Haystack candies are a reminder of childhood

Today’s recipe takes me back the to my childhood, that’s because it was at one of my Girl Scout meetings in grade school that I first made this recipe.

I hadn’t made Butterscotch Haystacks in a long time. As I was looking through Pinterest, I came across a recipe for Butterscotch Haystacks from The Novice Chef at thenovicechefblog.com.

This recipe is simple and easy to make. It’s a great recipe to allow children to make, with supervision, as it involves no baking, just the use of a microwave oven.

Some people classify this as a no-bake cookie, but because of the ingredients, I think it is more a candy treat rather than a cookie treat. It takes little prep time and needs only four ingredients — butterscotch chips, creamy peanut butter, chow mein noodles and miniature marshmallows. These ingredients are readily available at any grocery store. The chow mein noodles can be found in the Asian-International section of the grocery store.

Before you begin, line cookie trays with wax paper or parchment paper. I like to use silicon baking sheets instead of wax or parchment paper. Once you buy the silicon baking sheets, you can reuse them over and over again saving money as well as helping the environment.

Using the microwave oven, melt the butterscotch chips in a large microwave-safe bowl according to the directions. Make sure you stir each time and don’t use more time than is necessary. If you do, the chips can “seize” or harden up. Once that happens the chips will no longer be useful. That is why the recipe states to use 10-15 second intervals.

Once the chips have melted completely, add the creamy peanut butter and stir until well blended. Fold in the chow mein noodles and mini-marshmallows. Make sure all ingredients are coated with the butterscotch/peanut butter mixture. I use a scoop type rubber spatula to fold the remaining ingredients.

Using a tablespoon, drop the mixture onto the wax paper. I used a 2-inch cookie scoop for each of my haystacks. The recipe makes 24 pieces. You can change this recipe a bit by using half the amount of chow mein noodles and replace it with an additional mix-in. Some of these mix-ins could be chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, Chex cereal, Rice Krispies, M & M’s or sprinkles.

Butterscotch Haystacks can be kept in the refrigerator for a week. They can also be kept at room temperature for several days. Either way, these haystacks need to be stored in an airtight container to keep them fresh. But I am guessing that once you make these, they will disappear quickly.

Maybe you will be transported back to your childhood making Butterscotch Haystacks too. Enjoy, because Life is Sweet.