Mini Nut Goodie Bars with a fudge-like maple filling sandwiched between chocolate, butterscotch, and peanuts.
I usually make Nut Goodie Bars in a jelly roll pan but there are harder to serve and give as gifts that way. This recipe shows how to make them into little bite-sized Mini Nut Goodie Bars.
Nut Goodie Bars are from a Minnesota based company called Pearson’s candy. They also make Salted Nut Rolls and Mint Patties and we love all three. My mom used to make a copycat Nut Goodie Bar during the holidays and she gave me the recipe so that I can make it whenever the mood strikes!
First get the pans ready. You will need 80-90 mini cupcake wrappers. If you have several mini muffin pans, put the cupcake wrappers in them.
I did not have enough mini muffin pans so I cut small Dixie cups down to make a form to hold the cupcake wrappers and lined them up in jelly rolls pans.
Melt 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup butterscotch chips and 1 cup of peanut butter in the microwave.
Divide between the mini cupcake wrappers so that each is about 1/3 full. Place in the fridge to harden.
Put the butter, powdered vanilla pudding package, and evaporated milk in a large pot.
Heat while stirring constantly until the pudding begins to collect on your spoon.
Stir in teaspoon maple flavoring.
Cook while stirring constantly until it is a pudding.
Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar.
The result will be thick and dough-like.
Make small balls out of the dough and flatten them out like small pancakes.
Press the “pancakes” on the chocolate in the mini cupcake wrappers.
Melt 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup butterscotch chips and 1 cup of peanut butter in the microwave. Stir in the peanut nuts.
Divide between the mini cupcake wrappers.
Allow the chocolate to harden and remove the cupcake wrappers from the forms.
Store these Nut Goodie bars in the fridge or freezer.
Ingredients
- 2 cups chocolate chips divided
- 2 cups butterscotch chips divided (do not use peanut butter chips)
- 2 cups peanut butter divided
- 1 cup butter
- 3 oz package vanilla pudding (NOT instant)
- 2/3 cup evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
- 8 cups powdered sugar
- 1 lb spanish or party peanuts
Instructions
- First get the pans ready. You will need 80-90 mini cupcake wrappers. If you have several mini muffin pans, put the cupcake wrappers in them. I do not have enough mini muffin pans so I cut small Dixie cups down to make a form to hold the cupcake wrappers and lined them up in jelly rolls pans.
- Melt 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup butterscotch chips and 1 cup of peanut butter in the microwave. Divide between the mini cupcake wrappers so that each is about 1/3 full. Place in the fridge to harden.
- Put the butter, powdered vanilla pudding package, and evaporated milk in a large pot. Heat while stirring constantly until the pudding begins to collect on your spoon.
- Stir in maple flavoring. Cook while stirring constantly until it is a pudding.
- Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar. The result will be thick and dough-like. Make small balls out of the dough and flatten them out like small pancakes. Press the “pancakes” on the chocolate in the mini cupcake wrappers.
- Melt 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup butterscotch chips and 1 cup of peanut butter in the microwave. Stir in the peanut nuts. Divide between the mini cupcake wrappers.
Nutrition
Marian Gunderson says
Finding the right ingredients was the hardest part, but the search was well worth it!
I had trouble finding maple extract in stores. Amazon has it.
Finding “cook and serve” pudding mix was also a challenge, but eventually found it. Do NOT use instant.
Sarah Olson says
How big did you make the balls?
Tonia says
I made them about 1 teaspoon each. The exact size doesn’t matter too much (as you can probably tell from the photo) since the amount of chocolate in the bottom and on the top will vary.
Patricia says
I made these today…the end result was very good but I did have a few problems. I put out 90 mini cupcake wrappers & I ended up w/a total of 55. I didn’t have enough base to fill all the liners. After the base hardened I did the next step. When I melted the butter, Cook & serve & evap milk, the melted butter separated from the rest as I kept stirring. It sure didn’t look like pudding but curdle looking. I decided to add the powdered sugar anyway. I had sifted it…not sure if that made a diff. When making the balls, it was very buttery so when I put them on top of the choc, I blotted them w/a paper towel. I had way, way too much of this batter…probably enough for 80 to 90 minis. Then I had enough topping for 55. Should I have used the little candy wrappers instead of the mini’s? I couldn’t even fill the mini’s 1/3 full for the base. I put enough just to cover the bottom. What temp did you cook the butter mixture & how long did it take you for it to become pudding? What did I do wrong? This took me all day. Please reply. Thanks.
Tonia says
Hi Patricia,
I’m not sure why you had less. Maybe you made the bottom layer thicker than I did? I cooked the butter mixture over medium-low heat. I’m not sure how long it took me. If you have extra nougat, you can use it to make fudge. I use that same part of the recipe to make this fudge – https://www.thegunnysack.com/salted-maple-pecan-fudge/ Press the nougat into a pan and press chopped pecans into it.
~Tonia
Patricia says
Hi….I plan on making these & I have all of the ingredients except for the maple flavoring. Can pure maple syrup be used? If so, how much. If you don’t recommend it, I will try a different store to see if they have it. Please reply. Thanks.
Tonia says
Hi Patricia,
No pure maple syrup would not provide enough flavor. You would need to use maple flavoring or maple extract. This is the brand I use: https://amzn.to/2UrACoe
Enjoy,
Tonia
Mary says
No MAPLE FLAVORING? I have a “nut goodie” recipe that uses vanilla flavoring instead of the maple … still tastes delicious. A substitute that most people find in their kitchen.
Great recipe.
Tonia says
Thanks for the tip, Mary!