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Thursday, April 24, 2014

Butterscotch "Nests" or Haystacks

Easter happened to fall on my grandmother's 88 birthday this year.  I used to stay with my grandparents every weekend growing up & loved my time with them.  She is one of my main influences when it comes to being thrifty.  Every Saturday morning, we would wake up super early & head to the yard sales.  It was always a great time.  My Leila also let me help her cook or make things.  One of the things that we would like to make was "haystacks'.  They are essentially chow mein noodles, butterscotch morsels, peanut butter & peanuts.  There are other ways to make these that include chocolate chips too, but we always just liked to keep them plain & simple.  Since it was Leila's birthday, I thought I would like to make the haystacks we always made.  I decided to do a little Easter spin on them though.  To make the haystacks, take 2 bags of butterscotch morsels (the 11 oz bags) & melt them down.  Add in 3/4 cup of peanut butter & stir until smooth.  If it seems too dry, add in 1-2 tsps of vegetable oil.  Add that mixture to the 5 oz of chow mein noodles & 1 1/4 cups of peanuts, coating them well.  Let harden for at least an hour.  I usually let them sit for at least 2 just to make sure they are super firm. For Easter, I didn't actually feel like adding in the peanuts (aka I had probably forgotten to buy them at the store), so I just rolled on without them & they turned out fine. 

So after I made the regular haystacks, I flattened them out a little & made a little indention in the middle.  This made it easy after they hardened to add in the little egg Whoppers to look like eggs in a bird's nest.  I set up two trays with the "birds' nests" & their little eggs.  In the middle of each tray, I put a nest with a bird (aka a Peep).  Here is what the trays looked like.





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