Butterscotch Haystack Cookies Recipe

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These no bake haystack cookies are made with just three simple ingredients and are the perfect addition to cookie trays or for a quick and easy treat.

Why you will love this recipe for Haystack Cookies

Who doesn’t love the combination of sweet and salty? There is something special about the balance of the two that is just so delicious and addictive, bringing you in for more and more.

And while a few potato chips with a cookie on the side is totally delicious, the whole sweet and salty thing just gets so much better when you wrap it all up in a tiny and delicious package. Like these haystack cookies.

They get their sweetness from melted butterscotch chips, while they get their salty savoriness from the chow mein noodles and silky peanut butter. All in all, it creates the perfect balance of sweet and salty flavors that keep you coming back for more (truly– we ate these all in one day!).

Oh and did I mention crunchy too? How can something be creamy yet crunchy, and salty yet sweet? Well, these haystack cookies make it happen (must be magic). And all with just 3 ingredients mind you!

They are the perfect addition to a cookie tray, a cookie exchange, or to melt away cravings that pop up from time to time.

More butterscotch recipes to try

And if you’re a butterscotch fiend like I am, you’ll want to try a few more of my butterscotch goodies. I feature butterscotch chips in my recipes for classic butterscotch cookies, copycat compost cookies, and of course, my pumpkin butterscotch bark. You may think the last one is more for Halloween/fall, but I believe pumpkin is a neutral flavor and therefore should be used year-round without question.

Capiche?

While this haystack cookie recipe typically rears its head as an addition to collections of Christmas cookies and the holiday season of baking, I have seen them be a huge hit year round.

Haystack cookies vary much by region or family tradition. Some haystacks recipes are more like what others might call a standard no bake cookie or a chocolate macaroon– a coconut, chocolate, and oat mixture that is mounded in a similar way to these butterscotch haystacks.

Others (like this one) use a combination of a creamy blend of melted chips and peanut butter to coat chow mein noodles. Some haystack recipes use butterscotch chips, others use chocolate chips or white chocolate chips, and some even use a combination of butterscotch and chocolate chips.

Today we’re keeping it simple with this easy recipe for haystack cookies: butterscotch edition.

You’ll need to grab some crunchy chow mein noodles, which are pretty simple to find at your major grocery chains. You’ll need about 5oz (or 141g) to make a single batch of this recipe. Lucky for you, they come in 5oz canisters (in addition to other sizes).

You’ll also need 1 cup of butterscotch chips and about 6 Tablespoons of your favorite creamy peanut butter (because the specific brand of peanut butter is very much a personal thing). You could actually even use crunchy peanut butter if you wanted to… And invite me over for a taste test of that one, mmkay?

And as far as equipment goes? Yeah, that’s super simple too! Just a baking sheet, something to line it with, a silicone spatula, and a cookie scoop.

See? Easy peasy!

2. Once you’ve set your baking sheet aside, just add your chow mein noodles right into a large bowl. Then set that aside as we get started with the creamy peanut butter and butterscotch mixture.

3. Add your butterscotch chips to a small bowl that is safe to put in the microwave (or a glass measuring cup with a spout) and top with the peanut butter.
4. Heat this mixture in the microwave for 30 seconds on MEDIUM heat (you’ll have to set it manually on your microwave) to prevent scorching. Then give it a stir to encourage the butterscotch chips and peanut butter to melt.
5. Return the bowl to the microwave and repeat in 30-second intervals until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Definitely stir way more than your instinct tells you because you can easily scorch the butterscotch chips if the heat isn’t being distributed evenly.

6. Add the butterscotch and peanut butter mixture to the bowl of chow mein noodles (and be forewarned– if you try to sneak some of that creamy goodness on your finger, you WILL be burned– ask me how I know).

7. Then use a silicone spatula to stir everything together until all the noodles are coated and there are no large clumps of either noodles or peanut butter/butterscotch.
   
   I recommend using the spatula to crush the noodles a bit as your stir, as breaking them into smaller pieces helps them scoop into cookies just a tad easier. You don’t want to totally crush them, just break them down a little bit.

9. Use a cookie scoop with a trigger (I use this #50 large cookie scoop) to portion out mounds of the mixture onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. You could use a smaller cookie scoop if you like, but I like the larger cookies you get from using a large scoop.
   
   Alternatively, if you don’t have a cookie scoop, you can use a ¼ cup measuring cup or two Tablespoons’ worth to give them a roughly similar shape (just make sure to grease it first).

Want to get festive? Add some holiday sprinkles to these easy cookies. You’d be surprised what some festive sprinkles can do for a vibe! Plus… Have them all year round and match your occasion. Yes. Do that.

Since the cookies themselves aren’t like traditional cookie dough, you’ll need to press the mounds together a bit just to help them keep their shape. Otherwise, they can look a little odd there on the baking sheet and may not stay together quite as easily.

Once you’ve placed the hardened haystack cookies in containers, you can store them (covered tightly) at room temperature for up to 1 week. They do store longer in the fridge, but their texture is much better at room temperature so my recommendation is to keep them on the counter.

Haystack Cookie Recipe FAQs

If now you’ve now fallen in love with the idea of easy no bake goodies, and you’re looking for some more treats to fill your dessert trays, you have to try a few of my favorites. These include the ever-versatile cream cheese mints, my adorable no bake cheesecake bites, and of course decadent (and super easy) s’mores fudge.