about TAS


Welcome to the Tiadaghton Audubon Society of Tioga and Potter Counties. Our chapter was founded in 1906 with 23 members, making it the oldest chapter in the state. The Tiadaghton name was selected in 1953, and in 1972 the chapter was officially chartered. To contact us, please use the Facebook link below left. (Photo: Scarlet tanager photographed near Hills Creek State Park here in Tioga County)

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

John's Bird Suet Cookie Dough Recipe

This is John Corcoran's recipe for making cookie-dough bird suet. It is highly popular with many species of birds!

Need: 3-4 qt. mixing bowl, 1-qt. saucepan, 2-cup scoops (2), potato masher, tablespoon, m-wave bowl, soft spatula, plastic forms from suet cakes ( 4 ).
Ingredients: corn meal ( coarse 5 lb. bag ), Armour Lard ( 4 lb. pail ) , AP flour ( any ! ) , generic peanut butter.
Mix: Pour a 4 /1 ratio of cornmeal/flour in a mixing bowl: for 4 cakes,use 8 cups cornmeal and 2 cups of flour. Mix with masher. This is your, DRY ! Create a 2 cup “well “ in the bowl by removing & setting aside a 2 cup portion of the dry.

Heat: 2 cups [ use 2nd 2-cup scoop ] of lard over low heat until it is melted. [use your oven hood to blow out lard odor]. Fill “well” in bowl with melted lard and mix with tablespoon. It will mix easily due to excess liquid; this is good, it is your WET. Set aside a portion of the DRY into a bowl but DO NOT MIX ! In M-wave bowl melt 2 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter (20à30 seconds). While waiting on M-wave take a tablespoon and make a small well in the UNMIXED DRY. Put in the bowl. Pour peanut butter into this well and mix DRY and melted peanut butter with a spoon. (Keep mixture away from bowl sides &and don’t go into the WET layer below. When upper layer is mixed into smallish clumps, take spoon and combine into a dough like peanut-butter cookie dough appears. (A bit dryish, but spoon will ‘dent’ it.)
Pack: Hold mold over bowl and fill and pack with spoon. This can be messy at first. Place mold on counter and pack firmly using circular motion, riding on form edges to level dough in form. Then freeze. Repeat with other molds. After 1 hour, the dough will pop easily out of the molds. Keep refrigerated in sandwich bags until fed to greedy woodpeckers, etc. in wire cages.

Options: Add berries, hulled sunflower seed, raisins, in moderation! It might be best to delay this experimentation for later when you are happy with the consistency of your dough.

Caution: There is a lot of salt in peanut butter so resist overdosing our feathered friends with it. Adjust: Keep a bit of cornmeal around to pop into saucepan to get out the residual melted lard with the spatula. Ditto in bowl for residual peanut butter.

SAVE ! Walmart on line; “Great Value” 5 lb. cornmeal: $ 2.36 !!! 4 lb. room temp. ARMOUR lard: $ 5.94 !!! I buy 5 cornmeal / 3 lard at a time to qualify for FREE 2 -day shipping . Nothing I have tried compares in the diversity of birds drawn to this bird treat! Enjoy your birds!!


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