Haystack Cookies

30 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Haystack Cookies are easy no-bake cookies made in 20 minutes with white chocolate, butterscotch chips, peanut butter and chow mein noodles.

Just like my recipes for Avalanche CookiesNo- Bake Cookies and Peanut Butter and Chocolate No-Bake Cookies, this is a delicious Cookie that you can make in minutes with no oven!

Sabrina’s Haystack Cookies Recipe

Cookies are always popular and go well with every occasion, but sometimes they can be a pain to bake. Luckily, this foolproof peanut butter and butterscotch cookie recipe doesn’t require an oven, a bunch of ingredients or fancy baking equipment.

All you need is a microwave safe bowl, a cookie sheet, some parchment paper and a craving for something sweet. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, scoop out your cookies and just let them sit at room temperature until they firm up. The hardest part about making them is trying not to steal a few tastes while they set!

How to Make

Time needed: 20 minutes.

  1. Melt white chocolate mixture

    Add the white chocolate and butterscotch chips to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between each session until melted into a smooth mixture.

  2. Add chow mein

    Add the dry chow mein noodles and peanut butter to the melted mixture. Stir to combine the ingredients and coat the noodles.

  3. Shape cookies

    Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. Then, use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to spoon the mixture onto the baking sheet.

  4. Let set

    Let the Haystack Cookies harden for an hour at room temperature or for 10 minutes in the fridge. Once they set, you can enjoy the sweet and crunchy treats!

Haystack Cookies

Haystack Cookies are easy no-bake cookies made in 20 minutes with white chocolate, butterscotch chips, peanut butter and chow mein noodles.
Yield 30 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 12 ounces white chocolate disks , (melting disks work better than chips which tend to burn)
  • 12 ounces butterscotch chips
  • 1 cup peanut butter , (avoid natural peanut butters)
  • 12 ounces chow mein noodles

Instructions

  • Add the white chocolate and butterscotch chips together in a large microwave safe glass bowl.
  • Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring well in between each one, until fully melted (should be 90 seconds total).
  • Stir in the chow mein noodles and the peanut butter until well mixed.
  • Using a 2 tablespoon sized scoop, scoop out 30 "cookies" onto two parchment paper lined baking sheets and let them sit at room temperature for 1 hour to harden or put them in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to harden before serving.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 197kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 162mg | Potassium: 81mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 15IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg

How to Store

  • Serve: If you keep them in an airtight container at room temperature, haystack cookies are good for up to 2 weeks.
  • Store: If you keep them covered in the fridge the cookies will stay good for about 1 week.
  • Freeze: Freeze your no bake cookies for up to 3 weeks. You can thaw them by putting them in the fridge for a few hours and then enjoy them chilled.

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Variations

  • Chocolate chips: You can mix in any flavor of chocolate chips you would like, but I’d recommend semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips. Also mini chocolate chips would distribute better in the small cookies.
  • Marshmallows: Stir in some mini marshmallows, or make your own Homemade Marshmallows from scratch.
  • Pretzels: Pretzels are the best way to mix in some salty crunch if the chow mein noodles just aren’t enough. Use pretzel sticks instead of the traditionally shaped ones and your cookies will look even more like haystacks.
  • Nuts: You can add chopped cashews, peanuts or walnuts to the mix for a salty crunch and nutty flavor.
  • Corn flakes: I would use regular corn flakes, not the frosted ones, so you get a chewy texture without making the cookies overly sweet.

More Easy No Bake Treats!

Finished cookies on platter with recipe name.

Photos used in previous versions of this post:

Finished cookies on a sheet in two rows
Close up of cookies on a baking sheet
Haystack Cookies lined up on baking tray
Peanut butter butterscotch cookies on a tray
Pin collage of no-bake cookies on a baking sheet
scooping cookies onto parchment paper.

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Thank you for the simple and delicious recipe..now it’s on my Christmas list to make for my family and friends every year..

  2. I’ve eaten these a neighbor made this she moved I never got the recipe. My questions are can I only use semi sweet chocolate chips how much of the pretzels do you add… do you break them up? What about the peanut butter do you increasing it when using pretzels?

    1. All good questions…I’ve outlined several options in the body of the blog for you to take a look at. Several options for chips and Pretzels…you can trade out the chow mein noodles or you can do 6 oz chow mein noodles and 6 oz pretzels ( the super small stick ones broken up to match the chow mein noodle consistency and size…lot of options….let us know what you decide to do and how they turn out!

  3. My Aunt made the haystack cookies for years. Me and 3 siblings always fought over them. They are awesome!!!!

  4. I made these tonight and we love them I wanted to make them for Christmas but…. You couldn’t find the noodles anywhere, easy recipe

  5. I use my grandmothers recipe which calls for shoe string potatoes instead of chow main noodles and just butterscotch chips.

    1. Hi, Connie. I have made haystacks for many years now, but never have I used peanut butter with the chocolate, butterscotch, etc. I have always melted chocolate chips or chocolate & butterscotch chips or white & chocolate chips, adding a tsp. of shortening, then mixing with the chow mein noodles. Always turned out good. But I’m going to make the peanut butter ones too! Cheri

  6. Hello Sabrina, I have been making these for many years, as they are my daughter’s favorite. The only thing I do different is my recipe has Spanish peanuts in it.
    Delish.

  7. My mom made these for my class about 50+ years ago. I have never forgot about how good they were. When she made them she added miniature marshmallows to them??

    1. Hmm, I just tried it and it worked for me. Maybe try it on another browser? I used chrome with no issue. Hope this helps.

  8. Haystacks are so yummy, and so easy! Like you, I like to add some pretzel sticks too. Sweet and salty all the way!

  9. Sabrina, I’m loving these festive haystack cookies! Every year around the holidays my sister and I get together to make these fun and flavorful treats.

  10. I have been making haystacks for about 60 years, this is a different take on a family favorite, can’t wait to try your version.

        1. are you looking for a substitute? There are many different types of spreadable butters you could try instead but it will, of course, affect the taste of the haystacks.