a real winner. And you can add more ingredients like dark chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and extra butterscotch morsels. The chow mein noodle nests are quick, easy, cute, and delicious!
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Butterscotch is one of my faves! These cookies are adorable.
These are adorable and so even easy enough for me ha ha