These Easter Candy Nests (chow mein haystacks) are the perfect easy holiday treat to make with kids. Only 5 kid-friendly ingredients and lots of fun - beware of dirty, sticky hands!

Easy to make chow mein noodle candies! Some call these haystacks, some call them nests, but whatever you call them they are fun to make with the kids and taste absolutely delicious!Do you remember candy like this from when you were little? Gobs of chewy goodness made from chow mein noodles? I remember not quite being sure about the hard crunchy noodle part but once I bit into them I didn't care!

Chow Mein Noodle Candy - aka Noodle Nests and Haystacks

These Easter Candy Nests are easy to make, messy, fun and tasty. This is a recipe from my archive that I made with my boys or I should say I let them make them and I watched. They had a blast and got extra gooey and sticky!

Chow Mein Noodle Candy - the perfect treat to make for and with kids!

Once these were done I used them as a centerpiece of sorts. I flipped over some wine glasses and goblets, filled the bottoms with speckled eggs, jelly beans, and card stock flowers and put a nest on the top of each mini cloche.

Here are my chefs, *sigh* how I miss these days; the morning hair and smiling little faces. I loved to catch them right when they woke up and coerce them into fun projects like this?!?

The little guy on the left is still my little guy, but growing quicker than I care to say, and the guy on the right, he is almost all grown up now.

My 3 sons at my oldest son's college graduation

Here's what they look like now celebrating their oldest brother's college graduation.

📖 Recipe

Prep Time:10

Total Time:40

Ingredients

1 jar {7 ounces} marshmallow creme
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter melted
1 can {5 ounces} chow mein noodles
1 cup pastel M&M's

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, beat marshmallow creme, peanut butter and butter until smooth.
Fold in noodles and M&M's.
Chill until easy to handle.
Cover baking sheet with waxed paper.
Use approximately ⅓ cup of mixture and form into nests.
Chill for 30 minutes.

As with any of my recipes, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish.

Servings: servings

Calories:

Author: Mary Beth

Once they were all done and clean up took place, i.e., they washed all the stickiness away, they taste-tested their creation. They gave these a 10 out of 10 (there could be some partiality in their scoring) and wanted to make them again.

Did you have these when you were little or have you ever made them for yourself and your family? I would love to hear about any tweaks you have for your recipe. I'm always looking for ideas and inspiration!

And, speaking of family and kids growing up, there's a great service that can help when it comes time to writing papers if help is needed run by Will Martins. Check it out if that's something you'd like to learn more about.