Recipe: Haystacks

By request, here's one of my family's favorite sweet snacks. You may have had this years ago with chow mein noodles, but this update uses Fiber One Cereal. Easy to make, and lots of variations keep it interesting.

The cast of characters:

Fiber One cereal comes with two bags in each box - this recipe uses only one of the bags.
Chips -- one small bag (11 or 12 oz usually) of whatever chips you like. I'm splitting this recipe and making a half-batch of white chocolate and a half-batch of milk chocolate with a secret ingredient. I've made them mixing chocolate and peanut butter chips in one bowl -- yum. Just get about 12 oz of chips and one bag of cereal and you're set. This will make about 48 haystacks.

This recipe comes together really fast, so you have to be ready. Get cookie sheets out and line them with parchment paper or foil.

Put the chips into a microwave-safe bowl. It needs to be large enough to be able to stir the cereal in.

Because I'm making two different flavors, I measured out half of my chips.

[Do you have one of these scales yet? Hubby surprised me with one last week and I can't live without it now. Absolutely awesome.]

Note: Also, because I'm splitting mine into two batches, I had to split my cereal -- do this before you start!

Here's how the math works: A box of Fiber one is 16.2 oz. so each bag is 8.1 oz. I'm using 1/2 a bag for each flavor, so I needed 4 oz. Or you can eyeball it if you don't have control issues like me.

From this point on, you'll be working pretty fast.

• Put the bowl of chips in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir; the chips won't feel very melted, but stir them anyway.
• Put them back in for another 30 seconds. This time when you stir, they will probably be almost all the way melted. Resist the urge to let a few lumps stay in the chocolate.
• In my microwave, another 10 seconds is all it takes to get the last few completely smooth. Practice with yours and watch it like a hawk. You want it to look like this, only without the weird color that a blue bowl gives it:

Pour in the cereal and stir gently so you don't crush it. Get to the bottom of the bowl so that the cereal is really mixed through the chocolate.

This is about halfway mixed - see that lump of white chocolate on the left?

Grab your cookie sheet and start making your haystacks. This 1/2 batch will make 24 haystacks -- yes, really.

They are about a heaping tablespoon in size. I usually start out a little small, and then go back to those first ones when I get all 24 laid out -- just like you probably do with cookie dough.

Remember this is just a half batch so far! You'll get 48 out of a full batch.

Now pop the tray into the fridge or freezer for at least 15 minutes to set.

Some very important notes to consider while these are setting:

1. The Fiber One people are not kidding around -- we may be disguising the taste of their cereal, but the fiber is in there. I don't recommend eating more than 2-3 of these in a day.
2. On a related note, these may not be the best snacks to just let your kids eat whenever they want. Good for them, yes. In moderation. {grin}
3. For you WW-ers, one haystack is one point. Two haystacks is three points. Go figure that one out and get back to me. I just spread it out when I eat two in a day and count it a point each time.
4. For calorie counters, since the size can vary, the calorie count is probably between 40-50 per haystack. Carbs are about 7-8g.
5. I store mine in a ziploc in the fridge; it makes me think of crunchy ice cream. They can get hard, though, so if you have sensitive teeth, on the counter might be better.

Here's the finished product, in white chocolate:

[Does my hand really look like that???]

It's set, and about the size of a tablespoon.

So what about my other batch? What was the secret ingredient with my milk chocolate chips?

My new favorite thing:

I added about 2 tablespoons of PB2 to the melted chocolate chips! It won't significantly change the point or calorie count (45 calories spread over 24 haystacks!) but should add that peanut buttery taste the family loves!

They have so many kinds of chips now, the possibilities are endless. This is a great snack that is filling without completely destroying your healthy eating plan. And a little chocolate hit is always a good thing, right?

Enjoy!