This recipe for no-bake bird’s nest cookies is almost so easy that it’s barely a recipe at all. Like haystack cookies, which are comprised of chow mein noodles bundled together with melted butterscotch chips, these cookies get a deeper color and flavor from semisweet chocolate. The candy chocolate eggs (or malted milk ball eggs) that fill their centers tells you, ah yes these are cute little birds nests and not piles of, well…

Ingredients for Bird’s Nest Cookies

• Butterscotch Chips: One of the key ingredients to normal haystack cookies.
• Semisweet Chocolate: I prefer chopped chocolate because it melts easier and is more forgiving to stirring and resistant to seizing up. You could use chocolate chips in a pinch, however! I liked the balance of sweetness and milkiness in semisweet chocolate but you could go dark if you wanted to. Just don’t do milk as it’s a little too close to butterscotch in flavor and intensity.
• Salt: This could be a cloyingly sweet dessert without the addition of some salt into the melted chocolate.
• Chow Mein Noodles: I like to use the crunchy noodles that come in the blue La Choy can, which contains just enough for this recipe. You could also use pretzel sticks!
• Chocolate Candy Eggs/Malted Milk Ball Eggs: I used Cadbury mini chocolate eggs.

How to Make Bird’s Nest Cookies

Start by melting the butterscotch chips over very gentle heat using a double boilers. (This is just a heat safe bowl placed over an inch of simmering water in a saucepan.) Ensure the water isn’t too high that it touches the bottom of the bowl, or alternately that the rim of the saucepan is narrow enough that it can support the sides of the bowl.

If you’re using chopped chocolate, which I recommend, it will melt faster than the butterscotch chips. (Chips have a coating on the outside that actually discourages melting and helps to keep its shape.) Don’t panic! Low, gentle heat, plus occasionally scraping of the bottom of the bottom and sides of the bowl, will melt everything. It will take a few minutes.

You can actually take the bowl off the heat once almost all of the butterscotch chips have melted into the chocolate, since the heat from the bowl and the chocolate will keep everything melty and warm. Once the chocolate and butterscotch chips are melted and smooth, stir in the salt.

Fold in the chow mein noodles gently. We want the crispy noodles to be completely coated in the melted chocolate, with little pooling at the bottom of the bowl, but we don’t want to be so aggressive that we start breaking the noodles. A rubber spatula helps a lot here.

This might be the trickiest part of the recipe. Dollop about two tablespoons of the mixture onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Using a spoon (or clean hands, which is a little easier but will rub some of the chocolate off the noodles) start to encourage the noodles into a round-ish shape, and make a small divot in the center — not too big, though, or the eggs will fall through.

Top the chocolate birds nests with two or 3 chocolate candy eggs or malted milk ball eggs each. I think they’re actually easier to eat if you either eat the eggs first or last. But we’re making them becuase they look like cute little robin’s eggs and nests and they’re delicious not because they’re easy or mess-free to eat.

Did you make these chocolate bird’s nest desserts? I want to see! Tag me @easygayoven on Instagram and TikTok.

Bird’s Nest Cookies

Print Recipe

Melted butterscotch and chocolate hold together crispy chow mein noodles in the shape of a bird's nest — with candy chocolate eggs inside.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword birds nest cookies, birds nest dessert, butterscotch haystacks, chocolate birds nest, chocolate easter nests, chocolate haystacks, easter cookies, easter desserts, easter nest cookies, easter nests, haystacks

Active Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

• 4 ounces butterscotch chips 2/3 cup
• 4 ounces finely chopped semisweet chocolate 3/4 cup
• Kosher salt
• 5 ounces chow mein noodles 2 1/2 cups
• 30 mini chocolate eggs/malt ball eggs

Instructions

• Line a sheet tray with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
• Set a medium bowl over a saucepan containing around 1 inch of water and turn heat to low. Add chocolate, butterscotch chips, and a pinch of salt to the bowl, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth.
• Remove bowl from saucepan and fold in chow mein noodles until evenly coated.
• Place about 2 spoonfuls of the mixture onto the sheet. With your fingers, make a divet in the middle and shape into a “nest.” Repeat with the rest of the mixture.
• Set aside and let the chocolate-butterscotch coating set, then top each nest with 3 or so eggs.